Who should live in Rus', brief chapter by chapter. Who can live well in Rus' read online - Nikolay Nekrasov

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History of creation

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 exiled Poles in the first part, in the chapter “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 issue of Sovremennik magazine for 1866. 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), “The Peasant Woman” (1873), and “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.”

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was published in the following sequence: “Prologue. Part one", "Last One", "Peasant Woman".

Plot and structure of the poem

It was assumed that the poem would have 7 or 8 parts, but the author managed to write only 4, which, perhaps, did not follow one another.

The poem is written in iambic trimeter.

Part one

The only part that does not have a title. It was written shortly after the abolition of serfdom (). Judging by the first quatrain of the poem, we can say that Nekrasov initially tried to anonymously characterize all the problems of Rus' at that time.

Prologue

In what year - calculate
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together.

They got into an argument:

Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

They offered 6 possible answers to this question:

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

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

Chapter I. Pop

Chapter II. Rural fair.

Chapter III. Drunken night.

Chapter IV. Happy.

Chapter V. Landowner.

The last one (from the second part)

At the height of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene: a noble family sails to the shore in three boats. The mowers, who had just sat down to rest, immediately jumped up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the village of Vakhlachina help the heirs hide the abolition of serfdom from the crazy landowner Utyatin. For this, the relatives of the last one, Utyatin, promise the men floodplain meadows. But after the long-awaited death of the Last One, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.

Peasant woman (from the third part)

In this part, the wanderers decide to continue their search for someone who can “live cheerfully and at ease in Rus'” among women. In the village of Nagotino, the women told the men that there was a “governor” in Klin, Matryona Timofeevna: “there is no more kind-hearted and smoother woman.” There, seven men find this woman and convince her to tell her story, at the end of which she reassures the men of her happiness and of women’s happiness in Rus' in general:

The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!..

Prologue
Chapter I. Before marriage
Chapter II. Songs
Chapter III. Savely, hero, Holy Russian
Chapter IV. Dyomushka
Chapter V. She-Wolf
Chapter VI. Difficult year
Chapter VII. Governor's wife
Chapter VIII. The Old Woman's Parable

A feast for the whole world (from the fourth part)

This part is a logical continuation of the second part (“The Last One”). It describes the feast that the men threw after the death of the old man Last. The adventures of the wanderers do not end in this part, but at the end one of the feasters - Grisha Dobrosklonov, the son of a priest, the next morning after the feast, walking along the river bank, finds the secret of Russian happiness, and expresses it in a short song “Rus”, by the way, used by V.I. Lenin in the article “The main task of our days.” The work ends with the words:

If only our wanderers could
Under my own roof,
If only they could know,
What happened to Grisha.
He heard in his chest
Immense forces
Delighted his ears
Blessed sounds
Radiant sounds
Noble hymn -
He sang the incarnation
People's happiness!..

Such an unexpected ending arose because the author was aware of his imminent death, and, wanting to finish the work, he logically completed the poem in the fourth part, although at the beginning N. A. Nekrasov conceived 8 parts.

List of heroes

Temporarily obliged peasants who went to look for those who live happily and freely in Rus':

Ivan and Metropolitan Gubin,

Old man Pakhom,

Peasants and serfs:

Artyom Demin,
Yakim Nagoy,
Sidor,
Egorka Shutov,
Klim Lavin,
Vlas,
Agap Petrov,
Ipat is a sensitive serf,
Yakov is a faithful servant,
Gleb,
Proshka,
Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina,
Savely Korchagin,
Ermil Girin.

Landowners:

Obolt-Obolduev,
Prince Utyatin (the last one),
Vogel (Little information on this landowner)
Shalashnikov.

Other heroes

Elena Alexandrovna - the governor's wife who delivered Matryona,
Altynnikov - merchant, possible buyer of Ermila Girin's mill,
Grisha Dobrosklonov.

Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” which is included in the compulsory school curriculum, is presented in our summary, which you can read below.

Part 1

Prologue

Seven men from neighboring villages meet on the highway. They start an argument about who has fun in Rus'. Everyone has their own answer. In their conversations they do not notice that they have already walked thirty miles to God knows where. It gets dark, they make a fire. The argument gradually turns into a fight. But a definite answer still cannot be found.

A man named Pakhom catches a warbler chick. In return, the bird promises to tell the men where the self-assembled tablecloth is, which will give them as much food as they want, a bucket of vodka a day, and will wash and mend their clothes. The heroes receive a real treasure and decide to find the final answer to the question: who can live well in Rus'?

Pop

On the way the men meet a priest. They ask if he has a happy life. According to the priest, happiness is wealth, honor and peace. But these benefits are not available to the priest: in the cold and rain, he is forced to go out to the funeral service, to look at the tears of his relatives, when it is awkward to accept payment for the service. In addition, the priest does not see respect among the people, and every now and then he becomes the subject of ridicule from the men.

Rural fair

Having found out that the priest is not happy, the peasants go to a fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. Maybe they will find the lucky one there. There are a lot of drunk people at the fair. Old man Vavila is grieving that he wasted money on shoes for his granddaughter. Everyone wants to help, but they don’t have the opportunity. Master Pavel Veretennikov feels sorry for his grandfather and buys a gift for his granddaughter.

As night approaches, everyone around is drunk, the men leave.

drunken night

Pavel Veretennikov, having talked with ordinary people, regrets that Russian people drink too much. But the men are convinced that the peasants drink out of despair, that it is impossible to live sober in these conditions. If the Russian people stop drinking, great sadness awaits them.

These thoughts are expressed by Yakim Nagoy, a resident of the village of Bosovo. He tells how, during a fire, the first thing he did was take out popular prints from the hut - what he valued most.

The men settled down for lunch. Then one of them remained to guard the bucket of vodka, and the rest again went in search of happiness.

Happy

Wanderers offer those who are happy in Rus' a glass of vodka. There are many such lucky people - the overstrained man, the paralytic, and even the beggars.

Someone points them to Ermila Girin, an honest and respected peasant. When he needed to buy his mill at auction, people raised the required amount by ruble and by penny. A couple of weeks later, Girin was distributing debt in the square. And when the last ruble remained, he continued to look for its owner until sunset. But now Yermila has little happiness - he was accused of a popular revolt and thrown into prison.

landowner

The rosy-cheeked landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev is another candidate for the “lucky one.” But he complains to the peasants about the misfortune of the nobility - the abolition of serfdom. He was fine before. Everyone took care of him and tried to please him. And he himself was kind to the servants. The reform destroyed his usual way of life. How can he live now, because he doesn’t know how to do anything, he’s not capable of anything. The landowner began to cry, and the men became sad after him. The abolition of serfdom was not easy for the peasants either.

Part 2

Last One

The men find themselves on the banks of the Volga during haymaking. They observe a picture that is surprising to them. Three master's boats moor to the shore. The mowers, having just sat down to rest, jump up, wanting to curry favor with the master. It turned out that the heirs, having enlisted the support of the peasants, were trying to hide the peasant reform from the distraught landowner Utyatin. The peasants were promised land for this, but when the landowner dies, the heirs forget about the agreement.

Part 3

Peasant woman

Happiness seekers thought about asking women about happiness. Everyone they meet calls the name of Matryona Korchagina, whom people see as lucky.

Matryona claims that there are many troubles in her life, and dedicates wanderers to her story.

As a girl, Matryona had a good, non-drinking family. When the stove maker Korchagin looked after her, she was happy. But after marriage, the usual painful village life began. She was beaten by her husband only once, because he loved her. When he left to work, the stove-maker's family continued to abuse her. Only grandfather Savely, a former convict who was imprisoned for the murder of a manager, felt sorry for her. Savely looked like a hero, confident that it was impossible to defeat a Russian man.

Matryona was happy when her first son was born. But while she was at work in the field, Savely fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs. In front of the grief-stricken mother, the county doctor performed an autopsy on her firstborn. The woman still cannot forget the child, although after him she gave birth to five.

From the outside, everyone considers Matryona lucky, but no one understands what pain she carries inside, what mortal unavenged grievances gnaw at her, how she dies every time she remembers her dead child.

Matryona Timofeevna knows that a Russian woman simply cannot be happy, because she has no life, no will.

Part 4

Feast for the whole world

Wanderers near the village of Vakhlachina hear folk songs - hungry, salty, soldier's and corvee. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings - a simple Russian guy. There are stories about serfdom. One of them is the story of the Yakima Faithful. He was devoted to the master to the extreme. He rejoiced at the blows and fulfilled any whim. But when the landowner gave his nephew to military service, Yakim left and soon returned. He figured out how to take revenge on the landowner. Enervated, he brought him to the forest and hanged himself on a tree above the master.

A dispute begins about the worst sin. Elder Jonah tells the parable of “two sinners.” The sinner Kudeyar prayed to God for forgiveness, and he answered him. If Kudeyar knocks down a huge tree with just one knife, then his sins will disappear. The oak fell only after the sinner washed it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.

The clerk's son Grisha Dobrosklonov thinks about the future of the Russian people. For him, Rus' is a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother. In his soul he feels immense strength, he is ready to give his life for the good of the people. In the future, the glory of the people's intercessor, hard labor, Siberia and consumption awaits him. But if the wanderers knew what feelings filled Gregory’s soul, they would realize that the goal of their search had been achieved.

Who lives well in Rus' summary by chapters

So, in the first part of Nekrasov’s work Who Lives Well in Rus', we get acquainted with the prologue. In the prologue we meet the men. These are seven people who met on the road, and they came from different villages. Each of them has a name and has his own opinion about who lives well in Rus', and then the peasants argue. It seems to Roman that landowners have a good life; Demyan sees happiness in being an official. It seems to Luka that priests have the best life. Pakhom says that it is better for ministers to live in Rus', and the Gubin Brothers claim that merchants have a wonderful life, but Prov says that kings feel the best.

And while arguing, they did not notice how night had fallen. We decided to spend the night in the forest, continuing our argument. All the animals run away from their screams; the chick, which was caught by one of the men, also flew out of the nest. The mother bird asks to give up the chick, fulfilling everyone’s wishes in return. Next, the bird tells where to find a tablecloth - a self-assembled tablecloth. Having sat down to feast, they decide not to go home until they answer the question of who exactly is living well.

Chapter 1

The men meet a priest, who is asked how his life is and whether he is happy with life. The priest replied that if happiness for them is wealth and honor, then this is not about priests. The priest today is not respected, his income is scanty, because the nobles and landowners have left for the capital, and ordinary mortals cannot take much from them. At the same time, the priest is called to his place at any time of the year and in any weather.

Chapter 2

The men pass through several rural settlements, but people are almost nowhere to be seen, because they are all at the fair. The men headed there. There were a lot of people there, and everyone was selling something. There are a lot of not only shops, but also hot spots where you can get drunk. The men met an old man who drank away his money and did not buy shoes for his granddaughter. Veretennikov, whom everyone knows as a singer, buys shoes and gives them to his grandfather.

Chapter 3

The fair is over and everyone is wandering home drunk. The men also went, where arguments could be heard along the way. They also met Veretennikov, who says that the peasants drink a lot, but they say that they drink out of grief, and vodka is like an outlet for them. On the way, the men also met a woman who had a very jealous husband. Here they remembered their wives, they wanted to quickly find the answer to the question of who lives sweetly in Rus' and return home.

Chapter 4

The men, with the help of a self-assembled tablecloth, receive a bucket of vodka and treat all those who prove that they are happy. Everyone came up and shared their vision of happiness. Someone was poured vodka, someone was driven away, and then the men heard a story about the clerk Ermil Girin, whom everyone knew and even helped out when the judges demanded to pay money for the mill. The people chipped in, but Ermila returned everything and never appropriated someone else’s property. Once he excluded his younger brother from recruits, after which he repented for a long time, and then resigned from the post of mayor. The men decide to find this Ermila, but along the way they meet a gentleman.

Chapter 5

The men ask the landowner Obol-Obolduev how he lives. Life was good for him before, but not now, when there is land, but no peasants. He himself cannot work, he can only walk and have fun. All property was sold for debts. The men only sympathize and decide to look for the happy among the poor.

Part two

Walking along the road, the men see a field where haymaking is taking place. They also wanted to mow down, and then they see an old man sailing to the shore, giving orders that he immediately carried out. As it turned out, this is Prince Utyatin, who was struck when he learned that there was no serfdom. Fearing that they would lose their inheritance, the sons persuaded people to play the role of peasants for a fee, and they acted out performances. Agap alone was not going to hide it and told everything. There was a second blow. When the prince came to his senses, he ordered the serf to be punished; he was asked to scream in the barn, for which he was poured wine. Agap dies because the wine is poisoned. The people watch the prince eat breakfast and barely contain his laughter. One couldn’t help but laugh; they ordered him to be flogged, but a caring woman said that this son was a fool. Soon the prince suffered a third stroke and died, but happiness did not come, because the sons and peasants began to wage war. No one received the meadows, as the Usyatins promised.

Part three

To understand who is happy, the men go to a peasant woman in a neighboring village, where hunger and theft are rampant. They find a peasant woman, but she does not want to talk, because she needs to work. Then the men offer help, and Matryona shares her life.

She had a wonderful life in her parents' house. She had fun and knew no troubles, and then her father marries Philip Korchagin.
Now she is at her mother-in-law's house. She doesn't live well there, she was even beaten once. A child is born there, but the woman is often scolded, and although occasionally the father-in-law comes to her defense, life does not get any better.

The old man himself lives out his life in the upper room. He also went to hard labor for the murder of a German who did not allow the villagers to live. The old man often talked with Matryona about his life, talking about Russian heroism.

Then she tells how the father-in-law forbade him to take his son with him into the field; he stayed with the old man, who fell asleep and overlooked the child. He was eaten by pigs. The woman later forgave the old man, but she herself was very worried about the death of the child. The woman had other children. One of the sons was accused of not keeping track of the sheep and giving it to the wolf. The mother took the blame and was punished.

Then she talks about the hungry year. She was pregnant then, and her husband was about to be drafted into the army. Anticipating difficult times, she goes to the governor's wife and loses consciousness at the meeting. When she woke up, she realized that she had given birth. The governor's wife nurses her and also gives orders to release her husband from service. The peasant woman goes home and constantly prays for the health of the governor.

And here she sums up that they will not find happy ones among women, since they have all long ago lost the key to happiness.

Part four

Regarding the death of the prince, Klim organizes a party in the village. All the peasants gathered to take a walk at the feast, where they argued about how best to manage the meadows. Songs are sung at the feast.

In one of the cheerful songs they remembered the old times, the old orders. They told about the servant Yakov and his nephew, who liked Arisha, but the master also liked her, so he sent Grisha to become a soldier, Yakov drank himself to death, and when he started working again, he hanged himself in front of the master in the forest. The master cannot find his way out of the forest and a hunter helps him. Later the master admitted his guilt and asked to be executed. Then other songs are sung, which tell about different life situations.

Here the men started an argument about who would live better among the robbers, peasants or landowners, and we get acquainted with another story.

They started talking about sinfulness, who is more sinful, and then there was a story about two sinners. Kudeyar, who killed and robbed people and Pan Glukhov, who had a passion for women and was a drunkard. Kudeyarov had to cut down the tree with the same knife with which he killed, and then God would forgive his sins. But at that moment a gentleman was passing by, whom Kudeyarov killed, because the latter brutally killed men. Immediately the tree falls and Kudeyar’s sins were forgiven.

The conversation went on to the fact that the most serious sin was that of the peasants. They told how the admiral was awarded eight thousand peasant souls for his services. He wrote freedom for everyone and gave the casket to his servant. After his death, the heir pestered the servant and took the casket from him, burning everything. And then everyone agreed that such a sin is the greatest.
Then the men saw how the soldier was traveling to St. Petersburg. He is asked to sing songs, and he sang about how difficult his fate is and how unfairly they calculated his pension, considering his bleeding wounds insignificant. The men chip in a penny and collect a ruble for the soldier.

The work of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is dedicated to the deep problems of the Russian people. The heroes of his story, ordinary peasants, go on a journey in search of a person to whom life does not bring happiness. So who can live well in Rus'? A summary of the chapters and an annotation to the poem will help you understand the main idea of the work.

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The idea and history of the creation of the poem

Nekrasov’s main idea was to create a poem for the people, in which they could recognize themselves not only in the general idea, but also in the little things, everyday life, behavior, see their strengths and weaknesses, and find their place in life.

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

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

It is believed that the author began to write “Who can live well in Rus'?” around 1863 - shortly after. Two years later, Nekrasov completed the first part and marked the manuscript with this date. The subsequent ones were ready by 72, 73, 76 years of the 19th century, respectively.

Important! The work began to be published in 1866. This process turned out to be long and lasted four years. The poem was difficult to accept by critics, the highest authorities of that time brought down a lot of criticism on it, the author, along with his work, was persecuted. Despite this, “Who can live well in Rus'?” was published and well received by ordinary people.

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

Prologue

“Who can live well in Rus'?” begins with a prologue, the summary of which is as follows: meet seven main characters- ordinary Russian men from the people who came from the Terpigorev district.

Each one comes from their own village, the name of which, for example, was Dyryaevo or Neelovo. Having met, the men begin to actively argue with each other about who will truly live well in Rus'. This phrase will be the leitmotif of the work, its main plot.

Each offers a variant of the class that is now thriving. These were:

butts;
landowners;
officials;
merchants;
boyars and ministers;
tsar.

Guys argue so much it's getting out of control a fight starts- the peasants forget what they were going to do and go in a direction unknown to anyone. In the end, they wander into the wilderness, decide not to go anywhere else until the morning and wait out the night in a clearing.

Because of the noise, the chick falls out of the nest, one of the wanderers catches it and dreams that if it had wings, it would fly around all of Rus'. Others add that you can do without wings, if only you had something to drink and a good snack, then you can travel until you are old.

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

First part. Chapter 1

The first chapter tells about the meeting of the men with the priest. They walked for a long time, and they met ordinary people - beggars, peasants, soldiers. The disputants did not even try to talk to those, because they knew from themselves that the common people had no happiness. Having met the priest's cart, the wanderers block the path and talk about the dispute, asking the main question, who lives well in Rus', asking, Are the priests happy?.

Pop responds as follows:

A person has happiness only if his life combines three features - peace, honor and wealth.
He explains that priests have no peace, starting from how troublesome it is for them to get the rank and ending with the fact that every day they listen to the cries of dozens of people, which does not add peace to life.
Lots of money now It's hard for priests to make money, since the nobles, who previously performed rituals in their native villages, now do it in the capital, and the clergy have to live off the peasants alone, from whom there is a meager income.
The people of the priests also do not indulge them with respect, they make fun of them, avoid them, there is no way to hear a good word from anyone.

After the priest’s speech, the men shyly hide their eyes and understand that the life of priests in the world is not at all sweet. When the clergyman leaves, the debaters attack the one who suggested that the priests have a good life. Things would have come to a fight, but the priest appeared on the road again.

Chapter 2

The men walk along the roads for a long time, meeting almost no one they can ask who can live well in Rus'. In the end they find out that in the village of Kuzminskoye rich fair, since the village is not poor. There are two churches, a closed school and even a not very clean hotel where you can stay. It's no joke, there is a paramedic in the village.

The most important thing is that there are as many as 11 taverns here who do not have time to pour drinks for the merry people. All peasants drink a lot. There is an upset grandfather standing at the shoe store, who promised to bring boots to his granddaughter, but drank the money away. The master Pavlusha Veretennikov appears and pays for the purchase.

Books are also sold at the fair, but people are interested in the most mediocre books; neither Gogol nor Belinsky are in demand or interesting to the common people, despite the fact that these writers defend interests of ordinary people. At the end, the heroes get so drunk that they fall to the ground, watching as the church “shakes.”

Chapter 3

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

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

After listening to this, the men sit down to eat. Afterwards, one of them remains to watch the bucket of vodka, and the rest again head into the crowd to find a person who considers himself happy in this world.

Chapter 4

Men walk the streets and promise to treat the happiest person among the people with vodka in order to find out who lives well in Rus', but only deeply unhappy people who want to drink to console themselves. Those who want to brag about something good find that their petty happiness does not answer the main question. For example, a Belarusian is happy that they make rye bread here, which doesn’t give him stomach cramps, so he’s happy.

As a result, the bucket of vodka runs out, and the debaters understand that they will not find the truth this way, but one of those who came says to look for Ermila Girin. We respect Ermil very much In the village, the peasants say that he is a very good man. They even tell the story that when Girin wanted to buy a mill, but there was no money for a deposit, he raised a whole thousand in loans from the common people and managed to deposit the money.

A week later, Yermil gave away everything he had borrowed, and until the evening he asked those around him who else to approach and give the last remaining ruble.

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

Chapter 5

Next, the travelers meet a landowner, who, in response to the question of who can live well in Rus', tells them about his noble roots - the founder of his family, the Tatar Oboldui, was skinned by a bear for the laughter of the empress, who in return presented many expensive gifts.

The landowner complains, that the peasants were taken away, so there is no more law on their lands, forests are cut down, drinking establishments are multiplying - the people do what they want, and this makes them poor. He goes on to say that he was not used to working since childhood, but here he has to do it because the serfs were taken away.

Contritely, the landowner leaves, and the men feel sorry for him, thinking that on the one hand, after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants suffered, and on the other, the landowners, that this whip lashed all classes.

Part 2. The last one - summary

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

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

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

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

Part 3. Peasant woman

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

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

Matryona also gave birth to children afterwards, but she could not forget her first son. The peasant woman forgave the old man who had gone to the monastery out of grief and took him home, where he soon died. She herself, pregnant, came to the governor’s wife, asked to return my husband due to the difficult situation. Since Matryona gave birth right in the waiting room, the governor’s wife helped the woman, which is why people began to call her happy, which in fact was far from the case.

In the end, the wanderers, having not found female happiness and having not received an answer to their question - who can live well in Rus', moved on.

Part 4. A feast for the whole world - the conclusion of the poem

It happens in the same village. The main characters have gathered at a feast and are having fun, telling different stories to find out which of the people in Rus' will live well. The conversation turned to Yakov, a peasant who revered the master very much, but did not forgive him when he gave his nephew as a soldier. As a result, Yakov took his owner into the forest and hanged himself, but he could not get out because his legs did not work. What follows is a long debate about who is more sinful in this situation.

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

Grisha walks and sings that a glorious path awaits ahead, a resounding name in history, he is inspired by this, and is not even afraid of the expected outcome - Siberia and death from consumption. The debaters do not notice Grisha, but in vain, because this the only happy person in the poem, having understood this, they could find the answer to their question - who can live well in Russia.

When finishing the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?”, the author wanted to finish his work differently, but approaching death forced add optimism and hope at the end of the poem, to give “light at the end of the road” to the Russian people.

N.A. Nekrasov, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - summary

From 1863 to 1877 Nekrasov created “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The idea, characters, plot changed several times during the work. Most likely, the plan was not fully revealed: the author died in 1877. Despite this, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” as a folk poem is considered a completed work. It was supposed to have 8 parts, but only 4 were completed.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” begins with the introduction of the characters. These heroes are seven men from the villages: Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Gorelovo, Neurozhaika, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neelovo. They meet and start a conversation about who lives happily and well in Rus'. Each of the men has his own opinion. One believes that the landowner is happy, the other - that he is an official. The peasants from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” are also called happy by the merchant, the priest, the minister, the noble boyar, and the tsar. The heroes began to argue and lit a fire. It even came to a fight. However, they fail to come to an agreement.

Self-assembled tablecloth

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

The priest's story

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

Wanderers go to the fair

Wanderers understand that this person cannot be called happy, as noted by the author of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The heroes set off again and find themselves along the road in the village of Kuzminskoye, at the fair. This village is dirty, although rich. There are a lot of establishments in it where residents indulge in drunkenness. They drink away their last money. For example, an old man had no money left to buy shoes for his granddaughter, since he drank everything away. All this is observed by wanderers from the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (Nekrasov).

Yakim Nagoy

They also notice fairground entertainment and fights and argue that a man is forced to drink: it helps him withstand hard work and eternal hardships. An example of this is Yakim Nagoy, a man from the village of Bosovo. He works himself to death and drinks until he is half to death. Yakim believes that if there were no drunkenness, there would be great sadness.

The wanderers continue their journey. In the work “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov talks about how they want to find happy and cheerful people and promise to give these lucky people free water. Therefore, a variety of people are trying to pass themselves off as such - a former servant suffering from paralysis, who for many years licked the master's plates, exhausted workers, beggars. However, the travelers themselves understand that these people cannot be called happy.

Ermil Girin

The men once heard about a man named Ermil Girin. Nekrasov further tells his story, of course, but does not convey all the details. Yermil Girin is a burgomaster who was very respected, a fair and honest person. He intended to one day buy the mill. The men lent him money without a receipt, they trusted him so much. However, a peasant revolt occurred. Now Yermil is in prison.

Obolt-Obolduev's story

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

Life of Matryona Korchagina

The peasants were told that in one village there lived a peasant woman named Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, whom everyone called lucky. They found her, and Matryona told the men about her life. Nekrasov continues this story “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

A brief summary of this woman's life story is as follows. Her childhood was cloudless and happy. She had a hard-working family that didn't drink. The mother cared for and cherished her daughter. When Matryona grew up, she became a beauty. One day, a stove maker from another village, Philip Korchagin, wooed her. Matryona told how he persuaded her to marry him. This was the only bright memory of this woman in her entire life, which was hopeless and dreary, although her husband treated her well by peasant standards: he almost never beat her. However, he went to the city to earn money. Matryona lived in her father-in-law's house. Everyone here treated her badly. The only one who was kind to the peasant woman was the very old grandfather Savely. He told her that he was sent to hard labor for the murder of the manager.

Soon Matryona gave birth to Demushka, a sweet and beautiful child. She could not part with him for a minute. However, the woman had to work in the field, where her mother-in-law did not allow her to take the child. Grandfather Savely was watching the baby. One day he did not take care of Demushka, and the child was eaten by pigs. They came from the city to investigate, and they opened up the baby in front of the mother’s eyes. This was the hardest blow for Matryona.

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

She also said that they once wanted to recruit her husband as a soldier, although this was a violation of the law. Then Matryona went to the city while pregnant. Here the woman met Elena Alexandrovna, the kind governor’s wife, who helped her, and Matryona’s husband was released.

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

Crazy landowner

Men-wanderers are on their way to the Volga. Here comes the mowing. People are busy with hard work. Suddenly an amazing scene: the mowers humiliate themselves and please the old master. It turned out that the landowner He could not understand what had already been abolished. Therefore, his relatives persuaded the men to behave as if it was still in effect. They were promised for this. The men agreed, but were deceived once again. When the old master died, the heirs gave them nothing.

The story of Jacob

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

Grigory Dobrosklonov - people's defender

This and other stories make men think that they will not be able to find happy people. However, they learn about Grigory Dobrosklonov, a seminarian. This is the son of a sexton, who has seen the suffering and hopeless life of the people since childhood. He made a choice in his early youth, he decided that he would give his strength to fight for the happiness of his people. Gregory is educated and smart. He understands that Rus' is strong and will cope with all troubles. In the future, Gregory will have a glorious path ahead, the great name of the people's intercessor, “consumption and Siberia.”

The men hear about this intercessor, but they do not yet understand that such people can make others happy. This will not happen soon.

Heroes of the poem

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

The characteristics of the heroes of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” can be supplemented by the fact that the author created surprisingly reliable images of peasants. Their characters are very accurate, although contradictory. Not only kindness, strength and integrity of character are found in Russian people. They have preserved at the genetic level servility, servility, and readiness to submit to a despot and tyrant. The coming of Grigory Dobrosklonov, a new man, is a symbol of the fact that honest, noble, intelligent people are appearing among the downtrodden peasantry. May their fate be unenviable and difficult. Thanks to them, self-awareness will arise among the peasant masses, and people will finally be able to fight for happiness. This is exactly what the heroes and the author of the poem dream about. ON THE. Nekrasov (“Who Lives Well in Russia”, “Russian Women”, “Frost, and Other Works”) is considered a truly national poet, who was interested in the fate of the peasantry, their suffering, problems. The poet could not remain indifferent to his difficult lot. The work of N. A. Nekrasov’s “Who Lives Well in Russia” was written with such sympathy for the people that today it makes us sympathize with their fate in that difficult time.