Almost a century and a half has passed since then, when along the banks of the great Russian river, burlatsky artels pulled upstream barges with cargo. They remained only in Repin's ingenious picture and in Nekrasov’s poems. Thanks to these works of art , their image is forever captured in folk memory.
School literature lesson: Nekrasov, "On the Volga"
A certain stamp of formality is often superimposed on literary works that are offered for study without fail. The work of the famous Russian poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is known to us from the school curriculum in literature. It has long been perceived as something familiar and taken for granted. 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 folk tribune. And the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov created as one of his software works. Let's try re-reading it again. Classics is so characteristic that it can sometimes be re-read. Because everything is familiar in it, the interest in reading does not disappear. Her images do not fade over time.
The origins of creativity
Many scholars of the poet's work tend to call this work a poem. And there are certain reasons for this, if we focus primarily on its formal volume. But according to the semantic content in the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov swung 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 customary to say in the twentieth century. But even if one does not delve into such abstract philosophical concepts, then still this work is not as easy to understand as it might seem on a superficial glance. Out of the context of the poet’s life and work, it is impossible to correctly comprehend this work of his. The verse "On the Volga" Nekrasov composed under the influence of a trip along this river. Almost as an artist depicted from life. And any normal artist is obliged to go this way - from the impressions seen in life, to a deep understanding and generalization of what he saw. There is nothing surprising in the fact that in his programmatic work “On the Volga”, the poet turned to an image captured in consciousness in childhood. This river itself, of course, personifies Russian power and might. But to no lesser extent is 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 a family estate in the Yaroslavl province. The decisive role in the formation of any person, especially the future poet, is played by the environment in which the formation of his personality takes place. And the poet’s childhood passed in an atmosphere far from idyllic. A large family balancing on the verge of poverty, a wayward and tyrannical father, traveling with him through the Volga regions and the sight of endless folk suffering along this path - these are the most vivid impressions of childhood. They were highly controversial. But the poet’s childhood passed on the Volga. And this largely determined his subsequent work.
The youth of the poet
Not having finished his studies at the gymnasium, Nikolai Nekrasov was glad to escape to Petersburg from his father's obsessive guardianship. Upon learning of the refusal of his son to enlist in the military, the latter severed relations with him and refused even minimal financial support. Then he had to make his way in life on his own. The long years of struggle for existence finally shaped 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 had a good idea of the situation in which the Russian peasantry lives. The idea of whether it is possible to somehow change his fate, for many years determined the choice of life path.
Literary activity
Nikolai Nekrasov has come a long way to success. And he achieved everything with his labor. Literary work gradually became the main business of his life. His main themes in poetry were the fate of the serfs, the life and customs of the poor inhabitants of the Russian province. These topics were well known and close to the poet since childhood, which Nekrasov spent on the Volga. The poem, in which we are talking about the Burlak artel, is both a return to the impressions experienced in childhood, and comprehension of what was seen from the standpoint of creative maturity. The literary activity of Nekrasov was closely connected with such publications as the journal "Domestic Notes", and later with the "Contemporary" founded by Pushkin. He was also widely engaged in book publishing. It should be noted that, in addition to the undoubted poetic talent, Nikolai Nekrasov also had the talent of an entrepreneur. He managed to get out of poverty quickly enough.
Folk stands
With all the involvement of Nekrasov in public life and enlightenment, his main business was poetry. The poet Nikolai Nekrasov became widely known in Russia. His voice sounded violently and angrily. Nekrasov’s poems were read in various layers of Russian society: from the highest court aristocracy to those who barely learned to read. The lines of the poet 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 fate of the people
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. The compositional plan of the poem "On the Volga" by Nekrasov is rather complicated, but at the same time it is devoid of contradictions. The logic of the story is aimed at revealing the topic. The story is deliberately complicated and is being conducted on behalf of a hero who, in his youth, visited the great Russian river and is happy to return to its banks again. Such a compositional technique allows the author to distance himself from the direct recitation of his character. But what is it about in this work? Is it only about what he saw Nekrasov on the Volga? An analysis of the poet’s vast creative work allows us to conclude that he did not seem to say anything fundamentally new in this poem. The theme of human suffering under the yoke of difficult life circumstances was dominant in his work. But only in the poem "On the Volga" Nekrasov managed to rise to deep philosophical generalizations. The poet is reflecting here on the future fate of his homeland. Will an oppressed people break through suffering for a better future? Or is there only hopelessness ahead?
The rise of social movement
The ideas and images of Nekrasov’s poetry were not just heard and accepted by Russian society. His angry sermon awakened public thought and made him look for ways to reorganize the existing order. All future revolutionaries were brought up on this poetry. Many of them took it as a guide to action, for them it was at the beginning of life a kind of school lesson. Nekrasov on the Volga managed not so much to discern as to intuitively feel that very popular force, which one day would cease to dutifully pull the strap offered to her by fate. And dropping it, selects a suitable club on the shore and goes to smash both the barge with the goods and its owners. To once this happened, entire generations of Russian revolutionaries were ready to go to hard labor and scaffold. Their exploits in the name of the people were inspired by the poetry of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. Even the Bolsheviks who came to power half a century after the death of the poet considered themselves his spiritual heirs. They, too, in their youth read the poem "On the Volga" and were able to properly penetrate its energy charge.
Literary school of Nekrasov
But the poet left his mark not only in public life. In Russian literature of the second half of the nineteenth century, the existence of such a thing as the "Nekrasov school" is noted. These were poets and writers who continued and developed themes and images, first identified in the works of Nikolai Nekrasov. The poets of the Nekrasov school primarily focused on social problems. Abstract aesthetic and philosophical theories occupied them to a very small extent. They often neglected artistry for the sake of citizenship. This literary trend was in constant confrontation with the opposite aesthetic camp, preaching "art for art's sake" and denying any social significance of poetic inspiration. At such a confrontation, Russian literature developed. Traces of the Nekrasov poetic school can be found even in the works of such symbolist poets far from it as Alexander Blok and Andrei Bely.