Images of Russian peasants in works of literature. Peasant theme in the works of Russian writers. The theme of peasant life in the works of Nekrasov

In literary works we find images of people, their lifestyles, and feelings. By the 17th-18th centuries, two classes had emerged in Russia: peasants and nobles - with completely different culture, mentality and even language. That is why in the works of some Russian writers there are images of peasants, while others do not. For example, Griboedov, Zhukovsky and some other masters of words did not touch upon the topic of the peasantry in their works.

However, Krylov, Pushkin, Gogol, Goncharov, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Yesenin and others created a whole gallery

Immortal images of peasants. Their peasants are very different people, but there is also much in common in the writers’ views on the peasant. All of them were unanimous that peasants are hard workers, creative and talented people, while idleness leads to moral decay of the individual.

This is precisely the meaning of I. A. Krylov’s fable “The Dragonfly and the Ant.” In an allegorical form, the fabulist expressed his view of the moral ideal of the peasant worker (Ant), whose motto is to work tirelessly in the summer in order to provide food for himself in the cold winter, and of the slacker (Dragonfly). In winter, when the Dragonfly came to the Ant asking for help,

He refused the "jumper", although he probably had the opportunity to help her.

On the same topic, much later, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote the fairy tale “About how a man fed two generals.” However, Saltykov-Shchedrin solved this problem differently than Krylov: the idle generals, having found themselves on a desert island, could not feed themselves, but the peasant, the man, voluntarily not only provided the generals with everything they needed, but also twisted a rope and tied himself up. Indeed, in both works the conflict is the same: between a worker and a parasite, but it is resolved in different ways. The hero of Krylov’s fable does not allow himself to be offended, and the man from Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale voluntarily deprives himself of his freedom and does everything possible for the generals who are unable to work.

There are not many descriptions of peasant life and character in the works of A. S. Pushkin, but he could not help but capture very significant details in his works. For example, in the description of the peasant war in “The Captain’s Daughter,” Pushkin showed that it was attended by the children of peasants who had left agriculture and were engaged in robbery and theft; this conclusion can be drawn from Chumakov’s song about the “baby peasant son” who “stole” and “ held a robbery,” and then was hanged. In the fate of the hero of the song, the rebels recognize their fate and feel their doom. Why? Because they abandoned labor on earth for the sake of bloodshed, and Pushkin does not accept violence.

Russian writers' peasants have a rich inner world: they know how to love. In the same work, Pushkin shows the image of the serf Savelich, who, although a slave by position, is endowed with a sense of self-worth. He is ready to give his life for his young master, whom he raised. This image echoes two images of Nekrasov: with Savely, the Holy Russian hero, and with Yakov the faithful, an exemplary slave. Saveliy loved his grandson Demochka very much, looked after him and, being an indirect cause of his death, went into the forests and then into a monastery. Yakov the faithful loves his nephew as much as Saveliy loves Demochka, and loves his master as Savelich loves Grinev. However, if Savelich did not have to sacrifice his life for Petrusha, then Yakov, torn by a conflict between the people he loved, committed suicide.

Pushkin has another important detail in Dubrovsky. We are talking about contradictions between the villages: “They (the peasants of Troekurov) were vain about the wealth and glory of their master and, in turn, allowed themselves a lot in relation to their neighbors, hoping for his strong patronage.” Isn’t this the theme sounded by Yesenin in “Anna Snegina”, when the rich residents of Radov and the poor peasants of the village of Kriushi were at enmity with each other: “They are axed, so are we.” As a result, the headman dies. This death is condemned by Yesenin. The topic of the murder of a manager by peasants was already discussed by Nekrasov: Savely and other peasants buried the German Vogel alive. However, unlike Yesenin, Nekrasov does not condemn this murder.

With Gogol’s work, the concept of a peasant hero appeared in fiction: carriage maker Mikheev, brickmaker Milushkin, shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov and others. After Gogol, Nekrasov also had a clearly expressed theme of heroism (Savely). Goncharov also has peasant heroes. It is interesting to compare Gogol’s hero, the carpenter Stepan Probka, and the carpenter Luka from Goncharov’s work “Oblomov”. Gogol’s master is “that hero who would be fit for the guard,” he was distinguished by “exemplary sobriety,” and the worker from O6lomovka was famous for making a porch, which, although shaky from the moment of construction, stood for sixteen years.

In general, in Goncharov’s work, everything in the peasant village is quiet and sleepy. Only the morning is spent in a busy and useful way, and then comes lunch, a general afternoon nap, tea, doing something, playing the accordion, playing the balalaika at the gate. There are no incidents in Oblomovka. The peace was disturbed only by the peasant widow Marina Kulkova, who gave birth to “four babies.” Her fate is similar to the difficult life of Matryona Korchagina, the heroine of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” who “every year, then has children.”

Turgenev, like other writers, speaks of the peasant’s talent and creative nature. In the story “The Singers,” Yakov the Turk and a clerk compete in singing for an eighth of beer, and then the author shows a bleak picture of drunkenness. The same theme will be heard in Nekrasov’s “Who Lives Well in Rus'”: Yakim Nagoy “works to death, drinks until half to death...”.

Completely different motives are heard in the story “The Burmist” by Turgenev. He develops the image of a despot manager. Nekrasov will also condemn this phenomenon: he will call the sin of Gleb the elder, who sold the free people of other peasants, the most serious.

Russian writers were unanimous that the majority of peasants have talent, dignity, creativity, and hard work. However, among them there are also people who cannot be called highly moral. The spiritual decline of these people mainly occurred from idleness and from material wealth acquired and the misfortunes of others.

To explore the topic, you can use several stories from the collection “Notes of a Hunter” by I.S. Turgenev and works from different periods of N.A. Nekrasov’s work: from the first period - the poems “On the Road” (1845), “Forgotten Village” (1855) , “Schoolboy” (1856), “Reflections at the Main Entrance” (1858), “Song for Eremushka” (1859); from the second period - the poems “Frost, Red Nose” (1863) and “The Railway” (1864); from the latter - the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

The theme - the image of the Russian peasantry - appeared in the works of Turgenev and Nekrasov at approximately the same time - in the mid-40s of the 19th century. Both writers expressed practically the same idea in their works - sympathy for the Russian peasantry and a decisive rejection of serfdom and its remnants after the reform of 1861. Thus, we can note the similarity of socio-political positions in the above-mentioned works of both authors.

At the same time, the ideological positions of Turgenev and Nekrasov differ. Turgenev demonstrates sympathy and respect for the people; Nekrasov is indignant at the oppression and slavish condition of the peasantry. Turgenev expresses in his stories the idea of ​​​​the moral superiority of some serfs over landowners; Nekrasov goes further in his works and proves the social injustice of modern society. This is how the artistic creativity expressed the difference in the social views of the two authors - the liberalism of Turgenev and the revolutionary democracy of Nekrasov.

“Notes of a Hunter” consists of essays united by a common anti-serfdom idea. Turgenev's anti-serfdom content is manifested in his high assessment of the moral and spiritual qualities of the Russian peasant. Turgenev's peasants have curiosity (the boys from the story "Bezhin Meadow"), deep intelligence and understanding of beauty (Khor and Kalinich from the story of the same name), talent (Yashka the Turk from the story "Singers"), generosity (Lukerya from the story "Living Relics"), nobility (Matryona from the story “Petr Petrovich Karataev”), Turgenev shows that serfdom did not kill the living soul of the people. The writer, however, does not idealize the peasants: in “Notes of a Hunter” there are also negative images of serfs - Victor from the story “Date”, Sofron from the story “The Burmister”.

The peasants are compared to the landowners: Mr. Polutykin turns out to be a stupid owner, an empty man next to his serfs Khor and Kalinich; Mr. Penochkin from the story “The Burmist”, not caring about anything other than his own income, gave his peasants under the power of Sofron’s merciless fist. Pyotr Petrovich Karataev is a weak, indecisive person.

Thus, Turgenev portrayed the Russian peasantry in a multifaceted way, without denigrating or idealizing it. At the same time, a distinctive feature of “Notes of a Hunter” remains a special interest in remarkable folk characters, perhaps rare, but quite real.

The anti-serfdom content of Nekrasov’s works is expressed more sharply: the poet shows the tragic fate (Pears from the poem “On the Road”, Daria from the poem “Frost, Red Nose”), the powerless, humiliating position of the serf peasantry (walkers from the poem “Reflections at the Front Entrance”), merciless exploitation of the people (male builders from the poem “The Railway”). As in Turgenev's work, Nekrasov's works feature a variety of peasant heroes. Talking about a village boy in the poem “Schoolboy,” the poet believes that it is from the people that new, bright talents will emerge and glorify Russia:

That nature is not mediocre,
That land has not yet perished,
What brings people out
There are so many glorious ones, you know...

In addition to humility and underdevelopment (the poem “The Forgotten Village”), Nekrasov’s peasants are characterized by hard work, cordiality (the poems “Frost, Red Nose”, “Railroad”), wisdom (Yakim Nagoy from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”), and a sense of self dignity (Matryona Timofeevna, Savely from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”),

In the works of the two authors, despite all the similarities in the depiction of the peasantry, there are also differences. In Turgenev, the conflicts between serfs and landowners are hidden in the depths of the plot, built on moral contradictions; Nekrasov clearly and openly expresses the social idea of ​​​​poverty and lack of rights of the people:

Motherland!
Name me such an abode,
I've never seen such an angle
Where would your sower and guardian be?
Where would a Russian man not moan?
(“Reflections at the Front Entrance”)

Nekrasov also openly praises resistance to social injustice -

Unbridled, wild
Enmity towards the oppressors
And great power of attorney
Towards selfless work. (“Song to Eremushka”)

Turgenev and Nekrasov approach the depiction of the peasantry from different positions. Turgenev shows the people from the outside: the peasants in “Notes of a Hunter” are a class consisting of individuals, whom the author carefully peers into and studies with interest. With such a description, the personality of the author-observer, his worldview, and social beliefs are very important. The cross-cutting image of the hunter-storyteller, along with the anti-serfdom idea, binds individual stories into a coherent work - “Notes of a Hunter.” The hunter is a local landowner, the “Kostomarovsky gentleman” (“Living Relics”), but he does not have the lordly disdain and contempt for the peasants. He is characterized by a love of nature, curiosity, “purity and sublimity of moral feeling” (V.G. Belinsky “A Look at Russian Literature of 1847”).

At the beginning of his work, Nekrasov also actively uses the image of the author-storyteller, who observes the peasants from the side and gives his assessment of what he heard (“On the Road”) and saw (“Reflections at the Front Entrance”). In the last poem from a random city scene, the lyrical hero creates a broad generalization of modern Russian life; in the poem “The Railway” the author-narrator explains to the boy Vanya who actually built the Nikolaev railway and what this construction cost. In the poem “Frost, Red Nose,” the author expresses warm sympathy for the Russian peasant woman:

You have known me since childhood.
You are all fear incarnate,
You are all age-old languor!
He didn't carry his heart in his chest,
Who didn’t shed tears over you! (1, III)

But Nekrasov’s work also presents a different view of the people - a view from the inside, which is characteristic of folklore. The essence of this view from the inside was revealed by Hegel: “In a folk song, it is not a separate individual with his subjective originality that is identified (...), but a nationwide feeling (...), since the individual (...) does not have an internal idea and feeling separated from nation, its way of life and interests" (G. Hegel "Lectures on Aesthetics. Poetry. Lyric Poetry"). In the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" the image of the author almost disappears, giving way to the people themselves - seven truth-seekers and to their interlocutors.

In conclusion, we can cite the words of V.G. Belinsky about Turgenev’s innovation in depicting the peasantry: “He approached the people from a side from which no one had ever approached them before” (“A Look at Russian Literature 1847”). But after “Notes of a Hunter,” the peasant theme (except for the story “Mumu”) leaves Turgenev’s work; Nekrasov, to whose work the same words of Belinsky can rightfully be attributed, remains faithful to the folk theme until the end of his life.

It is worth noting the common features in the description of the peasants by the two authors: this is respect, sympathy for the people with a realistic, that is, versatile, depiction of them.

The difference between the two approaches to describing the people in Russian literature is interestingly formulated in the famous article by N.G. Chernyshevsky “Is this the beginning of change?” (1861). Analyzing the stories of N. Uspensky in the article, the critic especially highly appreciated them for the fact that the author writes the truth about the people “without embellishment,” without idealization, that is, he openly shows the inertia, underdevelopment of the peasants, the “stupid inconsistency” in the thoughts of the peasants. Such a harsh truth, according to Chernyshevsky, is more useful to the people than praise, compassion and tenderness, which are expressed, for example, in Turgenev’s stories. Having rightly distinguished between the “good” image of serfs before the reform of 1861 and the “critical” image of the people after 1861, Chernyshevsky, it seems, was somewhat hasty with his assessments: Russians still read “Notes of a Hunter,” and only specialists know the stories of N. Uspensky, praised by the critic . There is nothing wrong with the fact that “Turgenev... in the era of serfdom... looked for more good than bad in the common people” (L.N. Tolstoy).

In his work after the abolition of serfdom, Nekrasov was not afraid to critically depict the humility and underdevelopment of the peasants, along with their spiritual strength, wisdom, and generosity. In his poems, the poet expressed open protest against the powerless situation of ordinary people. He created an epic poem that was folk in form and content, that is, a work about the people for the people.

Democratic writers have given enormous
material for knowledge of economics
everyday life... psychological characteristics
people... depicted their morals, customs,
his moods and desires.
M. Gorky

In the 60s of the 19th century, the emergence of realism as a complex and diverse phenomenon was associated with the deepening of literature into the coverage of peasant life, into the inner world of the individual, into the spiritual life of the people. The literary process of realism is an expression of various facets of life and at the same time the desire for a new harmonic synthesis, merging with the poetic element of folk art. The artistic world of Russia, with its original, highly spiritual, primordially national art of folk poetry, has constantly aroused the keen interest of literature. Writers turned to the artistic understanding of folk moral and poetic culture, the aesthetic essence and poetics of folk art, as well as folklore as an integral folk worldview.

It was the folk principles that were the exceptional factor that determined, to some extent, the development of Russian literature in the second half of the 19th century and especially Russian democratic prose. Folklore and ethnography in the literary process of time become the phenomenon that determines the aesthetic character of many works of the 1840-1860s.

The theme of the peasantry permeates all Russian literature of the 19th century. The literature delves into the coverage of peasant life, into the inner world and national character of the people. In the works of V.I. Dalia, D.V. Grigorovich, in “Notes of a Hunter” by I.S. Turgenev, in “Essays from Peasant Life” by A.F. Pisemsky, in the stories of P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky, N.S. Leskov, early L.N. Tolstoy, P.I. Yakushkina, S.V. Maksimov, in Russian democratic prose of the 60s and in general in Russian realism of the second half of the 19th century, the desire to recreate pictures of people's life was imprinted.

Already in the 1830-1840s, the first works on the actual ethnographic study of the Russian people appeared: collections of songs, fairy tales, proverbs, legends, descriptions of the morals and customs of antiquity, and folk art. A lot of song and other folklore and ethnographic material appears in magazines. At this time, ethnographic research, as noted by the famous literary scholar and critic of the 19th century A.N. Pypin, proceed from the conscious intention to study the true character of the people in its true expressions in the content of folk life and ancient legends.

The collection of ethnographic materials in the subsequent 50s “took on truly grandiose proportions.” This was facilitated by the influence of the Russian Geographical Society, the Moscow Society of History and Antiquities, a number of scientific, including literary, expeditions of the 50s, as well as a new body of folk studies that arose in the 60s - the Moscow Society of Lovers of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnography.

The great role of the outstanding folklorist-collector P.V. Kireevsky. Already in the 30s of the 19th century, he managed to create a kind of collecting center and involve his outstanding contemporaries in the study and collection of folklore - up to A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol inclusive. The songs, epics and spiritual poems published by Kireyevsky were the first monumental collection of Russian folklore.

In a collection of songs, Kireyevsky wrote: “Whoever has not heard a Russian song even above his cradle and who has not been accompanied by its sounds in all the transitions of life, of course, his heart will not flutter at its sounds: it is not like those sounds on which his soul has grown up, or she will be incomprehensible to him as an echo of the rude mob, with whom he feels nothing in common; or, if she has a special musical talent, he will be curious about her as something original and strange...” 1 . His attitude towards folk song, which embodied both personal inclinations and ideological convictions, led to his turn to practical work on collecting Russian songs.

The love for Russian song will subsequently unite the members of the “young editorial staff” of the Moskvityanin magazine, and S.V. will write about it. Maksimov, P.I. Yakushkin, F.D. Nefedov, the song genre of folk poetry will organically enter their literary work.

“Moskvityanin” published songs, fairy tales, descriptions of individual rituals, correspondence, articles about folklore and folk life.

M.P. Pogodin, editor of the magazine, writer and prominent public figure, with exceptional persistence put forward the task of collecting monuments of folk art and folk life, intensively recruited collectors from different strata of society, and attracted them to participate in the magazine. He also contributed to the first steps in this field of P.I. Yakushkina.

A special role in the development of ethnographic interests of writers was played by the “young editorial staff” of the magazine “Moskvityanin”, headed by A.N. Ostrovsky. At different times, the “young editorial staff” included: A.A. Grigoriev, E. Endelson, B. Almazov, M. Stakhovich, T. Filippov, A.F. Pisemsky and P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky.

Already in the 40s and early 50s, Russian literature turned more deeply to the peasant theme. In the literary process of time, the natural school occupies a leading place 2.

NATURAL SCHOOL - designation of a species that existed in the 40-50s of the 19th century Russian realism(as defined by Yu.V. Mann), continuously associated with the work of N.V. Gogol and who developed his artistic principles. The natural school includes the early works of I.A. Goncharova, N.A. Nekrasova, I.S. Turgeneva, F.M. Dostoevsky, A.I. Herzen, D.V. Grigorovich, V.I. Dalia, A.N. Ostrovsky, I.I. Panaeva, Ya.P. Butkova and others. The main ideologist of the natural school was V.G. Belinsky, the development of its theoretical principles was also facilitated by V.N. Maikov, A.N. Pleshcheev and others. Representatives were grouped around the magazines “Otechestvennye zapiski” and later “Sovremennik”. The collections “Physiology of St. Petersburg” (parts 1-2, 1845) and “Petersburg Collection” (1846) became the program for the natural school. In connection with the latest edition, the name itself arose.

F.V. Bulgarin (“Northern Bee”, 1846, No. 22) used it to discredit writers of the new direction; Belinsky, Maikov and others took this definition, filling it with positive content. The novelty of the artistic principles of the natural school was most clearly expressed in “physiological essays” - works that aim to extremely accurately record certain social types (“physiology” of a landowner, peasant, official), their specific differences (“physiology” of a St. Petersburg official, Moscow official), social, professional and everyday characteristics, habits, attractions, etc. By striving for documentation, for precise detail, using statistical and ethnographic data, and sometimes introducing biological accents into the typology of characters, the “physiological sketch” expressed the tendency of a certain convergence of figurative and scientific consciousness at this time and... contributed to the expansion of the positions of realism. At the same time, it is unlawful to reduce the natural school to “physiologies”, because other genres rose above them - novel, story 3 .

Writers of the natural school - N.A. Nekrasov, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, A.I. Herzen, F.M. Dostoevsky - known to students. However, speaking about this literary phenomenon, we should also consider writers who remain outside the literary education of schoolchildren, such as V.I. Dahl, D.V. Grigorovich, A.F. Pisemsky, P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky, with whose work students are not familiar, but in their works the peasant theme is developed, being the beginning of literature from peasant life, continued and developed by the fiction writers of the sixties. Familiarity with the work of these writers seems necessary and deepens students’ knowledge of the literary process.

In the 1860s, the peasant element most widely penetrated the cultural process of the era. The literature affirms the “folk direction” (term by A.N. Pypin). Peasant types and the folk way of life are fully included in Russian literature.

Russian democratic prose, represented in the literary process by the works of N.G., made its special contribution to the depiction of people’s life. Pomyalovsky 4, V.A. Sleptsova, N.V. Uspensky, A.I. Levitova, F.M. Reshetnikova, P.I. Yakushkina, S.V. Maksimova. Having entered the literary process during the revolutionary situation in Russia and in the post-reform era, it reflected a new approach to depicting the people, highlighted real pictures of their life, and became "sign of the times", recreated the peasant world in Russian literature at a turning point in history, capturing various trends in the development of realism 5 .

The emergence of democratic prose was caused by changing historical and social circumstances, the socio-political conditions of life in Russia in the second half of the 19th century, and the arrival of writers in literature for whom “the study of people’s life became a necessity” (A.N. Pypin) 6 . Democratic writers uniquely reflected the spirit of the era, its aspirations and hopes. They, as A.M. wrote. Gorky, “gave enormous material for understanding the economic life, psychological characteristics of the people... depicted their morals, customs, their mood and desires” 7 .

The people of the sixties drew their impressions from the depths of people's life, from direct communication with Russian peasants. The peasantry as the main social force in Russia, defining the concept of the people at that time, became the main theme of their work. Democratic writers created a generalized image of people's Russia in their essays and stories. They created in Russian literature their own special social world, their own epic of folk life. “The whole of hungry and downtrodden Russia, sedentary and wandering, devastated by feudal predation and ruined by bourgeois, post-reform predation, was reflected, as in a mirror, in the democratic essay literature of the 60s...” 8 .

The works of the sixties are characterized by a range of related themes and problems, a commonality of genres and structural and compositional unity. At the same time, each of them is a creative individual, each of them has their own special style. Gorky called them “diversely and widely talented people.”

Democratic writers, in essays and stories, recreated the artistic epic of the life of peasant Rus', drawing closer and individually apart in their work in depicting the folk theme.

Their works reflected the very essence of the most important processes that formed the content of Russian life in the 60s. It is known that the measure of the historical progressiveness of each writer is measured by the degree of his conscious or spontaneous approach to democratic ideology, reflecting the interests of the Russian people. However, democratic fiction reflects not only the ideological and social phenomena of the era; it definitely and widely goes beyond ideological trends. The prose of the sixties is included in the literary process of the time, continuing the traditions of the natural school, correlating with the artistic experience of Turgenev and Grigorovich, which reflected the peculiar artistic coverage of the democratic writers of the people's world, including an ethnographically accurate description of life.

Democratic fiction with its ethnographic orientation, standing out from the general flow of development of Russian prose, took a certain place in the process of formation of Russian realism. She enriched him with a number of artistic discoveries and confirmed the need for the writer to use new aesthetic principles in the selection and coverage of life phenomena in the conditions of the revolutionary situation of the 1860s, which posed the problem of the people in literature in a new way.

The description of people's life with reliable accuracy of an ethnographic nature was noticed by revolutionary-democratic criticism and was expressed in the requirements for literature to write about the people “the truth without any embellishment,” as well as “in the correct transmission of actual facts,” “in paying attention to all aspects of the life of the lower classes " Realistic everyday life writing was closely connected with elements of ethnography. Literature took a new look at the life of peasants and their existing living conditions. According to N.A. Dobrolyubov, the explanation of this matter has become no longer a toy, not a literary whim, but an urgent need of the time. The writers of the sixties uniquely reflected the spirit of the era, its aspirations and hopes. Their work clearly documented changes in Russian prose, its democratic character, ethnographic orientation, ideological and artistic originality and genre expression.

In the works of the sixties, a common range of related themes and problems, a commonality of genres and structural and compositional unity are distinguished. At the same time, each of them is a creative individual, each of them has their own individual style. N.V. Uspensky, V.A. Sleptsov, A.I. Levitov, F.M. Reshetnikov, G.I. Uspensky brought their understanding of peasant life into literature, each capturing folk paintings in their own way.

The people of the sixties showed deep interest in folk studies. Democratic literature strove for ethnography and folklorism, for the assimilation of people's life, merged with it, and penetrated the people's consciousness. The works of the sixties were an expression of everyday personal experience of studying Russia and the life of the people. They created in Russian literature their own special social world, their own epic of folk life. The life of Russian society in the pre-reform and post-reform eras and, above all, the peasant world is the main theme of their work.

In the 60s, the search for new principles of artistic depiction of the people continued. Democratic prose provided examples of the ultimate truth in reflection of life for art, and confirmed the need for new aesthetic principles in the selection and illumination of life phenomena. The harsh, “idealless” depiction of everyday life entailed a change in the nature of prose, its ideological and artistic originality and genre expression 9 .

Democratic writers were artist-researchers, writers of everyday life; in their work, fiction came into close contact with economics, ethnography, and folk studies 10 in the broad sense of the word, operated with facts and figures, was strictly documentary, gravitated toward everyday life, while remaining at the same time time for the artistic study of Russia. The fiction writers of the sixties were not only observers and recorders of facts, they tried to understand and reflect the social reasons that gave rise to them. The writing of everyday life brought tangible concreteness, vitality, and authenticity to their works.

Naturally, democratic writers were guided by folk culture and folklore traditions. In their work there was an enrichment and deepening of Russian realism. Democratic themes expanded, literature was enriched with new facts, new observations, features of everyday life and customs of people's life, mainly peasant life. The writers, with all the brightness of their creative individualities, were close in expressing their ideological and artistic tendencies; they were united by ideological affinity, artistic principles, the search for new themes and heroes, the development of new genres, and common typological features.

The sixties created their own artistic forms - genres. Their prose was predominantly narrative and sketch. Essays and stories by writers appeared as a result of their observation and study of the life of the people, their social status, way of life and morals. Numerous meetings at inns, taverns, postal stations, in train cars, on the road, on the steppe road also determined the peculiar specificity of the style of their works: the predominance of dialogue over description, the abundance of skillfully conveyed folk speech, the narrator’s contact with the reader, concreteness and factuality, ethnographic accuracy, appeal to the aesthetics of oral folk art, the introduction of abundant folklore inclusions. The artistic system of the sixties manifested a tendency towards everyday life, concreteness of life, strict documentaryism, objective recording of sketches and observations, originality of composition (the breakdown of the plot into separate episodes, scenes, sketches), journalisticism, orientation towards folk culture and folklore traditions.

Narrative-essay democratic prose was a natural phenomenon in the literary process of the 60s. According to M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the sixties did not pretend to create holistic, artistically complete paintings. They were limited to “excerpts, essays, sketches, sometimes remaining at the level of facts, but they prepared the ground for new literary forms that more widely embrace the diversity of surrounding life” 11 . At the same time, democratic fiction itself already outlined holistic pictures of peasant life, achieved by the idea of ​​​​an artistic connection of essays, the desire for epic cycles (“Steppe Sketches” by A. Levitov, the cycles of F. Reshetnikov “Good People”, “Forgotten People”, “From travel memories”, etc., the contours of a novel from folk life were revealed (F.M. Reshetnikov), the ideological and artistic concept of the people was formed.

The narrative-essay democratic prose of the sixties organically merged into the literary process. The very trend of depicting folk life turned out to be very promising. The traditions of the sixties were developed by domestic literature of subsequent periods: populist fiction, essays and stories by D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak, V.G. Korolenko, A.M. Gorky.

There is not a single aspect of peasant life that Nekrasov would ignore. With all his heart and consciousness he experienced the peasant's grief, and his works are full of pictures of this grief. The poet was especially disturbed by the fate of the oppressed peasant woman. You are all fear embodied, You are all age-old languor! - Nekrasov said, addressing the peasant woman.

In the poem “In the Village” we see an old peasant woman who has lost her only son and breadwinner. In her old age she is forced to walk through the world, her life is hopelessly difficult, and “if only it were not a sin,” the old mother would commit suicide. The same theme - the grief of a peasant mother - is posed in the poem "Orina, Mother of a Soldier." The poem is based not on fiction, but on reality. “Orina, the soldier’s mother, told me her life herself,” Nekrasov recalled. “I made a detour several times to talk to her, otherwise I was afraid to fake it.” Orina talks about “her great sadness”: her only son, tortured by the soldiery, “sickly” returned home and died:

Ivanushka was ill for nine days, and died on the tenth day. Bogatyrsky build. He was a big kid!

But the cruel barracks drill ruined this hero and drove him to consumption. The tsarist soldiery was so terrible that even on the last night before his death, in his delirium, he imagined this service all before his death. The delirium of a dying man reveals the horror of the situation of a peasant who was handed over as a soldier, and the inhumane treatment he received:

Suddenly he rushed... looks pitifully... He fell down - crying, repenting, Shouting: “Your Honor! Yours!”

In Nekrasov’s works, an image of a peasant woman, pure in heart, bright in mind, and strong in spirit, appears, warmed by the author’s love. This is exactly what Daria is, the heroine of the poem “Frost - Red Nose”, in spirit - the sister of Nekrasov’s Decembrists. Once in her youth she “amazed with her beauty, she was both dexterous and strong,” but she, like every peasant woman, had to endure a life more difficult than which “it’s unlikely to be found.” One cannot indifferently see how a powerless Russian woman, crushed by slavery and overwork, suffers. And the poet says, addressing the peasant woman:

He didn’t carry a heart in his chest, Who didn’t shed tears over you!

Nekrasov dedicated many poems to the life of the post-reform village. Like Chernyshevsky, he understood the predatory nature of “liberation” and the fact that only the forms of oppression of the people had changed. Nekrasov noted with bitterness that the situation of the people after the “liberation” did not improve: In the life of a peasant, now free, there is Poverty, ignorance, darkness. In the poem “Grandfather,” written in 1870, he painted the following image of a “free” peasant:

Here he is, our gloomy plowman, With a dark, sad face; Bast shoes, rags, a cap... The eternal worker is hungry,

The life of the people is eloquently depicted in the songs “Hungry”, “Covee”, “Soldier’s”, “Veselaya”, “Salty” and others. Here, for example, is how a pre-reform corvee peasant is shown in one of these songs:

The skin is all ripped open, the belly is swollen from the chaff, twisted, twisted, flogged, tormented. Kalina barely wanders... White, unkempt Kalinushka, He has nothing to show off, Only the back is painted, But he doesn’t know behind his shirt. From bast shoes to gate

The reform of 1861 did not improve the situation of the people, and it is not for nothing that the peasants say about it: You are kind, the Tsar’s letter, But you were not written about us. As before, the peasants are people who “didn’t eat enough and slurped without salt.” The only thing that has changed is that now “instead of the master, the volost will tear them down.” The people's suffering is immeasurable. Hard, exhausting work does not save you from eternal poverty or the threat of starvation. But “the soil is the good soul of the Russian people,” and no matter how terrible peasant life is, it did not kill the best human traits in the people: hard work, responsiveness to the suffering of others, self-esteem, hatred of the oppressors and readiness to fight them.

Saved in slavery, the heart is free - Gold, gold, the heart of the people!

Only the peasants help the retired soldier, who is “sick of the light” because he has “no bread, no shelter.” They help out Yermil Girin, who was “fighting” with the merchant Altynnikov. Peasants are “people... great” at work; “the habit... of work” never leaves a man. The poet showed how the people's dissatisfaction with their situation begins to turn into open indignation:

...sometimes the Team will pass. You can guess: The village must have rebelled somewhere in an excess of gratitude!

Nekrasov treats peasants who do not put up with their powerless and hungry existence with undisguised sympathy. First of all, we should note the seven truth-seekers, whose inquisitive thoughts made them think about the fundamental question of life: “Who lives cheerfully, freely in Rus'?” Among the peasants who have risen to the consciousness of their powerless situation is Yakim Nagoy, who realized who gets the fruits of peasant labor. The “disobedient” Agap also belongs to the same type of peasant, who responded to the abuse of Prince Utyatin, the “last child,” with angry words: Tsyts! Nishkni! Today you are in charge, and tomorrow we will follow Pink - and the ball is over.

The theme of peasant life in the works of Nekrasov

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“Peasant Children” is one of Nekrasov’s works, which can be called his calling card. It is studied in 5th grade. We invite you to familiarize yourself with a brief analysis of “Peasant Children” according to plan.

Brief Analysis

History of creation– the work was created in July 1861, and was first published on the pages of the magazine “Time” in the same 1861.

Theme of the poem- the life of peasants and their children.

Composition– The analyzed poem is constructed as a monologue-reasoning of the lyrical hero about the fate of peasant children. At the beginning of the poem, the author provides an introductory episode that allows us to understand what prompted the lyrical hero to think. The introduction is constructed in the form of a polylogue. The meaning of the work is divided into several parts. The monologue of the lyrical hero consists of stanzas with a different number of verses.

Genre- poem.

Poetic size– amphibrach tetrameter, cross rhyme ABAB

Metaphors – “they look at the rays of the cheerful sun”, “the soul was touched by tenderness”, “I made mushroom raids with them”, “the blues slipped from the poet’s soul”, “those honest thoughts that have no will”, “the charm of childhood poetry”.

Epithets – « gray, brown, blue eyes”, “holy soul”, “thick, ancient elms”, “deafening bark”.

Comparisons – “mixed like flowers in a field” “brown heads over a desert river, like porcini mushrooms in a forest clearing,” “and the legs are long, like poles.”

History of creation

The history of the creation of the work is closely connected with the childhood of N. Nekrasov. Everyone knows that he grew up on the estate of his landowner father. The master's son was not ashamed to play with peasant children; on the contrary, he really enjoyed such cheerful company. Nikolai Alekseevich took part in all the fun of the children, which is why he described them so vividly in the poem.

As an adult, the poet loved to go out of town fishing or hunting. At the beginning of July 1861, Nikolai Alekseevich wrote “Peasant Children” in Greshnovo. He worked on the piece for about two weeks. The first publication dates back to 1861. Portrait of the lyrical hero of an autobiographical poem. The poet actually wore a beard at that time.

Subject

In the analyzed work, Nekrasov develops his favorite theme: the life of peasants and their children. This problem was common in the literature of his era. The main role in the poem is played by the composite image of children and the lyrical hero. Peasant childhood is presented from the point of view of the lyrical hero. He knows about all childish fun, even though he himself is a master.

The poem begins with a short story from the lyrical hero that he has again come to the village, where he hunts and writes poetry. After the hunt, the master fell asleep in the barn, and when he woke up, he noticed that children’s eyes were peering into the cracks. The man did not show that he saw the guys, he listened to their whispers.

The children looked at the man with interest, noticing every detail of his appearance. It was funny to them that the hero had a beard, because the children knew that “bares” wear mustaches. The children saw a watch on the hat and began to guess its price. Everything was a wonder for peasant children. The children were afraid of the man; apparently, they had more than once observed how the “bares” treated the peasants. After whispering a little, the children hurried away, because they noticed that the hunter had woken up.

After the polylogue, a monologue of the lyrical hero about peasant children is presented. He admits that he envies their carefree childhood, free from science. He enjoys watching the children play and help the adults. Anything seems like fun to this audience. The lyrical hero recalls how he once played with the children of peasants. The nostalgic mood does not touch his soul for long.

Soon the man begins to consider the “other side of the coin.” He understands perfectly well that without science these children are doomed to hard work and a poor life. He confirms his thoughts with an incident from life. Once the lyrical hero watched a 6-year-old boy sawing wood with his father, because there were no more men in their family.

The poem ends optimistically. The lyrical hero shows the guys what his dog can do. The children watch these “things” with pleasure, but still don’t dare approach the master.

The main idea of ​​the poem can be formulated as follows: the childhood of peasant children is happy, full of bright impressions, but without science they will face a sad fate in the future.

Composition

The composition of the work is original. It is constructed in the form of a monologue-reasoning of the lyrical hero about the fate of peasant children. At the beginning of the poem, the author provides an introductory episode that allows us to understand what prompted the lyrical hero to think. The introduction is written in the form of a polylogue. In terms of meaning, the work is divided into several parts: a story about how children watch a master fall asleep, a reflection on the positive aspects of the fate of peasants, a reflection on its negative manifestations, and the ending. The monologue of the lyrical hero is divided into stanzas with different numbers of verses.

Genre

The genre of the work is a poem, because it has a plot and lyrical indents. The poetic meter is amphibrach tetrameter. N. Nekrasov uses ABAB cross rhyme; some lines do not rhyme. The verse contains both male and female rhymes.

Means of expression

To reveal the theme and realize the idea of ​​the work, the author used means of expression. Prevail in the text metaphors: the rays of the cheerful sun are looking”, “tenderness touched the soul”, “I made mushroom raids with them”, “the blues slipped from the poet’s soul”, “those honest thoughts that have no will”, “the charm of childhood poetry”. The paintings are being completed epithets- ““wonderful sounds”, “sleepy melancholy”, “zealous reader”, “wild critic”, satires “ignoble and offensive”, “the heavens argue in the radiance”, comparisons- “gray, brown, blue eyes”, “holy soul”, “thick, ancient elms”, “deafening barking”, hyperbole: “If they use a saw, you can’t sharpen it in a day.”

Poem test

Rating Analysis

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