Analysis of the poem "Elegy", Nekrasov. The theme of the poem "Elegy" by Nekrasov

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Any analysis of the poem "Elegy" (Nekrasov wrote it at the end of his life) will be incomplete and inconsistent without realizing the place that this work occupies in the poet's work. And in it he sums up a kind of result of everything that he said earlier. In a figurative sense, this is the highest note that the poet could take in his song.

How "Elegy" was created

When the poet composed the lines of this poem, he clearly understood that he did not have much time left. The immediate creative impulse was the desire to answer his critics to the claims made against him and the questions asked. Nekrasov's "Elegy" is a verse about the meaning of life and the purpose of the poet's work. The poem is emotionally colored by the fact of the author's incurable illness, forcing him to sum up his work. In certain circles, it was customary to speak of Nekrasov's poetry with a touch of slight disdain, as something that had a very distant relation to the sphere of high art. Nekrasov's verse "Elegy" is an answer equally to both fans of creativity and his detractors. Both the first and the second in Russian society were more thanenough. The poet could not complain about the lack of attention to himself.

In the context of the era

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was one of the first Russian poets whose central theme was the life of the common people. And the life of the serf peasantry was filled with deprivation and suffering. Many enlightened people of their time could not pass by this in silence. The theme of Nekrasov's poem "Elegy" is service to social ideals. In fact, the poet Nekrasov was the founder of a large trend in Russian literature, which later became known as the "Nekrasov school". But a fairly significant part of the educated society, most often the noble aristocrats, such a "literary fashion" was denied. Such aesthetes considered the civic theme in poetry a sign of second-rate. They recognized only "art for art's sake". But it was precisely this antagonism of two opposing aesthetic concepts that propelled the development of Russian literature forward throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. Without understanding the essence of this confrontation, even a simple analysis of the poem "Elegy" is impossible. Nekrasov was constantly at the very center of the clash of public opinion. Such was his fate in literature and in life.

Elegy or something else?

Sometimes the question arises as to why the author named his poem that way and not otherwise. It is quite possible to agree with those readers,who saw some irony in the title of this work. If we proceed from the ancient understanding of this poetic genre, then the publicistic work of the Russian poet is anything but an elegy. Nekrasov, whose theme was very far from antiquity, according to one of the existing versions, simply joked in the title of his work. Nevertheless, in its minor mood and poetic meter, the work fully corresponds to its title. This is a sad elegiac reflection on the hopelessness in the fate of the Russian people and the poet's attitude to everything that happens.

I dedicated the lira to my people…

Nikolai Nekrasov could well say this about himself without risking falling into false pathos. He lived a single life with his people. Behind him were many years of hard work and existence on the verge of poverty. His path to success was not easy. All the forces of the soul were given to the service of the Russian people. This is evidenced even by a simple analysis of the poem "Elegy". Nekrasov, summing up his life, states: "But I served him and my heart is calm …". The poet is calm by the fact that he did everything he could and even more. The poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was heard by those for whom he created. His word resonated in the public mind with a powerful resonance and brought the inevitable changes in the social structure of the Russian state closer. The abolition of serfdom is also Nekrasov's merit.

Peoplereleased, but are the people happy?

This is one of the main questions that Nekrasov's "Elegy" asks. The verse does not give a direct answer to it. It seemed to many that such a grandiose event as the abolition of centuries-old serfdom should have quickly and beyond recognition changed the existence of former serfs who became free people. However, in reality, things were much more complicated. Serfdom is a thing of the past, but hopeless poverty and deprivation have not gone anywhere from the life of the peasants. The post-reform Russian villages of the middle lane amazed many of the poet's contemporaries with their squalor. The entire second part of the poem is devoted to reflections on this topic. The poet remains true to his ideals and principles, but does not find a way out of the situation. This could complete the analysis of the poem "Elegy". Nekrasov understands that he will not be destined to wait for an answer to the questions posed. And the ending leaves open.

After Nekrasov

Sometimes there are strange historical convergences. As it will be said about a hundred years after Nekrasov: "A poet in Russia is more than a poet." But this statement is fully applicable to Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. And his poetry was something more than just poetry. It was an integral part of the current of Russian social thought, which was gaining powerful historical turbulence. The questions asked by the poet in the "Elegy" did not go unanswered. Only there is not the slightest certainty that these answerswould have liked the one who asked them. Neither happiness, nor well-being, nor prosperity, the Russian peasantry did not wait. Only more than three decades separated the poet Nekrasov from the era of wars, revolutions, collectivization and "liquidation of the kulaks as a class" that followed after his death. And many other political twists and turns of the twentieth century, in the thirties of which it suddenly became clear that the Bolsheviks who came to power did not need Nekrasov's free tillers on their land at all. And what is needed is serfs who are meek and submissive to fate. The historical cycle is closed.