Any analysis of the poem "Elegy" (Nekrasov wrote it at the sunset of his life) would be incomplete and inconsistent without realizing the place that this work occupies in the poet's work. And in it he sums up a peculiar result of everything that he said earlier. In a figurative sense, this is the highest note that a 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 presented to him and asked questions. "Elegy" Nekrasov - a poem about the meaning of life and the purpose of the poet. The poem is emotionally colored by the fact of the incurable illness of the author, forcing him to summarize his work. In certain circles, it was customary to speak of Nekrasov’s poetry with a touch of slight neglect, as something that had a very distant relation to the field of high art. Nekrasov’s verse "Elegy" is an answer equally to fans of creativity, and his detractors. And the first and second in Russian society was more than enough. 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 serfs was filled with deprivation and suffering. Many enlightened people of their time could not pass by in silence. The theme of the poem "Elegy" by Nekrasov is to serve social ideals. In fact, the poet Nekrasov was the founder of a large trend in Russian literature, which later received the definition of "Nekrasov school." But a fairly significant part of educated society, most often aristocratic nobles, such a "literary fashion" was denied. Such aesthetes considered the civil theme in poetry a sign of second-rate. They recognized only "art for the sake of art itself." But it was precisely this antagonism of two opposing aesthetic concepts that propelled the development of Russian literature throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. Without an understanding of the essence of this confrontation, even a simple analysis of the poem "Elegy" is impossible. Nekrasov was constantly in the 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 entirely possible to agree with those readers who discerned some irony in the title of this work. Based on the ancient understanding of this poetic genre, the journalistic work of a 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 terms of its minor mood and poetic size, the work fully corresponds to its name. This is a sad elegiac reflection on the hopelessness in the fate of the Russian people and on the poet’s attitude to everything that happens.
"I dedicated the lyre to my people ..."
Nikolai Nekrasov could well say this about himself, without risking falling into false pathos. He lived a united life with his people. Behind him were many long years of hard work and poverty. His path to success was not easy. All soul powers were given to the service of the Russian people. This is evidenced even by a simple analysis of the poem "Elegy". Nekrasov, summing up the past life, states: "But I served him and I am calm in my heart ...". Calm to the poet inspires the fact that he did everything he could and even more. The poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was heard by those for whom he worked. His word was echoed in the public mind by a powerful resonance and brought closer the inevitable changes in the social structure of the Russian state. The abolition of serfdom is also the merit of Nekrasov.
"The people are liberated, but is the people happy?"
This is one of the main questions asked by the "Elegy" Nekrasov. 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 serf slavery should have quickly and unrecognizably changed the existence of former serf peasants who became free people. However, in reality, everything was much more complicated. Serf slavery remained in the past, but hopeless poverty and deprivation did not leave the life of the peasants. The post-reform Russian villages of the middle zone impressed many of his contemporaries with his squalor. Reflections on this subject are devoted to the entire second part of the poem. The poet remains faithful to his ideals and principles, but does not find a way out of this 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 finale leaves open.
After Nekrasov
Sometimes there are strange historical rapprochements. As will be said about a hundred years after Nekrasov: "A poet in Russia is more than a poet." But to Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov this statement is fully applicable. And his poetry was more than just poetry. It was an integral part of the growing powerful historical turbulence in the course of Russian social thought. The questions asked by the poet in Elegy did not go unanswered. Only there is not the slightest certainty that these answers would be pleasant to the one who asked them. Neither happiness, nor prosperity, nor prosperity did the Russian peasantry wait. Only three and a half decades separated the poet Nekrasov from the era of wars, revolutions, collectivization and the "elimination of the kulaks as a class" that followed after his demise. And many other political twists of the twentieth century, in the thirties of which it suddenly turned out that the Bolsheviks who came to power absolutely did not need the Nekrasov free plowmen on their land. And it is precisely the meek and obedient fate of the serfs. The historical cycle has closed.