It makes sense for anyone to live well in Rus'. The meaning of the title of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

THE MEANING OF THE TITLE OF THE POEM N.A. NEKRASOV “WHO LIVES WELL IN Rus'”

Nekrasov’s entire poem is a worldly gathering that is flaring up and gradually gaining strength. For Nekrasov, it is important that the peasantry not only thought about the meaning of life, but also set out on a difficult and long path of truth-seeking.

The Prologue sets up the action. Seven peasants argue about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” The men do not yet understand that the question of who is happier - the priest, the landowner, the merchant, the official or the tsar - reveals the limitations of their idea of happiness, which comes down to material security. A meeting with a priest makes men think about a lot:

Well, here's Popov's vaunted life.

Starting from the chapter “Happy”, a turn is planned in the direction of the search for a happy person. On their own initiative, the “lucky” ones from the lower classes begin to approach the wanderers. Stories are heard - confessions of courtyard people, clergy, soldiers, stonemasons, hunters. Of course, these “lucky ones” are such that the wanderers, seeing the empty bucket, exclaim with bitter irony:

Hey, man's happiness! Leaky with patches, Humpbacked with calluses, Go home!

But at the end of the chapter there is a story about a happy man - Ermil Girin. The story about him begins with a description of his litigation with the merchant Altynnikov. Yermil is conscientious. Let us remember how he paid off the peasants for the debt collected in the market square:

All day long Yermil walked around with his purse open, asking, Whose ruble is it? I didn’t find it.

Throughout his life, Yermil refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It would seem that he has “everything that is needed for happiness: peace of mind, money, and honor.” But at a critical moment in his life, Yermil sacrifices this “happiness” for the sake of the people’s truth and ends up in prison. Gradually, the ideal of an ascetic, a fighter for the people's interests, is born in the minds of the peasants. In the part “The Landowner,” the wanderers treat the masters with obvious irony. They understand that noble “honor” is worth little.

No, you are not a noble to us, give us the word of a peasant.

Yesterday's "slaves" took on the solution of problems that since ancient times were considered a noble privilege. The nobility saw its historical destiny in caring about the fate of the Fatherland. And then suddenly the men took over this single mission from the nobility and became citizens of Russia:

The landowner, not without bitterness, said: “Put on your hats, sit down, gentlemen!”

In the last part of the poem, a new hero appears: Grisha Dob-rosklonov - a Russian intellectual who knows that people's happiness can only be achieved as a result of a nationwide struggle for the “Unflogged province, Ungutted volost, Izbytkovo village.”

The army is rising - Innumerable, The strength in it will be indestructible!

The fifth chapter of the last part ends with words expressing the ideological pathos of the entire work: “If only our wanderers could be under their own roof, // If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.” These lines seem to answer the question posed in the title of the poem. A happy person in Rus' is one who firmly knows that he must “live for the happiness of his wretched and dark native corner.”

In 1866, the prologue of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” appears in print. This work, published three years after the abolition of serfdom, immediately caused a wave of discussions. Leaving aside the political criticism of the poem, let’s focus on the main question: what is the meaning of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”?

Of course, part of the impetus for writing Nekrasov’s poem was the reform of 1863. Russia, which had lived for centuries on the labor of serfs, was reluctant to get used to the new system. Everyone was at a loss: the landowners,

and the serfs themselves, which Nekrasov masterfully portrays in his poem. The first ones simply did not know what to do now: accustomed to living exclusively on the labor of others, they were not adapted to independent life. They “sing to the landowner: Work!”, but he “thought to live like this forever” and is no longer ready to rebuild in a new way. For some, such a reform is literally like death - the author shows this in the chapter “The Last One”. Prince Utyatin, its main character, has to be deceived until his death, claiming that serfdom is still in effect in Rus'.
Otherwise, the prince will have a blow - the shock will be too strong.

The peasants are also confused. Yes, some of them dreamed of freedom, but they soon become convinced that they received rights only on paper:

“You are kind, royal letter,
Yes, you are not written in front of us...”

The village of Vahalaki has been suing the former owners of the land, landowners, for its legal meadows on the Volga for years, but it is clear that the peasants will not see this land during their lifetime.

There is another type of peasant - those who were taken by surprise by the abolition of serfdom. They are accustomed to pleasing their landowner and treat him as an inevitable and necessary evil for life, moreover, they cannot imagine their life without him. “Have fun! / And I am the Utyatin princes / Serf - and that’s the whole story!” - that's the point of view they adhere to.

Such is the serf, proud of the fact that all his life he finished drinking and eating after his master. The faithful servant Yakov, who gave his entire life to the quarrelsome master, on the contrary, decides to rebel. But let's see how this rebellion is expressed - in taking one's own life in order to leave the landowner alone, helpless. This, as it turned out, is effective revenge, but it will no longer help Yakov...

The meaning of “Who Lives Well in Rus',” according to Nekrasov’s plan, was precisely to depict the country immediately after the abolition of serfdom from various points of view. The poet wanted to show that the reform was carried out in many ways thoughtlessly and inconsistently, and brought with it not only the joy of liberation, but also all sorts of problems that needed to be solved. Poverty and lack of rights, a huge lack of education for the common people (the only school in the village is “packed to capacity”), the need for honest and intelligent people to occupy responsible positions - all this is spoken about in the poem in simple, popular language. Rus' itself seems to be speaking to the reader in many voices, begging for help.

At the same time, it would be wrong to reduce the meaning of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” exclusively to consideration of the current political problems of Russia. No, when creating the poem, Nekrasov also put a different, philosophical meaning into it. It is expressed already in the very title of the poem: “Who lives well in Rus'.” And really, who? - this is the problem the author, and with him the reader, have to solve. In their travels, the peasants will ask a variety of people, from the priest to the simple soldier, but none of their interlocutors will be able to boast of happiness. And this is to some extent natural, because each of the heroes of the poem is looking for his own, personal happiness, without thinking about the general, popular one. Even the honest burgomaster Yermil cannot stand it and, in an attempt to benefit his family, forgets about the truth. Happiness, according to Nekrasov, can only be found by those who forget about the personal and take care of the happiness of their homeland, as Grisha Dobrosklonov does.

“In his last work, Nekrasov remained true to his idea: to arouse the sympathy of the upper classes of society for the common people, their needs and wants,” this is how the Russian critic Belinsky spoke about Nekrasov’s work. And indeed, this is the main meaning of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - not only to point out current problems, but to affirm the desire for universal happiness as the only possible path for the further development of the country.

Other works on this topic:

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Nekrasov’s entire poem is a flaring up, gradually gaining strength, worldly gathering. For Nekrasov, it is important that the peasantry not only thought about the meaning of life, but also set out on a difficult and long path of truth-seeking. The “Prologue” begins the action. Seven peasants argue about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” The men do not yet understand that the question of who is happier - the priest, the landowner, the merchant, the official or the tsar - reveals the limitations of their idea of happiness, which comes down to material security. A meeting with a priest makes men think about a lot: Well, here’s Pop’s vaunted life. Starting from the chapter “Happy”, a turn is planned in the direction of the search for a happy person. On their own initiative, the “lucky ones” from the lower classes begin to approach the wanderers. Stories are heard - confessions of courtyard people, clergy, soldiers, stonemasons, hunters. Of course, these “lucky ones” are such that the wanderers, seeing the empty bucket, exclaim with bitter irony: Hey, peasant happiness! Leaky with patches, Humpbacked with calluses, Go home! But at the end of the chapter there is a story about a happy man - Ermil Girin. The story about him begins with a description of his litigation with the merchant Altynnikov. Yermil is conscientious. Let us remember how he paid off the peasants for the debt collected in the market square: All day long, Yermil walked around with his purse open, asking, Whose ruble is it? I didn’t find it. Throughout his life, Yermil refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It would seem that he has “everything that is needed for happiness: peace of mind, money, and honor.” But at a critical moment in his life, Yermil sacrifices this “happiness” for the sake of the people’s truth and ends up in prison. Gradually, the ideal of an ascetic, a fighter for the people's interests, is born in the minds of the peasants. In the part “The Landowner,” the wanderers treat the masters with obvious irony. They understand that noble “honor” is worth little. No, you are not a noble to us, give us the word of a peasant. Yesterday’s “slaves” took up the task of solving problems that since ancient times were considered a noble privilege. The nobility saw its historical destiny in caring about the fate of the Fatherland. And then suddenly the men took over this single mission from the nobility and became citizens of Russia: The landowner, not without bitterness, said: “Put on your hats, sit down, gentlemen!” In the last part of the poem, a new hero appears: Grisha Dobrosklonov - a Russian intellectual who knows that people's happiness can only be achieved as a result of a nationwide struggle for the “Unflogged province, Ungutted volost, Izbytkovo village.” The army is rising - Innumerable, The strength in it will be indestructible! The fifth chapter of the last part ends with words expressing the ideological pathos of the entire work: “If only our wanderers could be under their own roof, // If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.” These lines seem to answer the question posed in the title of the poem. A happy person in Rus' is one who firmly knows that he must “live for the happiness of his wretched and dark native corner.”

For Russia, 1861 was marked by the abolition of serfdom. Now no one understands how to live further. Neither the landowners nor the peasants themselves. Just at this time, three years after the abolition of serfdom, he begins work on the poem. What meaning does the author put into the title of his work?

Who lives well in Rus', what is the point?

It is enough to read the title of Nekrasov’s poem to understand what will be discussed. The desire to display different positions of people on the abolition of serfdom is skillfully intertwined with the eternal problem of finding happiness and happy people in Rus', which determines the meaning of the title of the poem.

The author depicts men who decided to find a happy person by figuring out what people need to be happy. For this purpose, the men set off on a journey, and communicating with people of different classes, they found out how happy they were. If earlier they thought that life was good in Rus' for priests, landowners and the tsar, then as they travel, they realize how much they are mistaken. However, they did not find happy people among the soldiers, peasants, hunters and drunken women. Finally, the men managed to meet a happy man, Grigory Dobrosklonov, who knew firsthand about the hardships of peasant life. Unlike other random fellow travelers, Gregory did not seek personal happiness, but thought about the well-being of the entire Russian people living in Rus'. It is precisely such people, according to the author, who are able to find their happiness.

Having read Nekrasov’s work, we understand that the meaning of the title Who Lives Well in Rus' fully corresponds to the plot. He prepares the reader in advance for the fact that the text will talk about true and truthful life in Rus'. It encourages you to search for answers and realize what people need to be happy, what is the source of their troubles, and who can claim to be a happy person. Trying to find these answers, the author shows how incorrectly the reform was carried out, which brought not only joy, but also problems. Nekrasov talks about all this in his poem Who Lives Well in Rus', the meaning of the name of which fully justifies itself.

Nekrasov’s entire poem is a flaring up, gradually gaining strength, worldly gathering. For Nekrasov, it is important that the peasantry not only thought about the meaning of life, but also set out on a difficult and long path of truth-seeking.
The “Prologue” begins the action. Seven peasants argue about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” The men do not yet understand that the question of who is happier - the priest, the landowner, the merchant, the official or the tsar - reveals the limitations of their idea of happiness, which comes down to material security. A meeting with a priest makes men think about a lot:
Well, here's what you've praised
Popov's life.
Starting from the chapter “Happy”, a turn is planned in the direction of the search for a happy person. On their own initiative, the “lucky ones” from the lower classes begin to approach the wanderers. Stories are heard - confessions of courtyard people, clergy, soldiers, stonemasons, hunters. Of course, these “lucky ones” are such that the wanderers, seeing the empty bucket, exclaim with bitter irony:
Hey, man's happiness!
Leaky with patches,
Humpbacked with calluses,
Go home!
But at the end of the chapter there is a story about a happy man - Ermil Girin. The story about him begins with a description of his litigation with the merchant Altynnikov. Yermil is conscientious. Let us remember how he paid off the peasants for the debt collected in the market square:
All day with my money open
Yermil walked around, asking questions,
Whose ruble? I didn’t find it.
Throughout his life, Yermil refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It would seem that he has “everything that is needed for happiness: peace of mind, money, and honor.” But at a critical moment in his life, Yermil sacrifices this “happiness” for the sake of the people’s truth and ends up in prison. Gradually, the ideal of an ascetic, a fighter for the people's interests, is born in the minds of the peasants. In the part “The Landowner,” the wanderers treat the masters with obvious irony. They understand that noble “honor” is worth little.
No, you are not noble to us,
Give me your peasant's word.
Yesterday’s “slaves” took up the task of solving problems that since ancient times were considered a noble privilege. The nobility saw its historical destiny in caring about the fate of the Fatherland. And then suddenly the men took over this single mission from the nobility and became citizens of Russia:
The landowner is not without bitterness
Said: “Put on your hats,
Sit down, gentlemen!”
In the last part of the poem, a new hero appears: Grisha Dobrosklonov - a Russian intellectual who knows that people's happiness can only be achieved as a result of a nationwide struggle for the “Unflogged province, Ungutted volost, Izbytkovo village.”
The army rises -
Uncountable,
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!
The fifth chapter of the last part ends with words expressing the ideological pathos of the entire work: “If only our wanderers could be under their own roof, // If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.” These lines seem to answer the question posed in the title of the poem. A happy person in Rus' is one who firmly knows that he must “live for the happiness of his wretched and dark native corner.”