“Oh Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin!..." Nikolai Nekrasov
O Muse! I'm at the door of the coffin!
Even though I have a lot to blame
Let it increase a hundred times
My fault is human malice -
Do not Cry! our lot is enviable,
They don't mock us:
Between me and honest hearts
You won’t let it break for long
Living, blood union!
Not Russian - he will look without love
To this pale one, covered in blood,
The whip cut the Muse...
Analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “O Muse! I'm at the door of the coffin!..."
According to the testimony of Nekrasov’s sister Anna Butkevich, the poem “O Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin!..” - the last work written by Nikolai Alekseevich before his death. It is not surprising that it touches on the theme of the poet and poetry. It was she who was the most important for Nekrasov throughout his life. One of its first mentions is found in a small sketch from 1848, “Yesterday, at about six o’clock...”. In this poem, the lyrical hero talks about how, while walking along Sennaya Square in St. Petersburg, he saw a picture of a young peasant woman being beaten with a whip. In the last two lines, he called Muse the sister of that unfortunate woman. Two Nekrasov poems, written with an interval of almost thirty years, are surprisingly intertwined. In the work “O Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin!..” a similar thought is conveyed. Nekrasov characterizes Muse with the following words: “pale”, “in blood”, “cut with a whip”.
Naturally, the coincidence described above is not accidental. Nikolai Alekseevich compared his muse to a peasant woman, emphasizing the nationality of his own poems. In addition, he was referring to the difficulties he encountered throughout his career. At various times, critics and official censorship found many reasons to persecute Nekrasov. For example, after the reform of 1861, he was accused of an outdated approach to the problems of the peasants. Allegedly, the common people began to live well, but for some reason the famous writer stubbornly continues to lament his difficult lot. Nekrasov has also been criticized more than once for his dedication to social issues. Even Fet, who rarely participated in various public polemics, refused to consider Nikolai Alekseevich a true poet because of this.
In the poem “O Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin!..” there is a reference to another work by Nekrasov - “Muse” (1852). In it, the poet once again confirms his loyalty to his Muse, the expresser of people's aspirations. Nikolai Alekseevich calls the union with her “strong and bloody.” In the last poem this idea is somewhat modified. The muse becomes the link between the poet and “honest hearts.” The place of the adjective “strong” related to the union is taken by the definition “living”. At the same time, Nekrasov does not refuse the epithet “blooded”. The alliance with “honest hearts” is extremely important for Nikolai Alekseevich. It serves as a kind of key to immortality. The poet is alive as long as people remember his work, as long as his lyrics find a response in people’s souls.
At the beginning of the poem, the hero says that he is “to blame a lot.” The motif of the poet’s guilt before the Muse, before the people, appears more than once in Nekrasov. Nikolai Alekseevich often regretted that he directed his talent in the wrong direction. As a rule, this refers to his works written not at the behest of the Muse, but to support the existence of the Sovremennik magazine, which he headed for almost twenty years.
Among liberal-minded people of the second half of the nineteenth century, Nekrasov’s work enjoyed enormous popularity. Despite this, contemporaries were unable to fully appreciate Nikolai Alekseevich’s lyrics. Such an important task fell on the shoulders of literary scholars of the twentieth century. It is quite obvious that at times Nekrasov was too keen on acute social themes to the detriment of the artistic value of the poems. He himself understood this perfectly well, asking not to include some of his works in collections. Nevertheless, the novelty and originality of Nikolai Alekseevich’s style had a huge impact on Russian-language poetry.
The most popular poet of the 70s of the 19th century, according to many researchers and critics, was N. A. Nekrasov. In his work, he posed problems that worried more than one generation of poets: the purpose of the poet and poetry, civic motives, the problem of universal human ideals.
His work is sometimes called a “poetic confession,” which invariably includes lines full of civic pathos. It is not surprising that it is to the reader-citizen, the reader-friend, to the Muse that the poet turns to the threshold of death, hoping for support. He hopes
To understand like-minded people in serving the people.
The poem “O Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin...” when first published in Otechestvennye zapiski in 1878, it was accompanied by the note: “This poem, according to the testimony of the deceased’s sister, A. A. Butkevich, was the last one he wrote.” Therefore, many researchers of Nekrasov’s work are inclined to regard his “last word” as a kind of testament. What worries the poet “at the door of the coffin”?
Raising the topic of the purpose of the poet and poetry, Nekrasov uses the traditional technique of addressing the Muse in the meaning of “poetry.” But in this case, the Muse also directly refers to the works of the famous poet. It is significant that Nekrasov himself does not think of himself separately from his work. He and his works are a single whole. This is emphasized by the pronoun “our”:
... our lot is enviable,
They won't abuse us.
For Nekrasov, poetry is the thread that connects him with the people, and this connection is eternal:
Between me and honest hearts
You won’t let it break for long
Living, blood union!
The epithets in this case are not accidental: “a living, blood union.” A true poet is alive as long as his memory lives in the hearts of the people. And since “the poet” and “his works” are, in Nekrasov’s understanding, synonyms, an indivisible whole, then the “union” will always be “alive”. After all, the poet’s creations are immortal.
By “blood union” the poet means a family union. This union is possible only with “honest hearts,” that is, with people who understand their true calling – “to be a citizen.”
It is also interesting that the author does not consider his work ideal, worthy of universal worship:
Even though I have a lot to blame
Let it increase a hundred times
My fault is human malice...
This recognition further increases the poet’s authority as an objective person and makes his work more significant for people with “honest hearts.” Despite the possible persecution and blasphemy that “human malice” is capable of, the author exclaims:
Do not Cry! our lot is enviable,
They won't mock us...
Why does he say: “Our lot is enviable”? Apparently, because if a poet was able to excite the minds and hearts of people with his creativity, to encourage them to debate, this is already a great merit. This is already a recognition both by “honest hearts” and by those who exude malice. The word “abuse” is also noteworthy. The form of this verb expresses the duration of an action. Consequently, such disputes, positive and negative statements will last for a long time, not one or two generations.
Nekrasov's last poem is a monologue, or rather, a hidden dialogue with the Muse. It is with an address to her that he begins his work and ends it with a mention of her. Nekrasov describes his Muse this way:
...On this pale one, covered in blood,
The whip cut the Muse...
Poetry in Russia has gone through different periods: ups and downs. Many poets were persecuted and exiled for their works. Often their creations did not reach the masses, as censorship imposed a ban on publication. After all, it is known that poetry touches the strings of the human soul much deeper than prose. That is why Nekrasov paints such a vivid image of the Muse: “pale, covered in blood, cut with a whip.” And only a Russian person is able to understand this image. It is no coincidence that the author says:
Not Russian - he will look without love...
Without love, without awe, it is impossible to look at Russian poetry, knowing the history of its development. This is exactly what Nekrasov wanted to say to his readers “at the door of the coffin.” On the one hand, he asserts the immortality of poetry. On the other hand, this is a hidden appeal, a call to fellow poets to continue their thorny path, despite all obstacles.
With this poem, Nekrasov sums up his creative path. If given the opportunity, he would repeat it from start to finish. A poet is not a profession, it is a state of mind, a life path.
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Other writings:
- “The muse of revenge and sadness,” - this is how Nekrasov defined the general character of his poetry. Motives of “revenge”, calls to fight against oppressors, closely intertwined with motives of “sadness”, with complaints about the difficult situation, constituted the essence of folk songs, in which the soul of the people was poured out, the very spirit of Read More ......
- The theme of compassion for the people runs through all of Nekrasov’s work. The lot of Russian women is especially difficult. In Nekrasov’s poetry, a woman is doomed to injustice, to an unhappy fate. Among other misfortunes, she suffers the grief of losing her children. In the poem “Hearing the Horrors of War,” written by Read More ......
- N. A. Nekrasov grew up among peasant children. No parental prohibitions could keep him from communicating with rural boys. Over time, a simple language, rich and melodious, so enchanting, was studied by the son of a landowner in a Yaroslavl village and became the main instrument Read More ......
- The famous literary critic B. Eikhenbaum said: “...Among the various contradictions accumulated by Russian life and culture of the last century, there is one, the most painful, which survived until the revolution: the contradiction between “civil” and “pure” poetry, between the poet-citizen and the poet -priest.” Lyrics by N. A. Nekrasov became Read More......
- The poem “Poet and Citizen” by N. A. Nekrasov has a strong dramatic beginning. It represents a dialogue between a poet and a citizen. Moreover, N. A. Nekrasov includes stage directions in the text of the work (“enters,” “takes a book,” “reads,” “with delight”). The poem was written for the purpose of polemics of a champion of civil Read More ......
- For his poem, Nekrasov chooses iambic hexameter with paired rhyme, i.e. Alexandrian verse - the solemn size of the era of classicism. Nekrasov introduces into “Elegy” a description of the life of the people and shows the complete failure of the reform. And therefore the poem becomes a kind of declaration of Nekrasov’s attitude Read More......
- Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is a poet of unprecedented conscientiousness, bitter irony and piercing pain. His poetry is alive with the national spirit, the aspirations and suffering of people. Nekrasov’s poetry reflected the truth of life, which is why the author speaks so bitterly about his people. The poem “Motherland”, written in 1846, Read More ......
- Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is a poet of amazingly soulful lyricism, deep warmth and tenderness. His poems, often sad and melodic, resemble folk songs telling about the life of a common man, his sufferings and sorrows. The poem “Hearing the horrors of war...”, dedicated to the Crimean War of 1853-1856, reads Read More ......
Today in class we will talk about the image of the muse in Nekrasov’s poems; Let's get acquainted with the poetry of Nekrasov and the tradition of civil poetry; Let's analyze and compare thematically related poems by Nekrasov, Pushkin, Fet.
Rice. 1. N.A. Nekrasov ()
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (Fig. 1) not only realizes the revolution that he is making in the history of Russian poetry, especially in relation to the previous romantic tradition, but also endows the very image of the muse with unusual properties, extremely far from traditional romantic ideas. The most striking in this sense is the poem, which is called “Muse,” written in 1852. It begins with Nekrasov reproducing that very romantic image of the Muse - the goddess of poetry (Fig. 2):
No, the Muse sings tenderly and beautifully
I don’t remember the sweet-voiced song above me!
In heavenly beauty, inaudibly, like a spirit,
Flying from a height, my hearing is infantile
She didn’t teach magical harmony,
I didn’t forget my pipes in my diapers,
Among my amusement and youthful thoughts
An unclear dream did not disturb the mind
And did not suddenly appear to the enthusiastic gaze
A loving friend in that blissful time,
When our blood is languidly stirred
Inseparable and Muse and Love...
Rice. 2. Sculpture of the ancient Muse ()
This image of the Greek goddess created through negation, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the romantic image of the muse, turns out to be unknown to the poet. This is how the muse appeared in his fate:
But early on I was burdened with bonds
Another, unkind and unloved Muse,
The sad companion of the sad poor,
Born for labor, suffering and fetters, -
That Muse crying, grieving and hurting,
Constantly thirsty, humbly asking,
For which gold is the only idol...
And it is clear that the content of the poetry that such a muse carried within itself should have turned out to be completely different.
Everything was heard in him in a crazy confusion:
Calculations of petty and dirty fuss
And wonderful dreams of youth,
Lost love, suppressed tears,
Curses, complaints, powerless threats.
In a fit of rage, with human untruth
The madwoman vowed to start a stubborn battle.
Indulging in wild and gloomy fun,
Played madly with my cradle,
She screamed: vengeance! and violent tongue
The Lord's thunder called upon the heads of the enemies!..
So eternally crying and incomprehensible maiden
Harsh melodies cherished my ears,
Until finally in the usual sequence
I did not enter into a fierce battle with her.
But since childhood, a strong and blood union
Muse was in no hurry to break up with me:
Through the dark abysses of Violence and Evil,
She led me through labor and hunger -
Taught me to feel my suffering
And she blessed the world to announce them...
The creative process in the poem is described in a strange and unusual way. The poet is waging a fierce battle with the muse. The muse itself turns out to be a kind of embodiment of the tragic destinies of people who are forced to earn their living by their own labor, for whom creativity and free poetry are beyond the scope of their existence. And only Nekrasov’s muse makes it possible to hear this never-before-heard voice of tragic human destinies. Of course, Nekrasov did not come to this radically unusual image of the muse right away. Let us dwell on the poem “Yesterday, at six o’clock...”, written in 1848.
Yesterday, at about six o'clock,
I went to Sennaya;
There they beat a woman with a whip,
A young peasant woman.
Not a sound from her chest
Only the whip whistled as it played...
And I said to the Muse: “Look!
Your dear sister!
In reality, Nekrasov’s hero could not observe such a scene on Sennaya Square, since public punishments, especially of women, were not carried out on Sennaya Square (Fig. 3).
Rice. 3. Sennaya Square. Saint Petersburg. 1830 ()
But such an image was not created by chance by the poet. In this case, the author compares a woman cut with a whip with a muse cut off, referring to the crossing out of manuscripts in red ink in the censor’s office with the parallel that arises here: on the one hand, a suffering people, and on the other hand, suffering poetry, which is addressed to this people. But since the very comparison of the beaten peasant woman and the muse looked completely unusual, very sharp, Nekrasov so far makes the comparison itself very carefully. He seems to indicate to his muse that in this case she turned out to be the sister of this suffering peasant woman.
In 1855, another poem would be written, in which the images found in the poem “Yesterday, at six o’clock...” would be further developed:
I am unknown. I didn't get you
No honors, no money, no praise,
My poems are the fruit of an unhappy life,
At the rest of the stolen hours,
Hidden tears and fearful thoughts;
But I did not praise the fools with you,
But he did not make an alliance with meanness, -
No! accepted her crown of thorns
Without flinching, the dishonored Muse
And under the whip she died without a sound.
And if in the previous poem there was only a comparison of the muse and the beaten peasant woman, now this same muse suddenly turned out to have died silently under the whip. And, of course, Nekrasov will no longer be able to escape this plot. And in his later work we will again find the development of this motif, which he once successfully found.
Here is a poem from 1876:
Muse
O muse! Our song is sung.
Come close your poet's eyes
To the eternal sleep of non-existence,
Sister of the people - and mine!
What is unusual here is the very image of the muse.
In 1877 - the year of his death - in the poem “O Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin!..” It’s as if Nekrasov will collect all the previous motives and create a poem that completes a kind of Nekrasov cycle.
O Muse! I'm at the door of the coffin!
Even though I have a lot to blame
Let it increase a hundred times
My fault is human malice -
Do not Cry! our lot is enviable,
They don't mock us:
Between me and honest hearts
You won’t let it break for long
Living, blood union!
Not Russian - he will look without love
To this pale one, covered in blood,
The Muse cut with a whip...
And instead of the former ancient goddess, the national image of the Russian muse again appears before us, exhausted, sad, pale, covered in blood, cut with a whip.
In conclusion, let us turn to another poem by Nekrasov, where he talks with his muse - a poem from 1856, which is highlighted by the author himself and completes his first poetry collection:
Shut up, Muse of revenge and sorrow!
I don’t want to disturb someone else’s sleep,
You and I have cursed enough.
I die alone - and I am silent.
Why mope and mourn losses?
If only that would make it easier!
To me, like the creaking of a prison door,
The groans of my heart are disgusting.
It's all over. Bad weather and thunderstorm
It’s not for nothing that my dark path has been darkened,
The sky above me will not brighten,
It won't throw a warm ray into your soul...
A magical ray of love and rebirth!
I called you - in a dream and in reality,
In labor, in struggle, on the verge of falling
I called you, but now I don’t!
I myself would not want to see that abyss,
that you can illuminate...
That heart will not learn to love,
Which is tired of hating.
Here another important Nekrasov idea is formed - the idea of love-hate: because, on the one hand, we hate the negative and dark sides of the life around us, and on the other hand, it is to them that our loving muse is addressed. Thus, we can say that in Nekrasov’s poetry not only an unusual, extraordinary image of his muse arises, but also a certain fundamental dialogue arises between her and the poet, which together makes it possible to evaluate the almost revolutionary revolution that Nekrasov is making in Russian poetry.
This special image of the muse, which took shape in Nekrasov’s poetry, had a certain tradition in the history of Russian poetry in that aspect that is commonly called civil poetry. It is no coincidence that Nekrasov will always appear next to the figure of the poet the figure of a citizen. This is understandable, because his poet and his muse live by civic, public, social interests. And of course, Nekrasov continues to develop the tradition associated with Decembrist civil romanticism. First of all, we can remember K.F. Ryleev (Fig. 4).
Rice. 4. K.F. Ryleev ()
In the poetic preface to the poem “Voinarovsky” there are the following lines:
Like Apollo's strict son,
You won't see art in them:
But you will find living feelings, -
I am not a Poet, but a Citizen.
In the poem “The Poet and the Citizen,” which opens Nekrasov’s collection of poems from 1856, a different motive is heard, but it clearly elaborates on the above-mentioned Ryleev line: “You may not be a poet, // But you must be a citizen.”
Of course, I also remember A.S. Pushkin (Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. A.S. Pushkin ()
But in Pushkin’s work, the image of the poet, the image of the muse is so diverse that first of all I want to remember the prophet with his word, which should burn the hearts of people. And, of course, Nekrasov also remembers the civil invective of M.Yu. Lermontov (Fig. 6).
Rice. 6. M.Yu. Lermontov ()
Oh, how I want to confuse their gaiety
And boldly throw an iron verse into their eyes,
Doused with bitterness and anger!..
The relationship between Pushkin's tradition and Nekrasov's poetry is complex. For example, Nekrasov’s poem “Muse” in many ways polemically rethinks one of the images that appears in Pushkin’s poetry.
Confidant of magical antiquity,
Friend of fiction, playful and sad,
I knew you in the days of my spring,
In the days of initial joys and dreams.
I was waiting for you; in the evening silence
You were a cheerful old lady
And she sat above me in the shushun,
With big glasses and a frisky rattle.
You, rocking the baby's cradle,
My young ears were captivated by the melodies
And between the shrouds she left a pipe,
Which she herself fascinated.
Infancy passed like a light dream.
You loved a carefree youth,
Among the important muses he only remembered you,
And you visited him quietly;
But was this your image, your attire?
How sweet you are, how quickly you have changed!
With what fire the smile came to life!
What a fire the welcoming gaze flashed!
The cover, swirling like a naughty wave,
Your half-airy figure was slightly overshadowed;
All in curls, entwined with a wreath,
The head of the beauties was fragrant;
The chest is white under yellow pearls
She was blushing and quietly trembling...
In this poem, written by Pushkin in 1822, the muse appears, on the one hand, in the form of a cheerful old woman, apparently, Pushkin’s grandmother was supposed to be Maria Alekseevna Hannibal (Fig. 7).
Rice. 7. M.A. Hannibal()
On the other hand, when he grows up and turns into a young man, she is a kind of beauty who resembles the image of an ancient muse, the ancient goddess of poetry. Then the amazing contrast that arises in Nekrasov’s poem, which so radically reworks Pushkin’s text, becomes clear.
In the 1860-70s, the unusual image of Nekrasov’s muse, associated with the motif of suffering, with the image of ruined human destinies, was an extraordinary success, but not for everyone. There were poets who adhered to not just a different, but diametrically opposed idea, related to the fact that art should not address momentary problems, the little things of life, but should take a person into the world of beauty, into the world of beauty. In the end, this idea took shape in a special school of “art for art’s sake,” the main exponent of which was A.A. Fet (Fig. 8).
In Fet's work, the appearance of the muse has quite classical antique features. Although he also has poems that are polemically directed against the Nekrasov tradition. This is the poem “Muse” from 1887, in which Fet argues not so much with Nekrasov himself, since he had already died by that time, but with the very tradition of civil poetry. As an epigraph, he chooses a fragment from Pushkin’s poem “The Poet and the Crowd”: “We were born for inspiration, // For sweet sounds and prayers.” And then there is reason to recall that, speaking about Pushkin’s poetry, we noticed that he had poems that were perceived as poems that developed the idea of civic service of poetry, for example, the poem “Prophet”, and poems that affirmed the idea of self-sufficiency and self-worth art. And in this case, this is a quote from the poem “The Poet and the Crowd.” And here is Fet’s poem “Muse”:
We were born to inspire
For sweet sounds and prayers.
A.S. Pushkin
You want to curse, sobbing and groaning,
Seek scourges to the law.
Poet, stop! don't call me
Call Tisiphone from the abyss.
Cherishing captivating dreams in reality,
By your divine power
I call for high pleasure
And to human happiness.
When, offended by outrages again,
In your chest you will hear a call to sob, -
I will not change for the sake of your torment
Freedom is an eternal calling.
Suffer! Everyone suffers, the dark beast suffers
Without hope, without consciousness;
But the door there is forever closed in front of him,
Where joy glimmers in suffering.
To the bitter and callous soul
Let this joy be unfamiliar.
Why do you hit the lyre with a childish hand?
Why isn't she a trumpet of pogrom?
Why resist nature and fate? -
These sounds are carried to the ground
Not a passionate storm, not calls to fight,
And healing from torment.
We will not decide which poet is right and who is wrong. Let us only note that in the 1850-70s it was Nekrasov’s poetry that preserved the interest of the reading public in poetry itself, and this is one of its significant historical merits.
Bibliography
- Sakharov V.I., Zinin S.A. Russian language and literature. Literature (basic and advanced levels) 10. - M.: Russian Word.
- Arkhangelsky A.N. and others. Russian language and literature. Literature (advanced level) 10. - M.: Bustard.
- Lanin B.A., Ustinova L.Yu., Shamchikova V.M. / ed. Lanina B.A. Russian language and literature. Literature (basic and advanced levels) 10. - M.: VENTANA-GRAF.
- Internet portal “Megashpora.ru” ()
- Internet portal "Textology" ()
- Internet portal “Festival of Pedagogical Ideas” ()
Homework
- Check out Nekrasov's poetry from the 1850s to the 1870s.
- Tell us about the image of the muse in Nekrasov’s poetry.
- Prepare a comparative description of the image of the muse in the works of Nekrasov, Pushkin and Fet.
Muse Nekrasov analysis of the poem according to plan
1. History of creation. The work of N. A. Nekrasov evoked mixed opinions from his contemporaries.
Revolutionary democrats admired his poems, representatives of the so-called. "pure art" was treated with disdain, reactionaries subjected him to fierce criticism.
Nekrasov owns a large number of “exculpatory” works, in which he explains his understanding of the essence and purpose of poetry. These include the poem "Muse" (1852).
2. Genre of the work- civil-philosophical lyrics.
3. Main theme poems are the poet’s reflections on the sources of his inspiration. Nekrasov turns to the traditional image of the Muse in poetry. But from the very beginning he renounces the classical model. A difficult childhood under the tyranny of his father, youthful poverty led to the fact that not a “singing and beautiful” maiden appeared to the poet, but a “sorrowful and painful” Muse, reminiscent of an exhausted peasant woman.
At a fairly early age, he first drew attention to the unjust suffering of the common people. The wretched and sad fate of the peasantry made a great impression on the sensitive soul of the poet. The struggle to improve the situation of the peasants became his lifelong calling. Therefore, Nekrasov compares surges of inspiration with plaintive songs and groans. Interwoven into these lamentations is a “raunchy song”, reminiscent of the broad soul of the Russian people.
The Muse visiting Nekrasov “did not teach magical harmony.” Her songs combined “curses, complaints, impotent threats.” The poet’s own difficult fate confirmed all the accusations of the Muse, who called for “starting a stubborn battle.” At the same time, the poet’s Muse is initially “loving and tender.” The spirit of vengeance and cruelty comes in gusts, when it is no longer possible to cope with the indignation from the injustice that reigned everywhere. Each such violent outburst is replaced by a “divinely beautiful moment” of Christian humility and forgiveness.
Nekrasov’s image of the “incomprehensible maiden” is identical to the mysterious Russian soul. There is a saying about this: “We, like wood, are both a club and an icon.” Nekrasov claims that he has been connected with this mournful Muse since childhood by a “strong and blood union.” She taught him to clearly distinguish between good and evil, to sympathize with human troubles and suffering, and most importantly, she blessed the poet on his difficult path of exposing injustice.
4. Poem composition consistent.
5. Size of the product- iambic hexameter with a predominant paired rhyme pattern.
6. Expressive means. Nekrasov uses a large number of positive (“beautiful,” “loving,” “divinely beautiful”) and negative (“mad,” “crying,” “fierce”) epithets. The description of the Muse is built on various metaphors (“a loving friend”, “sad companion... of the poor”) and personifications (“played madly... with a cradle”, “whispered over me”). The poem is based on the opposition between the classical (Pushkin) and realistic (Nekrasov) Muses.
7. Main idea The work lies in the fact that in difficult years for the homeland, the poet is obliged to forget about ephemeral happiness and idyll and dedicate his work to all those innocently suffering and humiliated.
One of the recognized leaders of democratic poetry of the second half of the 19th century was, without a doubt, the great Russian democratic poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (1821-1877). He acted as the heir to the best traditions of noble revolutionaries and connected his creative life with the interests of the broad masses of Russia.
Nekrasov merged two powerful sources of Russian poetry. One of them is associated with the culture of the educated strata of Russian society, the other with the common Russian culture. Not a single Russian poet before Nekrasov consciously and openly took the side of the peasantry, or so fully embodied the ideals of peasant democracy in his work.
Nekrasov entered Russian poetry as the “sorrower of the people’s grief.” protector of the peasant from all kinds of oppressors. Pictures of lordly tyranny, merciless fleecing of peasants by merchants, lack of rights before officials are constantly present in his poetry. But at the same time, Nekrasov also has many works that affirm the strong, strong-willed and powerful soul of the Russian person, protesting against the existing order.
It was rare that any poet did not turn to his muse, who appeared now playful, now thoughtful, now stern and angry. The faces of muses in Russian poetry are infinitely diverse. But here we read from Nekrasov:
Yesterday at six o'clock,
I went to Sennaya:
There they beat a woman with a whip,
A young peasant woman.
Not a sound from her chest
Only the whip whistled as it played.
And I said to the Muse: “Look!
Your dear sister! »
Nekrasovskaya Muse is the sister of a humiliated and suffering peasant woman, she is saddened by the people's sadness, she is also powerless, like the peasant woman, symbolizing the entire people. This is how a new image of the Muse arises... in Russian poetry.
In a later poem, “The Muse” (1856), the poet highlights the traditional theme of the poet’s relationship with the Muse. In the first stanza, the image of the Muse, familiar to Nekrasov, appears, which he, however, did not know:
No, the Muse singing tenderly and beautifully I don’t remember the sweet-voiced song above me!
This face of the Muse is unknown to him, the poet admits. The bonds of another “unkind and unloved Muse” soon “weighed down” over him:
The sad companion of the sad poor,
Born for labor, suffering and shackles, - That Muse crying, grieving and hurting.
But the duel between the poet and the Muse did not lead to a break - in the drama of the struggle, a “strong and blood union” was born. The poet taught the Muse not to humble herself, not to subside in anger, to overcome all-forgiving moods. But she, grieving, taught him a chant:
Through the dark abysses of violence and evil,
She led me through labor and hunger - She taught me to feel my suffering and blessed me to announce them to the world.
Without civic feeling, there is no poetry for Nekrasov, although it is not at all necessary that every citizen be a poet. This is precisely the meaning of the poetic declaration “Poet and Citizen”.
You may not be a poet
But you have to be a citizen.
And already finishing his life’s journey, the seriously ill Nekrasov again turned to the Muse (“Oh Muse! our song is sung”). In this poem the poet says:
Sister of the people - and mine!
The muse, once called the sister of a young peasant woman, is now recognized as the sister of the people and the sister of the poet. Through her, the poet found his way to the people, and the people found their poet.
