Literature lesson: "On the Volga", Nekrasov. Analysis of the poem

It has been almost a century and a half since when, along the banks of the great Russian river, the Burlatsk artels pulled up the barge with cargo. They remained only on the brilliant picture of Repin and in the poems of Nekrasov. Thanks to these works of art , their image is forever imprinted in the people's memory.

School lesson of literature: Nekrasov, "On the Volga"

A certain stamp of formality is often imposed on literary works offered for study without fail. The work of the famous Russian poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is known to us from the school program on literature. It has long been perceived as something familiar and self-evident. But for several generations of Russian people of the nineteenth century, Nekrasov's poetry was by no means a museum exhibit. The poet was perceived by Russian society as a prophet, a fighter for the rights of the oppressed. In fact, he was a kind of people's tribune. And the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov created as one of his program works. Let's try to reread it again. The classics are so characteristic that it can sometimes be re-read. Because everything is familiar in it, interest in reading does not disappear. Her images do not fade with time.

Origins of creativity

Many researchers of the poet's work tend to call this work a poem. And there are definite reasons for this, if one is guided in the first place by its formal scope. But also on the semantic content in the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov waved at very large philosophical generalizations. The images created by him make the reader think about human suffering on the way to the future. "On the price of progress," as it became known in the twentieth century. But even if you do not delve into such abstract philosophical concepts, then still this work is not so easy to understand, as it may seem to a superficial glance. Outside the context of the life and work of the poet, it is impossible to comprehend correctly and this is his work. Verse "On the Volga" Nekrasov composed under the impression of a trip on this river. Practically as an artist depicted from life. And any normal artist is obliged to do this way - from the impressions seen in life, to a profound interpretation and generalization of what he saw. There is nothing surprising in the fact that in his program "On the Volga" the poet turned to the image embodied in the mind in his childhood. The river itself, of course, personifies Russian power and might. But no less than the oppression and hopelessness of existence.

Childhood

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov came from a once rich, but by the time of his birth a fairly impoverished, noble family. His childhood passed in the family estate in Yaroslavl province. The determining role in the formation of any person, especially the poet's future, is played by the environment in which his personality is formed. And the poet's childhood passed in an environment far from idyllic. A large, self-fulfilling family, a wayward and despotic father, traveling with him to the regions of the Volga region and the kind of endless folk sufferings along the way - these are the brightest impressions of childhood. They were highly contradictory. But the poet's childhood passed exactly on the Volga. And this largely determined his subsequent work.

The poet's youth

Not finishing his studies at the gymnasium, Nikolai Nekrasov was glad to escape to Petersburg from his father's obsession. Upon learning of the son's refusal to enter the military service, the latter broke off relations with him and refused even minimal financial support. Then he had to make his way in life on his own. Long years of struggle for existence finally formed him as a person. But the poet's childhood passed on the Volga. Nekrasov returned there repeatedly. Not only in poems and poetic images. The poet traveled a lot around the country and perfectly imagined in what conditions the Russian peasantry lives. The idea of whether it is possible to somehow change his fate, for many years determined the choice of life's path.

Literary Activity

Nikolay Nekrasov has come a long way to success. And I tried everything with my own work. Literary creativity gradually became the main thing of his life. Its main themes in poetry were the fate of the serf peasantry, the way of life and the mores of the poor people of the Russian province. These themes were very familiar and close to the poet from childhood, which Nekrasov spent on the Volga. The poem, which refers to the burlatsk artel, is at the same time a return to the impressions experienced in childhood, and the comprehension of the seen from the standpoint of creative maturity. Literary activity Nekrasov was closely associated with such publications as the magazine "Otechestvennye zapiski", and later with Pushkin's "Contemporary". Widely engaged in it and publishing. It should be noted that, in addition to undoubted poetic talent, Nikolai Nekrasov also possessed the entrepreneur's talent. From poverty he managed to get out quickly enough.

The People's Tribune

With all the involvement of Nekrasov in public life and enlightenment, his main business was poetry. Poet Nikolai Nekrasov became widely known in Russia. His voice sounded fierce and angry. Nekrasov's poems were read in the most diverse strata of the Russian society: from the highest court aristocracy to those who had barely learned to read. The poet's lines were widely quoted and diverged in the form of aphorisms. Nekrasov constantly felt this reaction of Russian society to his work, and therefore the reading public tried not to disappoint.

Nikolai Nekrasov, "On the Volga" - a poem about the people's destiny

This voluminous work by most researchers of the poet's work is considered one of the most significant. But at the same time it is very far from direct socio-political declarations. Composite plan for the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov built quite difficult, but it is devoid of contradictions. The logic of the narrative is aimed at revealing the topic. The story is deliberately complicated and is conducted on behalf of a certain hero who in his youth was on the great Russian river and is happy to return to its shores again. Such a compositional technique allows the author to distance himself from direct declamations of his character. But what is the subject of this work? Is it only about what Nekrasov saw on the Volga? Analysis of the poet's vast creative work allows us to conclude that he did not seem to be fundamentally new in this poem. The theme of human suffering under the yoke of hard life circumstances was dominant in his work. But only in the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov managed to rise to profound philosophical generalizations. The poet reflects here on the fate of his country. Will the oppressed people break through suffering for a better future? Or is only hopelessness ahead?

The rise of social movement

Ideas and images of Nekrasov's poetry were not simply heard and perceived by the Russian society. His angry sermon awakened public thought and forced him to seek ways to reorganize the existing order. All future revolutionaries were brought up on this poetry. Many of them perceived it as a guide to action, for them it was in the beginning of life a kind of school lesson. Nekrasov on the Volga managed not so much to discern how much intuitively feel the very strength of the people, which will one day stop submissively pulling the strap proposed to her by fate. And after dropping it, he will choose a suitable club on the shore and go to smash both the barge and the goods, and its owners. To one day this happened, entire generations of Russian revolutionaries were ready to go to penal servitude and to the scaffold. For feats in the name of the people they were inspired by the poetry of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. Even the half-century after the poet's death, the Bolsheviks considered themselves to be his spiritual heirs. They also in their youth read the poem "On the Volga" and were able to properly penetrate its energy charge.

Literary school Nekrasov

But the poet left his mark not only in public life. In the Russian literature of the second half of the nineteenth century, the existence of such a phenomenon as the "Nekrasov school" is noted. They were poets and writers who continued and developed the themes and images first identified in the work of Nikolai Nekrasov. The poets of Nekrasov's school first of all emphasized their attention to social problems. The abstract aesthetic and philosophical theories occupied them in a very small degree. They often neglected artistry for the sake of citizenship. This literary trend was in constant confrontation with the opposite aesthetic camp, preached "art for the sake of art" and denied any social significance of poetic inspiration. Russian literature developed on such a confrontation. Traces of Nekrasov's poetic school can be found even in the works of such far-off poets-symbolists as Alexander Blok and Andrei Bely.