Who lives well in Rus'? Who can live well in Rus'?

History of creation

Nekrasov devoted many years of his life to working on the poem, which he called his “favorite brainchild.” “I decided,” said Nekrasov, “to present in a coherent story everything that I know about the people, everything that I happened to hear from their lips, and I started “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” This will be an epic of modern peasant life.” The writer saved material for the poem, as he admitted, “word by word for twenty years.” Death interrupted this gigantic work. The poem remained unfinished. Shortly before his death, the poet said: “The one thing I deeply regret is that I did not finish my poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” N. A. Nekrasov began work on the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” in the first half of the 60s of the 19th century. The mention of the exiled Poles in the first part, in the chapter “The Landowner,” suggests that work on the poem began no earlier than 1863. But sketches of the work could have appeared earlier, since Nekrasov had been collecting material for a long time. The manuscript of the first part of the poem is marked 1865, however, it is possible that this is the date of completion of work on this part.

Soon after finishing work on the first part, the prologue of the poem was published in the January 1866 issue of Sovremennik magazine. Printing lasted for four years and was accompanied, like all of Nekrasov’s publishing activities, by censorship persecution.

The writer began to continue working on the poem only in the 1870s, writing three more parts of the work: “The Last One” (1872), “Peasant Woman” (1873), “A Feast for the Whole World” (1876). The poet did not intend to limit himself to the written chapters; three or four more parts were planned. However, a developing illness interfered with the author's plans. Nekrasov, feeling the approach of death, tried to give some “completeness” to the last part, “A feast for the whole world.”

In the last lifetime edition of “Poems” (-), the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was printed in the following sequence: “Prologue. Part one", "Last One", "Peasant Woman".

Plot and structure of the poem

Nekrasov assumed that the poem would have seven or eight parts, but managed to write only four, which, perhaps, did not follow one another.

Part one

The only one has no name. It was written shortly after the abolition of serfdom ().

Prologue

“In what year - count,
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together..."

They got into an argument:

Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

They offered six possible answers to this question:

Novel: to the landowner
Demyan: to the official
Gubin brothers - Ivan and Mitrodor: to the merchant;
Pakhom (old man): to the minister

The peasants decide not to return home until they find the correct answer. They find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed them and set off.

Peasant woman (from the third part)

The last one (from the second part)

Feast - for the whole world (from the second part)

The chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” is a continuation of “The Last One.” This depicts a fundamentally different state of the world. This is people's Rus' that has already woken up and spoken at once. New heroes are drawn into the festive feast of spiritual awakening. The whole people sings songs of liberation, judges the past, evaluates the present, and begins to think about the future. Sometimes these songs are contrasting to each other. For example, the story “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful” and the legend “About two great sinners”. Yakov takes revenge on the master for all the bullying in a servile manner, committing suicide in front of his eyes. The robber Kudeyar atones for his sins, murders and violence not with humility, but with the murder of the villain - Pan Glukhovsky. Thus, popular morality justifies righteous anger against the oppressors and even violence against them

List of heroes

Temporarily obliged peasants who went to look for who was living happily and at ease in Rus'(Main characters)

Novel
Demyan
Ivan and Metrodor Gubin
Old Man Pakhom

Peasants and serfs

Ermil Girin
Yakim Nagoy
Sidor
Egorka Shutov
Klim Lavin
Agap Petrov
Ipat - sensitive serf
Yakov - a faithful slave
Proshka
Matryona
Savely

Landowners

Utyatin
Obolt-Obolduev
Prince Peremetev
Glukhovskaya

Other heroes

Altynnikov
Vogel
Shalashnikov

Links

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov: textbook. allowance / Yarosl. state University named after P. G. Demidova and others; [author art.] N.N. Paykov. - Yaroslavl: [b. i.], 2004. - 1 email. wholesale disk (CD-ROM)

The work of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is associated with the second period of the Russian liberation movement. In his works, he examines the origins of social disasters and means of overcoming them. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the result of the author’s thoughts about the fate of the country and the people. It addresses the main question of post-reform Russia: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” Nekrasov shows the path leading to people's happiness, the path of struggle.
At the center of the work is the image of the people. Describing it, the author uses simple Russian language, using folklore and proverbs. The folk types created by the poet are mainly divided into two categories. The first, most numerous, belong to the peasants who are thinking about their lives, in whose souls a protest is already brewing. Another category of peasants are people poisoned by the poison of serfdom and turned into slaves.
Nekrasov repeatedly mentions in the poem about peasant riots, which especially intensified after the reform:
Have any of you heard,
How the estate rebelled
Landowner Obrubkov,
Frightened province,
Nedykhanev County,
Villages Tetanus?..
In this passage, attention is drawn to the telling names, emphasizing the fear and downtroddenness of the residents. And if the peasants of such places rebelled, then the cup of people’s patience was overflowing!
Among others, Yakim Nagoy especially stands out. He is a defender of the interests of the people and a spokesman for those sentiments of protest that are growing among the peasant masses. Drawing a portrait of Yakim, Nikolai Alekseevich emphasizes his closeness to the land on which he was born, lived, and worked:
And to Mother Earth myself
He looks like...
A competent man, Yakim Nagoy, thought for a long time about the fate of his brothers, and was able to understand a lot from his own experience. He speaks about the people with love, and with anger about the enslavers:
Every peasant
The soul is like a black cloud -
Angry, menacing, and it should be
Thunder will roar from there,
It's raining bloody...
The image of a thundercloud is an image of the revolution, the storm that the poet called for, exclaiming:
Roar over the depths of the sea,
In the field, in the forest, whistle!..
In many ways he is similar to Yakima Nagogo Saveliy. The old man sees the causes of evil; he has lost the faith in God’s help and in the good king (“high is God, far is the king”) that is so characteristic of the patriarchal peasantry. Grandfather understands that freedom must be obtained not through humility, but with an axe. Savely realizes the heroic power of the people, but sees with pain that all the strength of the peasants is spent on endless patience. Nekrasov reveals both the inconsistency of the people's consciousness and the struggle between the age-old habit of slavery and the rebellious spirit.
From the story about Matryona Timofeevna, we understand more deeply that a spiritual thunderstorm is brewing in a woman, the most downtrodden and disadvantaged creature. Faith in the people, in their spiritual awakening, is expressed in the words of the poet:
Saved in slavery
Free heart -
Gold, gold
People's heart!
The author did not idealize the peasants, because many of them turned into slaves. He speaks about this part of the people with bitterness and contempt. Lackey Ipat (chapter “The Last One”) is happy with his servile title; he doesn’t want to hear about freedom. Choking with emotion, he remembers the bullying of his master, calling him “prince” and himself “the last slave.” Nekrasov gives Ipat an apt assessment: “a sensitive lackey.” But among the slaves there are also people like Yakov. Unable to withstand the bullying, he took revenge on the master with his death. The poet understands that the cause of all national disasters is serfdom.
With sarcasm, he paints images of landowners. This is how, for example, Obolt-Obolduev is depicted:
Some round gentleman,
Mustachioed, pot-bellied,
With a cigar in his mouth...
Peasant speech often mocks the serf owners:
We corvées have grown up
Under the landowner's snout...
Nikolai Alekseevich creates images of “new people” who emerged from the people’s environment and became active fighters for the good of the people. This is Ermil Girin. No matter who he was, no matter what he did, he sought to be useful to the peasant, to help him, to protect him.
The type of democratic intellectual is embodied in Grisha Dobrosklonov. Grisha dreams of people's happiness more than his own. His love for his poor and exhausted mother gradually turns into love for his homeland. Dobrosklonov consciously chooses the path along which “strong, loving souls” go. His image is typical of a “people's defender.” Characteristic of Grisha is a thirst for learning. He believes in the future happiness of the people.
Dobrosklonov's songs contain hope and optimism. The song “Rus” ends with the lines:
The army rises -
Uncountable,
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!

Poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who lives well in Rus'” from the perspective of Christian issues

Melnik V.I.

In literary criticism, several attempts have been made to comprehend the work of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov in the context of Christian ideas. Now, of course, it is obvious that D. S. Merezhkovsky was clearly mistaken when he assumed that Nekrasov’s religious level, “at least conscious, is the same as that of all Russian people of average intelligentsia consciousness. If any of Literary like-minded people - Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky - asked him if he believed in God, then there is no doubt that Nekrasov would be surprised and even offended: who do they think he is?

There is no doubt that Nekrasov experienced a complex religious complex in his life, based, on the one hand, on love for the people and excellent knowledge of folk life, reflected in oral folk art, folk ideals, including religious ones, and on the other hand, on personal (from the point of view of the church, heretical) idea of \u200b\u200bthe righteousness of revolutionary rebellion and the need for moral asceticism and repentance. However, this issue requires comprehensive study and is now only beginning to be explored in relation to individual texts of the poet.

From this point of view, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is of great interest - a kind of encyclopedia of Nekrasov’s moral views. It gives a fairly complete picture of his religious views and knowledge.

It must be said that this knowledge is far from the “average intellectual consciousness”, as D.S. assumed. Merezhkovsky.

Nekrasov, with his heightened sense of repentance, undoubtedly must have always been struck by the images of people who have changed dramatically and come from great sin to great repentance.

With some inevitability, Nekrasov constantly returns to the images of such ascetics in his poetry. Thus, back in 1855, in the poem “In the Hospital,” seemingly unexpectedly, but also characteristically, with emphasized drama, one encounters the image of an “old thief” who experienced a strong feeling of repentance:

In his prison

The violent comrade wounded him.

He didn't want to do anything

He just threatened and rowded.

Our nurse approached him,

She suddenly shuddered - and not a word...

A minute passed in strange silence:

Are they looking at each other?

It ended with the sullen villain

Drunk, covered in blood,

Suddenly he burst into tears - in front of his first,

Bright and honest love.

(They knew each other from a young age...)

The old man has changed dramatically:

Cries and prays all day long,

I humbled myself before the doctors.

In a later period, this image acquired an autobiographical character:

Move pen, paper, books!

Dear friend! I heard the legend:

The chains fell from the shoulders of the ascetic,

And the ascetic fell dead!

Sympathy for people of a repentant psychological type is quite in the spirit of the Russian people. The author of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” and “Princess Volkonskaya” should have been almost fascinated by the story of people making a voluntary sacrifice to God, like the Venerable Galaktion of Vologda, who, being the son of Prince I.F. Belsky, the most distinguished of the Russian boyars, voluntarily left high society, “settled near the Vologda settlement, shut himself up in a cramped cell, put himself on bread and water, chained himself in chains.”

Nekrasov was obviously amazed by the religious heroes and ascetics whom he met in his life or about whom he heard from the people. There are few such ascetics in the poem. We are not talking about heroes taken in close-up yet, such as the folklore ataman Kudeyar or Savely. The episodic characters are interesting in terms of “documentary”: this is the “poor old woman” who “at the tomb of Jesus // Prayed, on Mount Athos // Ascended the heights // Swimmed in the Jordan River...” These are the repeatedly mentioned “wanderers”, this and Fomushka, who has “two-pound chains // girt around his body. // Barefoot in winter and summer.” This is the “Old Believer Kropilnikov,” who “reproaches the laity for godlessness, // Calls into the dense forests // To save themselves...” This is also the townspeople’s widow Efrosinyushka:

Like God's messenger,

The old lady appears

In cholera years;

Buries, heals. Fiddling around

With the sick...

Other “God’s people” are also mentioned in the poem.

Nekrasov not only knows this side of the life of the people well, but it is with his love for “hospitality”, attention to the word of God transmitted through “wandering wanderers” that he connects the potential spiritual power of the people, their mighty growth in the future. Let us remember that the famous words of the poet “The Russian people have not yet been given limits” are given in the poem precisely in a Christian context:

Who has seen how he listens

Your visiting wanderers

Peasant family

He will understand that no matter what work,

Nor eternal care,

Not the yoke of slavery for a long time,

Not the taverns themselves

More to the Russian people

No limits set:

There is a wide path before him!

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the overwhelming majority of folk heroes are distinguished by true religiosity. Including seven wandering peasants who turn to the nobleman: “No, you are not noble to us, // Give us a Christian word...”

In this sense, we can talk about obvious authorial “pressures”: we will not find such a degree of religiosity of the people, for example, neither in Pushkin, nor in Gogol, nor in Tolstoy. There are reasons for this, which we will discuss below. We note that this is not the case in Nekrasov’s early works.

Nekrasov knows very well folk religious legends, parables, omens, i.e. that sphere which is called folk Orthodoxy and which one way or another manifested itself in the sphere of oral folk art. Here we can name the folk superstitions he mentions, such as: “Don’t wear a clean shirt on Christmas: otherwise you’ll have a bad harvest” (chapter “Difficult Year”), and folk ideas about a comet (“The Lord walks across the sky // And His angels // They sweep with a fiery broom // Before the feet of God // There is a path in the heavenly field..."), about the afterlife fate of the boyars and peasants ("And what will be appointed: // They boil in a cauldron, // And we add firewood).

However, Nekrasov’s personal religious experience also emerged in the poem. This experience is somewhat unexpected and very interesting in content. Thus, in the chapter “Demushka” he mentions the Jesus Prayer, although perhaps not in its canonical meaning. In any case, he knows a prayer, the meaning of which was not revealed to every “average intellectual.” Of course, the poet did not know about the Jesus Prayer from experience, but only from hearsay, but he knew. Nekrasov knows (obviously from book sources, although in the poem this is attributed to a simple peasant woman) about the power of prayer in solitude under the open sky. In the chapter "Governor's Lady" Matryona Timofeevna admits:

Pray on a frosty night

Under God's starry sky

I've loved it ever since.

And advise wives:

You can't pray harder

Nowhere and never.

Ipat, “the servant of the Utyatins,” prays in the open air at Nekrasov’s.

It is impossible to ignore the question of the very nature of Nekrasov’s religious consciousness. In our opinion, M.M. is right. Dunaev, when he states: “This is why Nekrasov stands out from the cohort of like-minded people in life, that he did not have, could not have, indifference to God, to faith: after all, he was rooted in people’s life, he never remained, like Chernyshevsky, an armchair idle thinker , who included the people with all the complexity of their existence into their far-fetched schemes."

However, also F.M. Dostoevsky noted that Nekrasov’s Vlas (1855), a true champion of Christian humility, is a certain exception in Nekrasov’s “rebellious” work: “... It’s so good that it was definitely not you who wrote; it was definitely not you, but someone else who acted in your stead then “on the Volga” in also magnificent verses, about barge haulers’ songs.” Indeed, in Nekrasov’s poetry, spontaneous poetry, there is a certain duality. Nekrasov, a poet of suffering, a poet with a complex of guilt before the people, a poet of personal repentance and admiration for heroism, self-sacrifice, did not always distinguish, so to speak, the moral content of heroism. He seems to be captivated by the very idea of laying down his soul “for his friends.” In the act itself, regardless of its political or other orientation, Nekrasov sees an unconditional aura of holiness. He is equally admired by Vlas, who gave away his ill-gotten wealth and walks across Rus' with an “iron chain,” and by Grisha Dobrosklonov, who, on his rebellious revolutionary path, faces “consumption and Siberia.” And here and there there is a victim who delights Nekrasov and whom he poetizes without any reservations.

This sincerity of Nekrasov seems to reconcile him, albeit with some reservations, both with Dostoevsky, the singer of Christian humility, and with representatives of the revolutionary-democratic camp.

This is the sincerity of Nekrasov the poet, Nekrasov the artist - the central, core point in attempts to comprehend the dual nature of his work. Nekrasov was honest with himself; he wanted repentance in his destiny (“Silence”), self-sacrifice and heroism (“Take me to the camp of the perishing”). The ideal of holiness was dominant for him.

This artistic sincerity prompted Nekrasov to glorify every human sacrifice, every feat, as long as it was done in the name of other people. Such self-sacrifice became, as it were, Nekrasov’s religion. M.M. correctly noted. Dunaev that the poet “constantly combined the matter... of sacrificial struggle with spiritual, undoubtedly religious concepts.”

Yes, Nekrasov in “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (and not only in this work) constantly and organically uses religious concepts and symbols, which are grouped around the idea of sacrifice, self-sacrifice. A consistently implemented system of religious ideas can be traced in the poet’s work.

N. A. Nekrasov worked on his poem for a long time - from the 1860s until the end of his life. During his lifetime, individual chapters of the work were published, but it was published in full only in 1920, when K.I. Chukovsky decided to release the complete collected works of the poet. In many ways, the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is built on elements of Russian folk art; the language of the poem is close to that which was understandable to the peasants of that time.

Main characters

Despite the fact that Nekrasov planned to highlight the life of all classes in his poem, the main characters of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” are still peasants. The poet paints their life in gloomy tones, especially sympathizing with women. The most striking images of the work are Ermila Girin, Yakim Nagoy, Savely, Matryona Timofeevna, Klim Lavin. At the same time, not only the world of the peasantry appears before the reader’s eyes, although the main emphasis is placed on it.

Often, schoolchildren receive as homework a brief description of the characters in “Who Lives Well in Rus'” and their characteristics. To get a good grade, you must mention not only the peasants, but also the landowners. This is Prince Utyatin with his family, Obolt-Obolduev, the generous governor’s wife, and the German manager. The work as a whole is characterized by the epic unity of all the acting characters. However, at the same time, the poet presented many personalities and individualized images.

Ermila Girin

This hero “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, according to those who know him, is a happy person. The people around him appreciate him, and the landowner shows respect. Ermila is engaged in a socially useful activity - she runs a mill. He works on it without deceiving ordinary peasants. Girin enjoys the trust of everyone. This manifests itself, for example, in the situation of collecting money for an orphan mill. Ermila finds herself in the city without money, and the mill is put up for sale. If he does not have time to return for the money, then it will go to Altynnikov - this will not hurt anyone. Then Girin decides to appeal to the people. And people come together to do a good thing. They believe that their money will be used for good.

This hero of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was a clerk and helped those who do not know it learn to read and write. However, the wanderers did not consider Ermila happy, because he did not pass the most difficult test - power. Instead of his brother, Girin becomes a soldier. Ermila repents of what she did. He can no longer be considered happy.

Yakim Nagoy

One of the main characters of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is Yakim Nagoy. He defines himself this way: “he works himself to death and drinks until he is half to death.” The story of Nagogo is simple and at the same time very tragic. He once lived in St. Petersburg, but went to prison and lost his estate. After that, he had to settle in the village and take up exhausting work. In the work, he is entrusted with protecting the people themselves.

Human spiritual needs are ineradicable

During a fire, Yakim loses most of his possessions, as he begins to save the pictures that he acquired for his son. However, even in his new home, Nagoy returns to his old ways and buys other pictures. Why does he decide to save these things, which at first glance are simple trinkets? A person tries to preserve what is most dear to him. And these pictures turn out to be more valuable to Yakim than money acquired through hellish labor.

The life of the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is an ongoing work, the results of which fall into the wrong hands. But the human soul cannot be content with an existence in which there is only room for endless hard labor. The spirit of the Naked requires something high, and these pictures, oddly enough, are a symbol of spirituality.

Endless adversity only strengthens his position in life. In Chapter III, he pronounces a monologue in which he describes his life in detail - it is hard labor, the results of which end up in the hands of three shareholders, disasters and hopeless poverty. And with these disasters he justifies his drunkenness. It was the only joy for the peasants, whose only occupation was hard work.

The place of a woman in the poet's work

Women also occupy a significant place in Nekrasov’s work. The poet considered their lot to be the most difficult - after all, it was on the shoulders of Russian peasant women that the duty of raising children, preserving the hearth and love in the harsh Russian conditions fell. In the work “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the heroes (or rather, heroines) bear the heaviest cross. Their images are described in most detail in the chapter entitled “Drunken Night.” Here you can encounter the difficult fate of women working as servants in cities. The reader meets Daryushka, who is emaciated from back-breaking work, women whose situation in the house is worse than hell - where the son-in-law constantly takes up the knife, “look, he’ll kill him.”

Matryona Korchagina

The culmination of the female theme in the poem is the part called “Peasant Woman”. Its main character is Matryona Timofeevna, whose last name is Korchagina, whose life is a generalization of the life of a Russian peasant woman. On the one hand, the poet demonstrates the severity of her fate, but on the other, the unbending will of Matryona Korchagina. The people consider her “happy,” and wanderers set off to see this “miracle” with their own eyes.

Matryona gives in to their persuasion and talks about her life. She considers her childhood the happiest time. After all, her family was caring, no one drank. But soon the moment came when it was necessary to get married. Here she seemed to be lucky - her husband loved Matryona. However, she becomes the youngest daughter-in-law and has to please everyone. She couldn't even count on a kind word.

Only with grandfather Savely Matryona could open her soul and cry. But even her grandfather, although not of his own free will, caused her terrible pain - he did not look after the child. After this, the judges accused Matryona herself of murdering the baby.

Is the heroine happy?

The poet emphasizes the heroine’s helplessness and in the words of Savelya tells her to endure, because “we won’t find the truth.” And these words become a description of Matryona’s entire life, who had to endure losses, grief, and insults from the landowners. Only once does she manage to “find the truth” - to “beg” her husband from the unfair soldiery from the landowner Elena Alexandrovna. Perhaps this is why Matryona began to be called “happy.” Or perhaps because she, unlike some of the other heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus',” did not break down, despite any adversity. According to the poet, a woman’s share is the hardest. After all, she has to suffer from lack of rights in the family, and worry about the lives of loved ones, and do backbreaking work.

Grisha Dobrosklonov

This is one of the main characters of “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” He was born into the family of a poor clerk, who was also lazy. His mother was the image of a woman that was described in detail in the chapter entitled “Peasant Woman.” Grisha managed to understand his place in life at a young age. This was facilitated by hard work, a hungry childhood, a generous character, resilience and perseverance. Grisha became a fighter for the rights of all the humiliated, he stood for the interests of the peasants. What came first for him was not personal needs, but social values. The main features of the hero are unpretentiousness, high efficiency, the ability to sympathize, education and a sharp mind.

Who can find happiness in Rus'

Throughout the entire work, the poet tries to answer the question about the happiness of the heroes “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Perhaps Grisha Dobrosklonov is the happiest character. After all, when a person does a good deed, he has a pleasant feeling of his own worth. Here the hero saves an entire people. Since childhood, Grisha has seen unhappy and oppressed people. Nekrasov considered the ability to compassion to be the source of patriotism. For the poet, a person who sympathizes with the people starts a revolution is Grisha Dobrosklonov. His words reflect the hope that Rus' will not perish.

Landowners

Among the heroes of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” as was indicated, there are many landowners. One of them is Obolt-Obolduev. When the peasants ask him if he is happy, he only laughs in response. Then, with some regret, he recalls the past years, which were full of prosperity. However, the reform of 1861 abolished serfdom, although it was not completed. But even the changes that have occurred in social life cannot force the landowner to work and honor the results of the work of other people.

Matching him is another hero of Nekrasov’s “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - Utyatin. All his life he “been weird and foolish,” and when social reform came, he was struck down. His children, in order to receive an inheritance, put on a real performance together with the peasants. They convince him that he will not be left with anything, and serfdom still reigns in Rus'.

Grandfather Savely

The characterization of the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” would be incomplete without a description of the image of grandfather Savely. The reader gets to know him already when he lived a long and hard life. In his old age, Savely lives with his son’s family; he is Matryona’s father-in-law. It is worth noting that the old man does not like his family. After all, household members do not have the best characteristics.

Even in his own circle, Savely is called “branded, a convict.” But he is not offended by this and gives a worthy answer: “Branded, but not a slave.” Such is the character of this hero “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” A brief description of Savely’s character can be supplemented by the fact that he is not averse to sometimes making fun of members of his family. The main thing that is noted when meeting this character is his difference from the others, both from his son and from the other inhabitants of the house.

ON THE. Nekrasov was always not just a poet - he was a citizen who was deeply concerned about social injustice, and especially about the problems of the Russian peasantry. The cruel treatment of landowners, the exploitation of female and child labor, a joyless life - all this was reflected in his work. And in 18621, the seemingly long-awaited liberation came - the abolition of serfdom. But was this actually liberation? It is to this topic that Nekrasov devotes “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - his most poignant, most famous - and his last work. The poet wrote it from 1863 until his death, but the poem still came out unfinished, so it was prepared for printing from fragments of the poet’s manuscripts. However, this incompleteness turned out to be symbolic in its own way - after all, for the Russian peasantry, the abolition of serfdom did not become the end of the old life and the beginning of a new one.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is worth reading in its entirety, because at first glance it may seem that the plot is too simple for such a complex topic. A dispute between seven men about who should live well in Rus' cannot be the basis for revealing the depth and complexity of the social conflict. But thanks to Nekrasov’s talent in revealing characters, the work gradually reveals itself. The poem is quite difficult to understand, so it is best to download its entire text and read it several times. It is important to pay attention to how different the peasant’s and the master’s understanding of happiness is: the first believes that this is his material well-being, and the second believes that this is the least possible number of troubles in his life. At the same time, in order to emphasize the idea of the spirituality of the people, Nekrasov introduces two more characters who come from his midst - these are Ermil Girin and Grisha Dobrosklonov, who sincerely want happiness for the entire peasant class, and so that no one is offended.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is not idealistic, because the poet sees problems not only in the noble class, which is mired in greed, arrogance and cruelty, but also among the peasants. This is primarily drunkenness and obscurantism, as well as degradation, illiteracy and poverty. The problem of finding happiness for yourself personally and for the entire people as a whole, the fight against vices and the desire to make the world a better place are still relevant today. So even in its unfinished form, Nekrasov’s poem is not only a literary, but also a moral and ethical example.