“Who lives well in Rus'”: “Pop” (chapter analysis). Poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'"

The first chapter tells about a meeting between truth-seekers and a priest. What is its ideological and artistic meaning? Expecting to find someone happy “at the top,” men are primarily guided by the opinion that the basis of every person’s happiness is “wealth,” and as long as they encounter “craftsmen, beggars, / Soldiers, coachmen” and “their brother, a peasant-basket-maker,” neither thoughts ask

How is it for them - is it easy or difficult?

Lives in Rus'?

It’s clear: “What happiness is there?”

And the picture of a cold spring with poor shoots in the fields, and the sad view of Russian villages, and the background with the participation of a poor, suffering people - everything evokes disturbing thoughts for wanderers and the reader about people's fate, thereby preparing internally for the meeting with the first “lucky” one - the priest. The priest's happiness in Luke's view is depicted as follows:

The priests live like princes...

Raspberries are not life!

Popova porridge - with butter,

Popov pie - with filling,

Popov's cabbage soup - with smelt!

etc.

And when the men ask the priest whether the priest’s life is sweet, and when they agree with the priest that the prerequisites for happiness are “peace, wealth, honor,” it seems that the priest’s confession will follow the path outlined by Luke’s colorful sketch. But Nekrasov gives movement to the main idea of ​​the poem unexpected turn. The priest took the peasants' issue very seriously. Before telling them the “truth, the truth,” he “looked down, thought,” and began to talk not at all about “porridge with butter.”

In the chapter “Pop,” the problem of happiness is revealed not only in a social sense (“Is the life of a priest sweet?”), but also in a moral and psychological sense (“How are you living at ease, happily / Are you living, honest father?”). Answering the second question, the priest in his confession is forced to talk about what he sees as the true happiness of a person. The narration in connection with the priest's story acquires a high teaching pathos.

The truth-seekers met not a high-ranking shepherd, but an ordinary rural pop. The lower rural clergy in the 60s constituted the largest layer of the Russian intelligentsia. As a rule, rural priests knew life well common people. Of course, this lower clergy was not homogeneous: there were cynics, drunkards, and money-grubbers, but there were also those who were close to the needs of the peasants and understood their aspirations. Among the rural clergy there were people who were in opposition to the higher church circles and to the civil authorities. We must not forget that a significant part of the democratic intelligentsia of the 60s came from among the rural clergy.

The image of the priest encountered by the wanderers is not without its own kind of tragedy. This is the type of person characteristic of the 60s, an era of historical rupture, when the feeling of catastrophe modern life or pushed honest and thinking people the dominant environment on the path of struggle, or was driven into a dead end of pessimism and hopelessness. The pop drawn by Nekrasov is one of those humane and moral people who live an intense spiritual life, observe with anxiety and pain the general ill-being, painfully and truthfully striving to determine their place in life. For such a person, happiness is impossible without peace of mind, satisfaction with oneself, with one’s life. There is no peace in the life of the “examined” priest, not only because

Sick, dying,

Born into the world

They don't choose time

and the priest must go wherever he is called at any time. Much worse than physical fatigue is the moral torment: “the soul is tired, the soul is aching” to look at human suffering, at the grief of a poor, orphaned, family that has lost its breadwinner. The priest remembers with pain those moments when

The old woman, the mother of the dead man,

Look, he's reaching out with the bony one

Calloused hand.

The soul will turn over,

How they jingle in this little hand

Two copper coins!

Painting before his listeners a stunning picture of popular poverty and suffering, the priest not only denies the possibility of his own personal happiness in an atmosphere of nationwide grief, but instills an idea that, using Nekrasov’s later poetic formula, can be expressed in words:

Happiness of noble minds

See contentment around.

The priest of the first chapter is not indifferent to the people's fate, and he is not indifferent to the people's opinion. What kind of respect do people have for the priest?

Who do you call

Foal breed?

...Who are you writing about?

You are joker fairy tales

And the songs are obscene

And all sorts of blasphemy?..

These direct questions from the priest to the wanderers reveal the disrespectful attitude towards the clergy found among the peasants. And although truth-seekers feel awkward in front of standing nearby priest for the popular opinion that is so offensive to him (the wanderers “groan, shift,” “look down, remain silent”), they do not deny the prevalence of this opinion. The well-known validity of the hostile and ironic attitude of the people towards the clergy is proven by the priest’s story about the sources of the priest’s “wealth”. Where is it from? Bribes, handouts from landowners, but the main source of priestly income is collecting the last pennies from the people (“Live from the peasants alone”). The priest understands that “the peasant himself is in need,” that

With so much work for pennies

Life is hard.

He cannot forget these copper nickels that jingled in the old woman’s hand, but even he, honest and conscientious, takes them, these pennies of labor, because “if you don’t take it, you have nothing to live on.” The confession story of the priest is structured as his judgment over the life of the class to which he himself belongs, a trial over the life of his “spiritual brethren”, over his own life, because collecting people's pennies is a source of eternal pain for him.

As a result of a conversation with the priest, truth-seekers begin to understand that “man does not live by bread alone,” that “porridge with butter” is not enough for happiness if you have it alone, that it’s hard for an honest person to live on his own, and those who live on someone else’s labor, deceit - worthy only of condemnation and contempt. Happiness based on untruth is not happiness - this is the conclusion of the wanderers.

Well, here's what you've praised,

Popov's life -

They attack “with selective strong abuse / On poor Luka.”

Consciousness of the inner rightness of one’s life is required condition human happiness - the poet teaches the contemporary reader.

Written in blank verse and stylized as ancient legends, the poem tells about the long journey through the lands of Mother Rus' of seven travelers who asked the question “who can live well in Rus'.” Nekrasov wrote his work in the second half of the 19th century, as a response to the reforms of Alexander II, who abolished serfdom. The journey of wanderers was supposed to end in St. Petersburg, but due to illness and sudden death The writer's poem remained unfinished.

A brief retelling of the plot of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

A long time ago, seven men from adjacent villages met on a country road. These were poor people who did not become happier with the abolition of serfdom in Rus'. A dispute ensued between the travelers - who lives well in their native lands? The conversation turned out to be so heated that the men walked 30 miles together and didn’t notice.

We stopped for the night, added vodka and a fire to the journey, got into a fight, but never got the truth. Apparently fate itself united these people - the men went to long haul in search of a happy person. We met a lot of people and listened to dozens of stories. The people of Rus' are strong and patient, but happiness seems to pass them by...

List and brief description of the characters in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

• Seven male travelers:

1. Novel - there is no information about it in the poem, there is no characterization;
2. Demyan is the most “educated” of the travelers, he can read syllables;
3. Luka is a stupid, bearded man;
4. Ivan Gubin and his brother
5. Metropolitan Gubin - drunkards, knowledgeable about horses;
6. Old Pakhom is a beekeeper, a smart old man;
7. Prov is a gloomy man with a strong build.

• Matryona Timofeevna - Matryona’s life is difficult, she lost her parents early, survived the death of her son. She bravely faces the machinations of fate, but she certainly cannot be considered one of the lucky ones.
• Bogatyr Savely - Matryona also told the travelers about the sad fate of Savely.
• The priest is a priest with a difficult service in a village church.
• Ermil Girin is a young, smart, kind and hardworking peasant. He was a burgomaster, but he made a mistake and could not come to terms with it.
• Obold Obolduev is a landowner who really lacks serfdom.
• Prince Utyatin - old prince who did not recognize the abolition of serfdom.
• Grisha Dobrosklonov is the 15-year-old son of a clerk, an intelligent and kind fellow, living in poverty, forced to constantly starve.

Brief summary of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by chapters

PART I

Prologue

We met seven men - Demyan, Roman, Luka, Mitrodor, Ivan, Pakhom and Prov - from adjacent villages in Terpigorevo district with “talking” names: Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Zaplatovo, Znobishino, Neelovo, Gorelovo, Neurozhaiko.

The men started a dispute about “who lives better: the priest, the official, the landowner, the tsar.” They argued the whole way together, reached the forest and got into a fight. And then they caught the chick. His mother, a bird, in order to “ransom” her baby, told the men where the self-assembled tablecloth was hidden and bewitched their clothes so that they would never fray. The travelers unrolled the tablecloth, ate and drank, and promised each other that they would not return home until they found someone who was living well in Rus'. Thus began their long journey...

Chapter 1. Pop

The travelers walked for a long time along the birch trees. On the way they came across poor peasants and other “small” people. It was stupid to ask them about happiness - where does it come from?!

Finally, the disputants met the priest. Luke asked him if his life was sweet. The priest considered it a sinful thing to complain about life and simply told how and with what he exists. For him, happiness is “peace, wealth and honor.” But from the clergyman’s story, the seven men concluded that all three named values ​​were absolutely unattainable for their new acquaintance. There is nothing good about living as a priest in Rus'.

Chapter 2. Rural fair

As they continue their journey, the men encounter many deserted villages. It turns out that in one village, the richest one, there is a fair. The travelers decide to wander there and look for the happy villagers. But they don’t find anything good - only dirt, poverty and endless drinking.

Chapter 3. Drunken night

Along the hundred-voice road, the men come across drunken and talkative people. One of them, Yakin Goly, tells them his story: how he saved popular prints from a burning house and lost all his savings. Then the travelers stop to rest and again “join” the crowd to look for the lucky Russians.

Chapter 4. Happy

The wanderers resorted to a little trick. They started shouting to the people that if the “lucky” one came up to them, they would treat him with vodka for nothing. People immediately line up. And everyone is happy, as if by choice: the soldier is glad that he returned barely alive from hellish service, the grandmother is delighted with the turnip harvest, and so on. So a whole bucket of vodka was distributed, but the happy one was not found.

One of the guys in the queue told the story of Ermila Girin, who may be the lucky one. Ermila managed to rise to the ruling rank, he is respected and loved by all the common people. But where is he? “Lucky” is in prison, and the priest promised to tell him why, but the thief was caught in the crowd and everyone rushed to the screams.

Chapter 5. Landowner

Next on the path of the seekers happy people met the landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev. And he told casual acquaintances about his fate. How well he lived under serfdom and how hard it was without it. At the end of the story, the landowner burst into tears.

PART II

Last One

The men celebrated the new day on the banks of the Volga River. A huge meadow with mown hay stretched out in front of them. Three boats moored to the shore, and in them was a family of nobles. The oldest of them was fawned on by everyone around him, including the peasants freed from serfdom.

It turned out that this was not easy. Prince Utyatin, or the Last One (nickname), when he learned that the serfs were being freed, promised to deprive his sons of their inheritance, since they did not defend the ideals of the landowners. The boyar children persuaded the peasants to play along with them and soon announced to the priest that everything had returned to normal. The peasants were promised a lot of lordly land for the performance. The old man died, the peasants were left with nothing.

PART III

Peasant woman

The wanderers visit the governor Matryona Korchagina, who is 38 years old, but she calls herself an old woman. The woman tells them her difficult fate. She was happy for a long time and only when she lived as a girl with her father and mother. Then she got married, her husband went to work, and she stayed with his family to live. I served everyone, but I only regretted old grandfather Savely. Matryonin’s first-born was eaten by pigs, then there were more children, and they even managed to beg her husband to come home from military service. Summing up her speech, Matryona admitted to the travelers that the concepts of “ female happiness“In Rus' there is simply no such thing.

PART IV

Feast for the whole world

There is a feast for the entire village of Vakhlacheno. Here: Klim Yakovlich, Vlas the headman and young seminary students Savvushka and Grisha, who sing good songs. Stories are told again at the table, for example, about the faithful servant Yakov. He served the master and loved him, endured everything until he gave his nephew to military service. The slave started drinking, and when he got over it, he returned to the master and after a while took cruel revenge. Gradually, conversations turn to sad, bloody stories, people begin to sing sad songs.

But the day will come when Rus' will sing only good songs and there will be no need to look for the happy - everyone will be happy. The first bricks for this day have been laid and they are two seminarians at a common table. Grisha, son of a clerk, from the very youth decided to devote himself to the fight for the happiness of the people. He loves his native village as deeply as his mother. And walks around native land with a song on my lips. His plans and dreams will come true, a difficult but noble life awaits this boy. It’s a pity that the travelers don’t hear Grisha singing about Rus'; then they wouldn’t have gone further, but would have gone home, because they would have realized that they had found the one they were going to look for.

This is how Nekrasov’s poem ended, but even from its unfinished chapters it becomes clear to the reader how difficult it was for the people after the reforms in Rus'.

The history of the creation of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

The plot of the poem was conceived by the author in the 1850s, and the last point was set by him in 1877. Nekrasov worked closely on this work for almost 15 years and, unfortunately, death did not allow him to complete his work. The editors and publishers received the manuscript in scattered form, since the writer did not have time to put it together in the required order. The version of the poem known to contemporaries was prepared for publication by K. Chukovsky, relying on Nekrasov’s notes, diaries and drafts.

PROLOGUE

On the main road in Pustoporozhnaya volost, seven men meet: Roman, Demyan, Luka, Prov, old man Pakhom, brothers Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin. They come from neighboring villages: Neurozhayki, Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutov, Znobishina, Gorelova and Neelova. Men argue about who lives well and freely in Rus'. Roman believes that the landowner, Demyan - the official, and Luka - the priest. Old man Pakhom claims that a minister lives best, the Gubin brothers live best as a merchant, and Prov thinks that he is a king.

It's starting to get dark. The men understand that, carried away by the argument, they have walked thirty miles and now it is too late to return home. They decide to spend the night in the forest, light a fire in the clearing and again begin to argue, and then even fight. Their noise causes all the forest animals to scatter, and a chick falls out of the warbler’s nest, which Pakhom picks up. The mother warbler flies up to the fire and asks in a human voice to let her chick go. For this, she will fulfill any desire of the peasants.

The men decide to go further and find out which of them is right. Warbler tells where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed and water them on the road. The men find a self-assembled tablecloth and sit down to feast. They agree not to return home until they find out who has the best life in Rus'.

Chapter I. Pop

Soon the travelers meet the priest and tell the priest that they are looking for “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” They ask the church minister to answer honestly: is he satisfied with his fate?

The priest replies that he carries his cross with humility. If men believe that a happy life means peace, honor and wealth, then he has nothing like that. People don't choose the time of their death. So they call the priest to the dying person, even in the pouring rain, even in the bitter cold. And sometimes the heart cannot stand the tears of widows and orphans.

There is no talk of any honor. They make up all sorts of stories about priests, laugh at them and consider meeting with a priest bad omen. And the wealth of the priests is not what it used to be. Previously, when noble people lived in their family estates, the incomes of the priests were quite good. The landowners gave rich gifts, were baptized and married in the parish church. Here they had a funeral service and were buried. These were the traditions. And now the nobles live in the capitals and “abroad”, that’s all there church ceremonies are coping. But you can’t take much money from poor peasants.

The men bow respectfully to the priest and move on.

CHAPTER II. Country fair

The travelers pass several empty villages and ask: where have all the people gone? It turns out that there is a fair in the neighboring village. The men decide to go there. There are a lot of dressed-up people walking around the fair, selling everything from plows and horses to scarves and books. There are a lot of goods, but there are even more drinking establishments.

Old man Vavila is crying near the bench. He drank all the money and promised his granddaughter goatskin boots. Pavlusha Veretennikov approaches his grandfather and buys shoes for the girl. The delighted old man grabs his shoes and hurries home. Veretennikov is known in the area. He loves to sing and listen to Russian songs.

CHAPTER III. drunken night

After the fair, there are drunk people on the road. Some wander, some crawl, and some even lie in the ditch. Moans and endless drunken conversations can be heard everywhere. Veretennikov is talking with peasants at a road sign. He listens and writes down songs and proverbs, and then begins to reproach the peasants for drinking too much.

A well-drunk man named Yakim gets into an argument with Veretennikov. He says that the common people have accumulated a lot of grievances against landowners and officials. If you didn’t drink, it would be a big disaster, but all the anger dissolves in vodka. There is no measure for men in drunkenness, but is there any measure in grief, in hard work?

Veretennikov agrees with such reasoning and even drinks with the peasants. Here the travelers hear a beautiful young song and decide to look for the lucky ones in the crowd.

CHAPTER IV. Happy

Men walk around and shout: “Come out happy! We’ll pour some vodka!” People crowded around. The travelers began to ask about who was happy and how. They pour it to some, they just laugh at others. But the conclusion from the stories is this: a man’s happiness lies in the fact that he sometimes ate his fill, and God protected him in difficult times.

The men are advised to find Ermila Girin, whom the whole neighborhood knows. One day, the cunning merchant Altynnikov decided to take the mill away from him. He came to an agreement with the judges and declared that Ermila needed to immediately pay a thousand rubles. Girin did not have that kind of money, but he went to the marketplace and asked honest people to chip in. The men responded to the request, and Ermil bought the mill, and then returned all the money to the people. For seven years he was mayor. During that time, I didn’t pocket a single penny. Only once he excluded his younger brother from the recruits, and then he repented in front of all the people and left his post.

The wanderers agree to look for Girin, but the local priest says that Yermil is in prison. Then a troika appears on the road, and in it is a gentleman.

CHAPTER V. Landowner

The men stop the troika, in which the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev is riding, and ask how he lives. The landowner begins to remember the past with tears. Previously, he owned the entire district, he kept a whole regiment of servants and gave holidays with dances, theatrical performances and hunting. Now “the great chain has broken.” The landowners have land, but there are no peasants to cultivate it.

Gavrila Afanasyevich was not used to working. It’s not a noble thing to do housekeeping. He only knows how to walk, hunt, and steal from the treasury. Now his family nest has been sold for debts, everything is stolen, and the men drink day and night. Obolt-Obolduev bursts into tears, and the travelers sympathize with him. After this meeting, they understand that they need to look for happiness not among the rich, but in the “Unbroken province, Ungutted volost...”.

PEASANT WOMAN

PROLOGUE

The wanderers decide to look for happy people among women. In one village they are advised to find Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, nicknamed “the governor’s wife.” Soon the men find this beautiful, dignified woman of about thirty-seven. But Korchagina doesn’t want to talk: it’s hard, the bread needs to be removed urgently. Then the travelers offer their help in the field in exchange for a story of happiness. Matryona agrees.

Chapter I. Before marriage

Korchagina spends her childhood in a non-drinking, friendly family, in an atmosphere of love from her parents and brother. Cheerful and agile Matryona works a lot, but also loves to go for a walk. A stranger, the stove maker Philip, is wooing her. They are having a wedding. Now Korchagina understands: she was only happy in her childhood and girlhood.

Chapter II. Songs

Philip brings his young wife to his large family. It’s not easy there for Matryona. Her mother-in-law, father-in-law and sisters-in-law do not allow her to live, they constantly reproach her. Everything happens exactly as it is sung in the songs. Korchagina endures. Then her first-born Demushka is born - like the sun in a window.

The master's manager pesters a young woman. Matryona avoids him as best she can. The manager threatens to give Philip a soldier. Then the woman goes for advice to grandfather Savely, the father-in-law, who is one hundred years old.

Chapter III. Saveliy, Holy Russian hero

Savely looks like a huge bear. He for a long time served hard labor for murder. The cunning German manager sucked all the juice out of the serfs. When he ordered four hungry peasants to dig a well, they pushed the manager into the hole and covered it with earth. Among these killers was Savely.

CHAPTER IV. Demushka

The old man's advice was of no use. The manager, who did not allow Matryona passage, suddenly died. But then another problem happened. The young mother was forced to leave Demushka under the supervision of her grandfather. One day he fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs.

The doctor and the judges arrive, perform an autopsy, and interrogate Matryona. She is accused of intentionally killing a child, in conspiracy with an old man. The poor woman is almost losing her mind with grief. And Savely goes to the monastery to atone for his sin.

CHAPTER V. She-Wolf

Four years later, the grandfather returns, and Matryona forgives him. When Korchagina’s eldest son, Fedotushka, turns eight years old, the boy is given to help as a shepherd. One day the she-wolf manages to steal a sheep. Fedot chases after her and snatches out the already dead prey. The she-wolf is terribly thin, she leaves a bloody trail behind her: she cut her nipples on the grass. The predator looks doomedly at Fedot and howls. The boy feels sorry for the she-wolf and her cubs. He leaves the carcass of a sheep to the hungry beast. For this, the villagers want to whip the child, but Matryona accepts the punishment for her son.

CHAPTER VI. Difficult year

A hungry year is coming, in which Matryona is pregnant. Suddenly news comes that her husband is being recruited as a soldier. The eldest son from their family is already serving, so they shouldn’t take the second one, but the landowner doesn’t care about the laws. Matryona is horrified; pictures of poverty and lawlessness appear before her, because her only breadwinner and protector will not be there.

CHAPTER VII. Governor's wife

The woman walks into the city and arrives at the governor's house in the morning. She asks the doorman to arrange a date for her with the governor. For two rubles, the doorman agrees and lets Matryona into the house. At this time, the governor’s wife comes out of her chambers. Matryona falls at her feet and falls into unconsciousness.

When Korchagina comes to her senses, she sees that she has given birth to a boy. The kind, childless governor's wife fusses with her and the child until Matryona recovers. Together with her husband, who was released from service, the peasant woman returns home. Since then, she has not tired of praying for the health of the governor.

Chapter VIII. The Old Woman's Parable

Matryona ends her story with an appeal to wanderers: do not look for happy people among women. The Lord dropped the keys to women's happiness into the sea, and they were swallowed by a fish. Since then they have been looking for those keys, but they can’t find them.

LAST

Chapter I

I

Travelers come to the banks of the Volga to the village of Vakhlaki. There are beautiful meadows there and haymaking is in full swing. Suddenly music sounds and boats land on the shore. It is old Prince Utyatin who has arrived. He inspects the mowing and swears, and the peasants bow and ask for forgiveness. The men are amazed: everything is like under serfdom. They turn to the local mayor Vlas for clarification.

II

Vlas gives an explanation. The prince became terribly angry when he learned that the peasants had been given free rein, and he was struck down. After that, Utyatin began to act weird. He doesn’t want to believe that he no longer has power over the peasants. He even promised to curse his sons and disinherit them if they spoke such nonsense. So the heirs of the peasants asked them to pretend in front of the master that everything was as before. And for this they will be granted the best meadows.

III

The prince sits down to breakfast, which the peasants gather to gawk at. One of them, the biggest quitter and drunkard, had long ago volunteered to play the steward in front of the prince instead of the rebellious Vlas. So he crawls in front of Utyatin, and the people can barely contain their laughter. One, however, cannot cope with himself and laughs. The prince turns blue with anger and orders the rebel to be flogged. One lively peasant woman comes to the rescue, telling the master that her son, the fool, laughed.

The prince forgives everyone and sets off on the boat. Soon the peasants learn that Utyatin died on the way home.

A Feast FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

Dedicated to Sergei Petrovich Botkin

Introduction

The peasants rejoice at the death of the prince. They walk and sing songs, and the former servant of Baron Sineguzin, Vikenty, tells an amazing story.

About the exemplary slave - Yakov Verny

There lived one very cruel and greedy landowner, Polivanov, who had a faithful servant, Yakov. The man suffered a lot from the master. But Polivanov’s legs became paralyzed, and faithful Yakov became an indispensable person for the disabled man. The master is not overjoyed with the slave, calling him his brother.

Yakov’s beloved nephew once decided to get married, and asks the master to marry the girl whom Polivanov had his eye on for himself. The master, for such insolence, gives up his rival as a soldier, and Yakov, out of grief, goes on a drinking binge. Polivanov feels bad without an assistant, but the slave returns to work after two weeks. Again the master is pleased with the servant.

But new trouble is already on the way. On the way to the master's sister, Yakov suddenly turns into a ravine, unharnesses the horses, and hangs himself by the reins. All night the master drives away the crows from the poor body of the servant with a stick.

After this story, the men argued about who was more sinful in Rus': landowners, peasants or robbers? And the pilgrim Ionushka tells the following story.

About two great sinners

Once upon a time there was a gang of robbers led by Ataman Kudeyar. The robber destroyed many innocent souls, but the time has come - he began to repent. And he went to the Holy Sepulcher, and received the schema in the monastery - everyone does not forgive sins, his conscience torments him. Kudeyar settled in the forest under a hundred-year-old oak tree, where he dreamed of a saint who showed him the way to salvation. The murderer will be forgiven when he cuts down this oak tree with the knife that killed people.

Kudeyar began to saw the oak tree in three circles with a knife. Things are going slowly, because the sinner is already advanced in age and weak. One day, the landowner Glukhovsky drives up to the oak tree and begins to mock the old man. He beats, tortures and hangs slaves as much as he wants, but sleeps peacefully. Here Kudeyar falls into a terrible anger and kills the landowner. The oak tree immediately falls, and all the robber’s sins are immediately forgiven.

After this story, the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov begins to argue and prove that the most grave sin- peasant. Here is his story.

Peasant sin

For military services, the admiral receives from the empress eight thousand souls of serfs. Before his death, he calls the elder Gleb and hands him a casket, and in it - free food for all the peasants. After the death of the admiral, the heir began to pester Gleb: he gives him money, free money, just to get the treasured casket. And Gleb trembled and agreed to hand over important documents. So the heir burned all the papers, and eight thousand souls remained in the fortress. The peasants, after listening to Ignatius, agree that this sin is the most serious.

In Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” there is a very precise and touching image the priest whom the main characters meet. They ask him how he lives in Rus', and the priest begins his story.

The reader knows little about the priest’s appearance: only a huge hat, which he takes off when he crosses himself and stern face. He talks about his life willingly and with heaviness, because his life is very difficult. He runs a large church, where many peasants come to pray and ask the priest for God's help. In addition to the church, the priest is also called to the house, and regardless of weather conditions and time of day, he works both at night and during the day. The priest experiences hardships of the people who turn to him, he takes their pain onto his soul, sincerely sympathizes and suffers because he is sometimes unable to help. It is especially difficult for him to attend the funeral of the family breadwinner, because the whole family is left without means of living.

Due to the fact that rich landowners have left the city and are unlikely to return, the church is experiencing better times, the priest receives very little money, but what he receives is very conscientious and even shameful for him. He would be glad to work for free, but he needs to live for something, that’s why he takes money from the hands of even poor peasants.

But what depresses the priest most of all is that the peasants treat priests poorly, joke about their daughters and wives, and make up sayings like “When you meet a priest, it’s not good.” Among other things, the peasants compose vulgar and mocking songs about priests and laugh at them in every possible way.

The priest is very patient, courageous and stoic about his life, he understands that the cross he bears is heavy, but he will carry it until he dies, because he is a servant of God, helping the peasants, this is his purpose.

It's a shame that in present life There are few such people, for some reason everyone is used to complaining about life, forgetting that somewhere far away there are countries where people’s lives are tens of times worse. I believe that it is necessary to approach every difficulty in life with full combat readiness, to try in every possible way to overcome the difficulty and rise above it, as the priest from the poem does.

Why is life good for the priest and why is it bad?

Essay about Pop (Who lives well in Rus')

Question about happy life and about people who have been wondering “it’s good to live in Rus'” for generations different years. Heroes Nekrasov's poem“Who can live well in Rus'?” to different historical eras were understood differently. The work, written in the nineteenth century, remains relevant today. A person strives to be independent of the circumstances that surround him. Everyone has their own concept of a “good life”. For some, “living well” means having an unlimited amount of money, for others it means the happiness of loved ones, for others it means a peaceful sky above your head. And let everyone have their own happiness, but it is not possible without love.

Love for your loved one, your family, the place where you were born.

Who helps ordinary peasants from Nekrasov’s poem, looking for happiness, answer the question about a good life in Rus', and those who directly live next to him.

It is the priest that the seven peasants meet first on their way. This is quite symbolic. In those distant times, the rural priest was considered the spiritual father of every born child, a person who blesses for good deeds, who escorts the dying person to the kingdom of heaven.

From the poem it is clear that the clergyman is a rural priest with a fairly large parish. The peasants are convinced that he is the one who has the best life in Rus'. From the narration of the priest himself, it turns out that they are greatly mistaken.

The service of a priest is difficult; in any weather, he must go to the person who asks him for help: “Go wherever you are called!” He worries about people, tries to help them with the word of God.

At the same time, there is no due respect for him. People laugh at him, try to avoid him (a bad omen), so life is very difficult for him.

His income directly depends on his parishioners, mostly poor peasants. He lives on whatever they give him. His family does not have much wealth, nor do the peasants themselves who turned to him. But he cannot help but take money from the poor; then he himself will die of hunger. There are no rich people in his parish; the landowners have left for the cities.

The priest, who has heard the confession of other people more than once, in the poem seems to be confessing himself, only not before God, but before ordinary Russian peasants.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the poet conceived the confession of a priest. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” - last piece N.A. Nekrasova. He wrote it as a very sick man, well aware that his days were numbered and his illness would not go away. With his poem he sums up his spiritual quest. For the poet, happiness is serving his people, freedom from censorship, and the prosperity of Russia.

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The work of Russian literature of the 19th century does not lose its relevance. The search for happiness can continue. Things have changed a bit modern Russia. Summary Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” in chapters and parts will help you find the desired episode and understand the plot.

1 part

Prologue

Seven men from different villages gathered on the road and began to argue about who would live happily and freely in Rus'. The meeting place and the names of the villages were chosen by the author with meaning. County - Terpigorev (we endure grief), volost - Pustoporozhnaya (empty or empty). Villages with names that convey the main characteristics of peasant life:

• clothing made from patches – Zaplatovo;
• things with holes - Dyryavino;
• without shoes – Razutovo;
• shivering from illness and fear - Znobishino;
• burnt houses - Gorelovo;
• no food - Neelovo;
• constant crop failures - crop failure.

• landowner;
• official;
• merchant;
• boyar;
• minister;
• tsar.

"The tablecloth will do everything"

The warbler promised. The bird warned that you should not ask the tablecloth for more food than your stomach can handle, and only 1 bucket of vodka. If these conditions are not met, the desire will lead to disaster for the 3rd time. The men found a tablecloth and had a feast. They decided that they would find out who lived happily on Russian soil, and only then would they return home.

Chapter 1 Pop

Chapter 2 Rural fair

• Dirty hotel with a beautiful sign and a tray with dishes.
• Two churches: Orthodox and Old Believers.
• School.
• A paramedic's hut where patients are bled.

Chapter 3 drunken night

“they crawled, they lay, they rode, they floundered.”

Sober wanderers walked, looking around and listening to speeches. Some were so bad that it’s scary how the Russian people drink themselves to death. Women argue in a ditch about who has a harder life. One goes to hard labor, the other is beaten by her sons-in-law.

The wanderers hear the familiar voice of Pavlusha Veretennikov. He praises the smart Russian people for their proverbs and songs, but is upset about drinking to the point of stupor. But the man doesn’t let him write down the thought. He began to prove that peasants drink on time. During the harvest, people are in the field, who works and feeds the whole country? For a drinking family, a non-drinking family. And trouble comes to everyone equally. Ugly, drunken men are no worse than those who were eaten by midges, eaten by swamp reptiles. One of the drunks was Yakim Nagoy. The worker decided to compete with the merchant and ended up in prison. Yakim loved paintings; because of them, he almost burned down in a fire. While taking pictures, I didn’t have time to pull out the rubles. They merged into a lump and lost value. The men decided that the Russian man could not be overcome by hops.

Chapter 4 Happy

Chapter 5 landowner

“lived on the labor of others.”

The peasants realized that the landowner was not the one they were looking for.

Part 2. Last One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part 3. Peasant woman

• large stern eyes;
• wide, tight posture;
• rich eyelashes;
• dark skin.

Chapter 1 Before marriage

Chapter 2 Songs

Chapter 3 Saveliy, Holy Russian hero

“Branded, but not a slave!”

The grandfather rejoiced at the family’s failures: while they were waiting for matchmakers, beggars came to the window, and they beat up the father-in-law in the pub. Grandfather collects mushrooms and berries, catches birds. In winter he talks to himself on the stove. The old man has many sayings and favorite sayings. Matryona and her son went to the old man. The grandfather told the woman why he was called the branded one in the family. He was a convict who buried the German Vogel alive in the ground. Savely tells the woman how they lived. Times were prosperous for the peasants. The master could not get to the village because there were no roads. Only bears worried the residents, but the men easily dealt with them without guns:

"with a knife and a spear."

The grandfather tells how he got scared and why his back bent. He stepped on the sleepy bear, was not afraid, drove the spear into her and raised her like a chicken. My back crunched from the weight; in my youth it ached a little, but in my old age it became bent. In a lean year, Shalashnikov reached them. The landowner began to tear “three skins” from the peasants. When Shalashnikov died, a German, a strange and quiet man, was sent to the village. He forced them to work, unbeknownst to them, the peasants cut a clearing to the village, and a road appeared. Hard labor came with her. The German spirit is to let it go around the world. The Russian heroes endured and did not break. Peasant

“The axes lay there for the time being.”

The German ordered to dig a well and came to scold him for his slowness. Hungry men stood and listened to his whining. Saveliy quietly pushed him with his shoulder, and the others did the same. They carefully threw the German into the pit. He shouted and demanded a rope and a ladder, but Savely said:

“Pump it up!”

The hole was filled quickly, as if it had never happened. Next came hard labor, prison, and floggings. The old man’s skin has become as if it had been tanned, the grandfather jokes, and that’s why it has been worn “for a hundred years” because it has endured so much. Grandfather returned to his homeland while there was money, he was loved, then they began to hate him.

Chapter 4. Demushka

Chapter 5. She-Wolf

Chapter 6. Difficult year

Chapter 7. Governor's wife

Chapter 8. The Woman's Parable

“...It’s no business to look for a happy woman among women!...”

The wanderers are trying to find out if the woman has told everything about her life, but she only tells them about troubles and grief:

• Anthrax;
• Work instead of a horse;
• The whip and the loss of the firstborn.

Part 4 Feast for the whole world

Song Merry. It is sung by priests and street people like a dance song. Only the vakhlak did not sing. A song about the hard lot of the Russian peasant.

“It is glorious for the people to live in holy Rus'”:

He has no milk - the master took away the cow for offspring, there are no chickens - the judges of the zemstvo council ate them, the children are taken away: the king - the boys, the master - the daughters.

Corvee song. The second song is sad and drawn-out. The hero of the story is the unkempt Kalinushka. Only his back is painted with rods and lashes. Kalinushka drowns his grief in the tavern, sees his wife only on Saturday, and “comes back” to her from the master’s stable.

About an exemplary slave - Yakov Verny. The story is narrated by the servant Vikenty Alexandrovich. Main character story - a gentleman, cruel and evil. For bribes, he acquired a village for himself and established his own law. The gentleman’s cruelty was not only towards the servants. Native daughter got married, whipped the guy and “drove (the children) away naked.” Polivanov had a servant - Yakov. He served his master like a faithful dog. The slave took care of the master and pleased him as best he could. The old man began to get sick, his legs gave out. Yakov carried him in his arms like a child. Yakov's nephew Grisha grew up. Yakov asked permission to marry the girl Arisha, but the master himself liked the girl, so he sent Grigory as a recruit. The slave was tanning. He drank for 2 weeks, the master felt what it was like for him without an assistant. Yakov returned and devotedly began to look after the landowner again. They went to visit their sister. The landowner sat carefree in the carriage, Yakov took him to the forest. The master was frightened when he saw that they had turned off the road towards a ravine. He got scared and decided that death awaited him. But the slave laughed evilly:

“I found a murderer!”

Yakov didn't want to

“...getting your hands dirty with murder...”

He made a rope and hanged himself in front of the master. He lay in the ravine all night, driving away birds and wolves. The next morning a hunter found him. The gentleman realized what sin he had committed against his faithful servant.

The story "About two great sinners." Ionushka began to tell the story of Father Pitirim from Solovki. Twelve robbers with ataman Kudeyar committed rampage in Rus'. Suddenly, the robber Kudeyar's conscience awoke. He began to argue with her, trying to gain the upper hand. He cut off the beauty's head and killed the captain. But conscience won. The chieftain disbanded the gang and went to pray. For a long time he sat under the oak tree, asking God. The Lord heard the sinner. He suggested that he cut down a century-old tree with a knife. The chieftain began to work, but the oak tree did not give in to him. Pan Glukhovsky came to him. He began to boast that he kills easily and sleeps peacefully, without remorse. Kudeyar could not stand it and stabbed the master in the heart. The oak collapsed at that very moment. God forgave the sins of one sinner, freeing the world from another villain.

Peasant sin. The widower ammiral received 8 thousand souls from the empress for his service. The ammiral leaves a will to the headman. The free ones are hidden in the casket. After the death of the ammiral, a relative finds out from Gleb where the will is kept and burns the will. Peasant sin is betrayal among one's own. He is not forgiven even by God.

Song Hungry. The men sing it in chorus, like a chased march, the words approach like a cloud and draw in the soul. The song is about hunger, a man’s constant desire for food. He is ready to eat everything alone, dreams of cheesecake on a large table. The song is sung not by the voice, but by the hungry gut.

Grisha Dobrosklonov joins the wanderers. He tells the peasants that the main thing for him is to achieve a good life for the peasants. They sing a song about the lot of people's and working life. The people ask God for little - light and freedom.

Epilogue. Grisha Dobrosklonov

• Spacious, where people inhumanly fight among themselves for the sake of passions and sin.
• Close where honest people suffer and fight for the oppressed.