When working on the poem "Frost, Red Nose" (1863), the poet set himself the task of in-depth analysis of the Russian folk character, artistic penetration into the most secret movements of the soul, ideals, feelings and ideas folk heroes. The poem "Frost, Red Nose" was written when, during the decline of the revolutionary wave, there was a smell of reaction in the country, when faith in the revolutionary possibilities of the people was largely shaken in the ranks of the democratic intelligentsia. With this work, Nekrasov declared that the question of the people and their destinies remains the central issue of Russian life. Addressing the democratic intelligentsia, he sought to strengthen their faith in the forces of the people, for the entire poem "Frost, Red Nose", full of heartfelt lyricism, sounded like an inspired hymn to the inexhaustible strength and great moral beauty of the Russian peasantry.
In the new "peasant" poem, the author does not seek to expand in breadth. Two days and two deaths in one peasant family. The field of observation is narrowed, in the sphere of the author's attention there are only two most fully (Daria, Proclus) and a few sketchy characters, but Nekrasov has never achieved such success in his desire to penetrate into the very depths of the people's spirit, people's psychology. The dramatic plot (the death and funeral of Proclus, the death of Daria) contributes to the disclosure of the inner world of the heroine: in a time of grief, people think more, feel more sharply, live a more intense spiritual life.
At first glance, "Frost, Red Nose" seems to be a work more traditional than "Pedlars": the analysis of emotional experiences, the emotions of the hero and the author's lyrical reflections have long formed the basis of the genre of the poem. But this is only an appearance. The innovative meaning of the poem and the courage of its author is that her heroine is a village woman, and those penetrating lyrical intonations, those methods of deep and subtle psychological analysis that were applied to the heroes of the former type, the “thin” people of the noble environment, sounded unprecedentedly fresh, being used in depicting the life of an illiterate Russian peasant woman.
As in The Peddlers, the poet is not afraid to talk about the most everyday, ordinary, to draw pictures of the wretched village life (in the hut, as usual, - "a calf in the basement", and for dinner, as usual - "cabbage, yes with bread kvass”) and the hopeless darkness (treatment of Proclus) of the Russian village in all their truth and harsh, “sober”, as Chernyshevsky said, truth. Through these pictures, the deep tragedy of the "course of people's life" is gradually exposed. The poet does not hide the tragic circumstance that centuries of slavery and poverty have left their stamp on the national character. Under the influence of the “terrible lot” “the type was crushed / A beautiful and powerful Slav”, the type of woman, outlined by the words:
You are all fear incarnate
You are all - age-old languor
But the pathos of the poem lies elsewhere. All the author's attention is focused on the more rarely encountered, but despite everything preserved type of the "stately Slav". It exists, it is “possible to find it even now”, the best features of the national character are concentrated in it, it is the most weighty proof that “the people have not froze, have not fallen, the source of life has not dried up in it” (Dobrolyubov). Daria and Prokl, and Prokl's parents, and, probably, Grishukha with Masha the rezvushka belong to this folk type. Each of these images (and especially Daria) is covered with a poetic halo. And this is not a desire for idealization, but the result of a certain aesthetic vision of the world, new for the literature of that time. Everything is there: a miserable hut, thin bast shoes, a calf in the basement, overwork, and for him - "cabbage, and kvass with bread", but "the dirt of the wretched environment" to the heroes of the poem "does not seem to stick", perhaps because, using Chernyshevsky's terms, this is healthy, real dirt, the main element of which is work.
Speaking with great lyrical excitement about the beauty of the heroine, the Russian peasant woman Daria, and the nobility of her inner appearance, the author makes it clear that they are the result of the highest: the beauty of human labor, which constitutes the content and basis of people's life and makes a working person a bearer of the highest moral standards and values. For Nekrasov in the 60s, the problem of labor, its role in human society is gaining more and more importance. The conclusion that it is the people who are the creators of all material and cultural values is already foreseen in the poem. It is no coincidence that after it will be written " Railway”and“ Whom in Rus' to live well.
But doesn't the high poeticization of folk life in the poem "Frost, Red Nose" contradict the requirement of its realistic depiction? About social conditions, peasant life, miserable and dark, the poet speaks, without softening the colors, "sober truth." And about Daria, Prokle? Also the truth. The images are deeply realistic, with a thousand threads connected with the environment and explained by it, there is no reason not to believe the poet that people of this type among the people "can be found even today." But is this the whole truth about the Russian peasantry as such? Did it appear in all the complexity and inconsistency of its social, everyday and psychological appearance? Did it appear not only in labor, but also in struggle?
Nekrasov, with ardent love and great truthfulness, drew one of the most positive, gratifying types of folk character, revealed the most poetic sides folk soul. But the part is not equal to the whole. It is quite clear that a poem with a family and everyday plot could not accommodate the whole variety of folk types, reveal all the facets of a folk character. The author did not strive for this, he faced another task, brilliantly solved ... But it was during these years, the years of work on the poem "Frost, Red Nose", Nekrasov hatched the idea of a grandiose artistic canvas, an epic of folk life, a work in which I wanted to say everything about the people that I knew and understood, in which I could put all the information about the people, collected by word of mouth over the course of twenty years. He will call this work "To whom in Rus' it is good to live."
The poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Frost, Red Nose”, a summary and analysis of which will be presented to your attention, was created in 1863. It is dedicated in 1869 to his sister A.A. Butkevich, whom he immediately warned that this work would be sadder than anything he had already written.
Brief history of creation
After the abolition of serfdom, many expected further turbulent changes in public life. The revolutionary upsurge intensified, which caused government repression. The publication was first suspended (1862), and then N. Nekrasov's magazine Sovremennik (1866) was completely closed. The poet managed to publish the entire poem in 1864. In it, he showed that although the peasant life was painful and difficult, they themselves are full of spiritual strength. Now we will consider the poem "Frost, Red Nose" by Nekrasov. The summary begins.
sad words to sister
The poet explains the reasons why he rarely and reluctantly writes: "I am tired of struggling with the obstacles of life that poisoned her. The obstacles passed by thanks to the prayers of my beloved sister." Then the poet recalls their garden, in which his father planted an oak, and his mother planted a willow, on which the leaves began to wither when maman died at night. Now, when he is writing a poem, outside his window a large hail is flying like tears. In St. Petersburg, only stones do not cry, prompts the poet's heart, languishing with longing. He is writing a new work in which we will visually present a picture of peasant life, reading a summary of Nekrasov's Frost, the Red Nose. The work is divided into two parts.
Bitter grief - the owner of the house died
The winter icy sometimes did not become in the breadwinner's house. Looking ahead, let's say that he caught a cold while driving on his Savraska, in a hurry to deliver the goods on time. And now Proclus Sevastyanovich is lying dead on a bench by the window. His family silently experiences a terrible misfortune. Father is going to dig a grave, mother found and brought a coffin for him. Daria's wife is sewing a shroud by the window, and only tears, which she cannot hold back, quietly drip onto her husband's last vestment.
Women's share
There are three terrible fates in the life of a Russian peasant woman: to be married to a slave, to become the mother of a slave, and for the rest of her life not to argue with the slave in any way.
But the majestic Slavs still remained in Rus'.
Strict, they bloom, surprising everyone with their beauty, to which dirt does not stick. They deftly cope with any work, they never sit idle. They rarely smile, but if they look, "they will give you a ruble." But on holidays they give themselves up to joy with all their hearts, and their hearty laughter is heard, which cannot be bought for any money. Such a woman, whom only the blind will not see, will save in any trouble. She does not feel sorry for the beggars, because she believes that they themselves are too lazy to work. Her family is always well-groomed, she does not feel the need: there is always delicious kvass on the table, the children are full and healthy, more is always prepared for the holidays than on weekdays. Such was Daria, the widow of Proclus. This is how Nekrasov's poem "Frost, Red Nose" continues, the summary of which we retell.
Seeing Proclus
The children who did not understand anything were taken to the neighbors. Mother and father, in complete stern silence, dress their son on his last journey.
Only after that the family allows itself lamentations and tears. Neighbors and the headman come to say goodbye to Prokl Sevastyanovich, whom the whole village respected.
And in the morning the sleigh takes him on his last journey, to the grave that his father dug. We returned home, it was cold in it, there was no firewood for the stove. Daria follows them into the winter forest.
Thoughts and dream of Daria
The second part of N. A. Nekrasov's poem "Frost, Red Nose" begins. In the forest, Daria chopped so much firewood that she couldn’t take it on a sleigh. While working, Daria did not forget about her husband for a second, talked to him, worried about the future of Grishenka's only son, imagined how beautiful their Mashenka would grow up, how many things now would fall on her shoulders alone, and now there is no one to wait for help. From fatigue and grief, she leaned against a tall pine tree. It was then that the boastful governor Frost found her. He calls Daria to his kingdom. The widow refuses him twice, but when the sly man pretends to be Proclus, Daria freezes in an enchanted eternal sleep. Only a squirrel drops a ball of snow on an unfortunate woman who left her children completely orphaned.
Nekrasov, "Frost, Red Nose": the main characters
Daria is the same Slav who the author admires in the first part of her work. The poem "Frost, Red Nose" by N. Nekrasov describes this image in detail.
Having tried all the ways to save her dying husband from a fever, she goes to a distant monastery for a miraculous icon. This road is not easy - ten miles through the forest, where there are wolves. But even the icon, for which she paid her last money, did not return her beloved friend. After his funeral, tired, she goes to the forest for firewood, where no one will see her grief or tears - she is still proud. Her soul, weary of melancholy, is overwhelmed. It is undergoing changes. Forgetting about the children, she thinks only of her husband. Freezing with a smile in a happy dream, she sees a sunny summer day when she and her husband worked together.
Proclus, who had just passed away, was the breadwinner and hope of the family.
Hardworking and enterprising, he worked all year: in spring, summer, autumn - on the ground, and in winter - on a cart. He, stately, the strongest, affable and friendly, attentive to his wife, children and parents, was respected by the whole village.
ON THE. Nekrasov, "Frost, Red Nose": analysis
Nekrasov knew perfectly well peasant life: life, misfortunes, joys, exhausting work, short rest, rare holidays are described in the poem. Nekrasov gave most of his poem "Frost, Red Nose" to a Russian woman. Tyutchev echoed him around these years, describing in a short poem how the best years of a Russian woman will flash and disappear forever under a gray sky in a nameless land.
However, N. Nekrasov saw in her great hidden opportunities, which he described with love: majesty and pride, hard work and loyalty, sacrifice for the happiness and health of loved ones, and resistance to all circumstances to the end of his strength.
The culmination of the poem is its part, in which Daria dies. A main idea- the inner and outer beauty of the heroine. The sublime song to a simple peasant woman was performed by N.A. Nekrasov flawlessly.
The theme of N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Frost, Red Nose” is quite definite, for the poet it is one of the main ones in his work - this is the sphere of life, life and being of the common people, peasants, their happiness and misfortune, hardships and joys, hard work and rare moments of rest. But perhaps
This poem is entirely dedicated to the Russian woman - the way the poet saw her. And here Nekrasov’s poem “Yesterday, at five o’clock” immediately comes to mind, in which he calls his Muse the “sister” of a peasant woman, thereby forever defining his commitment to this topic. "Frost, Red Nose" is a poem about the heroism and strength of a woman, manifested in unity with nature and in opposition to it. The work is based on a deep, detailed knowledge of peasant life. In the center of the poem is a woman in all her guises: “woman”, “beautiful and powerful Slav”, “womb”
And, finally, "the woman of the Russian land." The poet draws a national type, so life in the poem is
significant, and death acquires the significance of a genuine tragedy. The heroine is a “majestic Slav”, in whose appearance folk ideas about a real beauty were embodied:
There are women in Russian villages With a calm gravity of their faces, With a beautiful force in their movements, With a gait, with the eyes of queens, - Isn't the blind man going to notice them, And the sighted one says about them: “It will pass - as if the sun will shine! Look - he will give a ruble!
A Russian woman in Nekrasov has real spiritual wealth. In her image, the poet shows a man of high moral qualities, not losing faith, not broken by any sorrows. Nekrasov sings of her resilience in life's trials, pride, dignity, care for her family and children. The fate of Daria is the difficult lot of a peasant woman who took on all the men's work, and died from this. Her fate is perceived as a typical fate of a Russian woman:
Destiny had three heavy shares, And the first share: to marry a slave, The second - to be the mother of a slave's son, And the third - to obey the slave to the grave, And all these formidable shares fell on the woman of the Russian land.
Caring for the family, raising children, doing housework and in the field, even the hardest work - all this lay on Daria. But she did not break under this weight. This is what the poet admires. He says about Russian peasant women that "the dirt of the miserable situation does not seem to stick to them." Such a woman "endures both hunger and cold." There is still room in her soul for compassion. Daria went many versts for a miraculous icon that could cure her husband. True, Daria escaped one of the "difficult fates": "submit to the coffin to the slave."
Her relationship with Proclus was extremely happy. Her husband loved her with that restrained, somewhat stern love that is characteristic of peasant families. In hard work, she was always not just an assistant to him, but an equal, a faithful comrade. She was the pillar on which the family was attached. He and Proclus were granted the happiness of raising healthy children, dreaming of their son's wedding. The hard work was redeemed by sincere feelings and mutual understanding. But the disease took her husband away. Having buried him, Daria did not give up, shedding tears, constantly turning to him, talking as if to a living person, she did even more work, if only the children were fed and healthy. But the fate of the villain predetermined an orphan's lot for the children. Daria did not give up in a single life battle, she did not yield to mystical power either.
Frost voivode offers her his kingdom, the “blue palace” and at the same time calmness, oblivion from torment, non-existence. But she, freezing, with the last effort of her will, resurrects in her memory all her past life, albeit heavy and hopeless, but still dear to her. With the same humility with which she endured all the blows of fate, Daria talks to Frost. To his question, “Are you warm, young lady?” she answers "Warm" three times. No complaint or groan escaped her lips. The idea of the poem is to glorify the strength of the Russian woman. For the poet, she is the ideal of external beauty: “The beauty of the world is amazing, Blush, slim, tall”, the ideal of behavior, because she is hard-working, strict, courageous; the ideal of spiritual beauty, motherhood, fidelity, devotion to her husband and rebelliousness to the hardships of fate.
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The poems by N. A. Nekrasov "Pedlars", "Frost, Red Nose" and the poem "Railway" are a cycle dedicated to the image of the people, the assertion of their spiritual strength.
The poet wrote especially penetratingly about the Russian woman, admiring the strength of her character, responding wholeheartedly to her hard lot. The poem "Frost, Red Nose" uses motifs and artistic means folk poetry. This is a poem about female lobe about the life of the peasants. It shows the most diverse aspects of peasant life, the soul of the people is revealed, folk characters are created.
The poem was written during the years of increased reaction, when the revolutionary wave subsided. But for all the drama of the situation and the sad ending, the poem is imbued with optimism, faith in the people, their strength and spiritual power.
First of all, this is a poem about the heroism of peasant labor, about the daily labor feat of Russian peasants. Characters of heroes are shown in their labor activity. Proclus and Daria are tireless workers. In the appearance of Daria, folk ideas about a real beauty were embodied - strongly built, ruddy, lively, dexterous, hardworking:
Beauty, marvelous to the world,
Blush, slim, tall,
Beautiful in every dress
Dexterity for any work.
Work burns in skillful hands Daria:
And hunger, and cold endures,
Always patient, even...
I saw how she mows:
What a wave - then a mop is ready!
Daria is a heroic image of a Russian woman, a Russian peasant woman. It reflected the best features of the Russian national character, this is a "type of stately Slav". Daria, a simple peasant woman, combines external attractiveness and inner beauty, spiritual wealth with selflessness:
There are women in Russian villages
With calm gravity of faces,
With beautiful strength in movements,
With a gait, with the eyes of queens ...
Look - the ruble will give!
The fate of Daria in the poem is a typical fate of a peasant woman in Rus':
Three heavy shares had fate,
And the first share: to marry a slave,
The second is to be the mother of the son of a slave,
And the third - to obey the slave to the grave,
The Russian peasant women had a harsh share. But Daria and Proclus lived happily: the husband reservedly, as is usual in peasant families, loved his wife. The heroism of Daria is in a courageous, steadfast struggle with misfortunes and hardships. Caring for the family, a small modest income, raising children, constant housework and hard work in the field - everything lay on her. But Daria did not bend, did not break under this unbearable weight.
The peasant family in the poem is a particle of the all-Russian world: the thought of Daria turns into the thought of a majestic Slav, Prokl is compared with Mikula Selyaninovich. Yes, and the event that happened in a peasant family that lost its breadwinner absorbs the thousand-year-old troubles of a Russian woman-mother, a long-suffering Slav. Daria's grief is "the great grief of a widow and mother of small orphans": it repeats the tragedy of many generations of Russian women - brides, wives and mothers. But Daria, even in the future, does not imagine herself alone: dreaming of the wedding of her son Grisha, she looks forward to the already impossible happiness of Proclus, rejoices in his joy:
Haven't I tried about it?
What did I regret?
I was afraid to tell him
How I loved him!
In the image of a Russian peasant woman, Nekrasov showed a person of high moral qualities, he sings of the resilience of Slavic women in life's trials, pride, dignity, care for the family and children.
Option 2
The poetry of the remarkable Russian poet N. A. Nekrasov is full of ardent love for man. The poet wrote especially penetratingly about the Russian woman. The majestic Slav became the heroine of many works by N. A. Nekrasov, such as “Who should live well in Rus'”, “Frost, Red Nose”, “Russian Women”.
With exhaustive completeness and amazing brightness in the images and pictures of peasant life, the poet displayed the thoughts and feelings, labor and suffering of a Russian woman.
But we cannot say that the peasant woman appears in the works of N. A. Nekrasov only in the image of a woman tortured by life and work. In his poem "Frost, Red Nose" we meet a new type of village woman. In accordance with the popular idea of \u200b\u200bfemale beauty, N. A. Nekrasov lovingly paints a portrait of a peasant woman from a Russian village:
Beauty, marvelous to the world,
Blush, slim, tall,
Beautiful in every dress
Dexterity for any work.
She has "heavy blond braids", "dark breasts", "beautiful even teeth" and "ruddy lips". But the author admires not only the external beauty of "women from Russian villages." He is sure that they have a much greater strength hidden inside: endurance, calm wisdom, patience. After all, a Russian peasant woman is also a mistress, a wife, and a mother. “She rarely smiles...” the author says sadly. After all, "the seal lies on it of the efficiency of strict and inner strength." She is aware of all the responsibility that lies with her, and understands that her "salvation is in work." Therefore, Russian women in the villages do not sit idly by. But there is something to be proud of:
They always have a warm house
The bread is baked, the kvass is delicious,
Healthy and well-fed guys
There is an extra piece for the holiday.
N. A. Nekrasov shows us the amazing property of the Russian national character, which the people carried through the centuries to the present day. The author reveals to readers that inexhaustible source of endurance and strength of the national spirit, which so many times saved and supported Russia during the years of national upheavals. And in the image of a peasant woman from the poem "Frost, Red Nose" we can see the images of the future Decembrists, wives-soldiers who were a support for their husbands and performed feats in the name of love For the family, for the motherland. Even now they speak of such women with admiration, repeating the words of N. A. Nekrasov:
In trouble, he will not fail - he will save:
Stop a galloping horse
Will enter the burning hut!
In his poems and poems, N. A. Nekrasov showed us the wonderful characters of Russian women, their everyday life and work, little joys and sufferings.
The poet managed to create in Russian literature such an image of a woman that amazes with her integrity and grandeur.
The poem "Frost, Red Nose" remains, in our opinion, one of the most unsolved works of N.A. Nekrasov. Nekrasov himself, according to P.D. Boborykin, wanted to "write a few pictures of Russian rural life ... the fate of our Russian woman ..."[ 1 ]. Researchers, in line with the traditional interpretation of Nekrasov's work, saw in the poem a life-affirming optimistic theme of labor, an unusual figurative structure, and an expansive epic meaning of the conflict. A typical interpretation of the great Nekrasov poem comes down most often to the fact that "Frost, Red Nose" is the apotheosis of the Russian peasant woman, in which the author sees the disappearing type of "stately Slav". The poem depicts the bright sides of peasant nature, flashing bright pictures of former happiness in front of Darya freezing in the forest - and all this is excellently written in magnificent verse. Often, the meaning of the poem was generally spoken about in a very streamlined way: "With the poem" Frost, Red Nose "Nekrasov for the first time in the history of Russian literature gave a positive answer to the question of whether a person from the people, deprived of the advantages of education, can become the hero of a great poetic work" [ 2 ]. It is in this spirit that V.V. Zhdanov interprets the poem in the History of Russian Literature: “The poet conceived to depict the fate and character of a peasant woman, her patience and endurance, love of work, kindness and poetry of her soul ... Before Nekrasov, no one in Russian poetry did not glorify peasant labor as the basis of life ... The artistic originality and special color give the poem fabulous folklore motifs ... "[ 3 ]. All this, in principle, does not go beyond the circle of definitions of Nekrasov himself, who stated that he wanted to write only "a few pictures of Russian rural life." However, Nekrasov's best poem is imbued with the unity and significance of the idea, the depth of artistic logic, covering not only "pictures of rural life." There is no doubt that all these "pictures" are linked together by the depth of a single author's concept. Often this concept was seen in the depiction of "the fate of a Russian woman". Indeed, the fate of the "beautiful and proud Slav" is presented in Nekrasov's poem as a wonderful ideal. But the depth of the idea of the poem is far from exhausted. There is in the poem "Frost the Red Nose" and a deeper, actually religious, ideal. In the interpretation of the poem, very significant adjustments are possible if the personal experiences of the poet, the theme of death, are singled out in its problems. The deepest light on her plan is shed by the Christian motifs of the poem.
In Nekrasov's poem "Frost, Red Nose" in coexistence and constant struggle are, on the one hand, Life-real, logical, legal, and on the other - illogical, fantastic and wonderful, mystical beginnings - and this struggle and interweaving of them clarifies a lot . The artistic logic of the poem is tied together by the theme of the fate of man in the face of God's Providence. That is why the miraculous, the beyond, the afterlife is given a very significant place in the poem. It should be noted that "Frost, Red Nose", despite the epicness really inherent in this work, is imbued with a personal theme, the personal mood of the poet, which is revealed in the introduction to the poem and in its finale. These moods are the anxious expectation of death.
I would like to draw attention to the fact that the introduction to the poem and the appeal to his sister, to whom Nekrasov dedicates his work, are not at all optimistic in terms of life. On the contrary, Nekrasov's tone is very sad. In fact, in the introduction, he says that perhaps the poem will be his "last song":
Now it's time for me to die...
Do not then start on the road,
So that in a loving heart again
Awaken fatal anxiety...
My subdued Muse
I myself reluctantly caress ...
I sing the last song
For you - and I dedicate to you.
But it won't be fun
It will be much sadder than before
Because the heart is darker
And the future is even more hopeless...
At the end of the poem, Nekrasov returns to personal motives:
And if we live enough,
We can't sleep anywhere!
"Nam" is for those who feel "at the door of the coffin." Speaking about how the peasant widow Daria freezes in the forest, Nekrasov undoubtedly brings personal experiences into the poem. Meanwhile, Nekrasov has no more optimistic work than Frost, Red Nose. Only here it is not social, not vital, but "eternal", actually Christian optimism that dominates. It does not come down to the theme of labor and pictures of the contentment of peasant life. This is the "temporary" layer of the poem, behind which the beauty of another, "eternal" life is revealed, diligently prepared for man by God (which touches Nekrasov so much during his personal experiences) [ 4 ].
Death is one of the main themes of the poem. Moreover, it shows as many as three deaths: a peasant who accomplished his peasant feat in life, his widow, who suffered a difficult feat of a Russian woman, and finally, a schema woman in a monastery who distinguished herself with a spiritual feat. The introduction also speaks of the closely felt death of the author himself ("And now it's time for me to die"), as well as the death of the mother:
The storm howls in the garden, the storm breaks into the house,
I'm afraid she won't break
The old oak planted by my father
And the willow that mother planted
This willow that you
Strangely connected with our fate,
On which the sheets faded
The night the poor mother was dying...
The theme of death, so widely introduced into the poem, not only gives it a special drama, but also affects all its poetics, the whole system of the author's thinking, the unusual combination of everyday and mystical, real and fantastic in it. Before us is a work in which dreams are closely intertwined with reality, memories and dreams - with reality. Nekrasov penetrated deeply into the unique image of the spiritual thinking of the people, presented in vivid pictures and images the foundations of the so-called "dual faith" and folk Orthodoxy. The poem reflects the spiritual experience of the people, in which paganism and Christianity are combined in the usual, ordinary way.
The mystical, surreal layer of Nekrasov's poem occupies almost a greater place in it than the image of reality. Actually, the funeral rite, the depiction of a peasant's hard lot, the fate of a peasant woman are in many ways traditional for Nekrasov, but included in some new artistic system that transforms these traditional motifs. What is this system based on?
Miraculous, mystical and at the same time mysteriously poetic - this is the basis artistic style poems. The miraculous begins in the introduction to the poem. Nekrasov reminds his sister that on the willow, "that mother planted," "the leaves faded // On the night when the poor mother was dying ...". This purely personal and mystical event gives the poem a mood of authorial anxiety. The poem ends with a poetic description of the miraculous, the mysterious:
Not a sound! And you see blue
The vault of the sky, yes the sun, yes the forest,
In silver-matt hoarfrost
Dressed up, full of miracles,
Attracting an unknown mystery,
Deeply dispassionate...
The illogical, incomprehensible from an everyday, earthly point of view, continues in the conversation about all the deaths depicted in Nekrasov's poem. The death of the peasant Proclus is illogical - a man in the prime of life, who worked and supported his wife, children, and parents with the labor of his hands. A bearing support has fallen in a peasant's house. The illogicality of the situation is felt first of all by the parents of Proclus. Here Father Proclus is digging his grave and thinking:
The grave is ready for glory, -
"I don't want to dig this hole!
(The old one let out a word.)
Proclus would not sleep in it ... "
Before us is not just a "mistake", a strange tragic case. Nekrasov shows that the white light has now faded for parents, the cosmos of life has collapsed:
There is no sun, the moon has not risen ...
It's like the whole world is dying...
The death of the breadwinner is such a tragic event for a peasant family that Daria, who went to the monastery to the miraculous icon to beg the life of the Most Holy Theotokos for Proclus, is sure:
No, the Queen of Heaven will not allow!
A wonderful icon will give healing!
However, earthly logic collides with some other, deeper, but completely incomprehensible "logic of the Spirit." Not only Proclus dies, but also, after him, Daria herself. From the point of view of ordinary earthly values, the death of Daria, who had just come from her husband's funeral, is completely "illogical", unnatural, strange. Children remain orphans, the second "pillar" of the peasant hut - the "womb" - is collapsing. These destructions are blatant. The question arises about the "fairness" of what is happening, about observing at least some logic, truth and justice in these deaths. It was not for nothing that F.Ya.Priyma wrote in the article “On the Characterization of N.A. Nekrasov’s Folklorism”: “Without giving exits“ to the surface ”, and thereby formal reasons for cavils of censorship, the rebellious pathos of“ Frost ” nevertheless reached enormous strength Both the death of Proclus and the death of Daria Nekrasov portrayed as a consequence public injustice"[5 ]. The question of justice in one way or another sounds in Nekrasov's work - and is addressed to heaven, to God Himself, although Nekrasov puts it not in the text, but in the whole logical course of the poem. Nekrasov leads this topic persistently, emphasizing his idea by introducing the episode of the death of the schema nun into the text of the poem. The place of this episode in the composition of the poem can be explained by only one thing: the author’s desire to emphasize the idea that earthly logic and God’s Providence often do not coincide: what seems good from an earthly point of view is disastrous, insignificant in the spiritual sense - and vice versa. It seems that the death of a schema nun, a very young girl, is “unfair”, “illogical” (“Young, calm sleeps ... You are younger, smarter, sweeter than everyone else”). The author emphasizes the "injustice" of her death with the words of Daria:
You are like a white dove between sisters
Between gray, simple pigeons.
In the poem, the best, the youngest, the most needed by others, the weak and the poor, die, go to God. The question hovers in the poem: where is justice? However, this question is not asked by the author! The question ripens primarily in the soul of Daria:
My tears are not pearly
Tears of a widow,
What do the Lord need you for?
Why are you dear to Him?
The author himself just agrees with the tragedy of life, he agrees that God cares about people better than they themselves, with their self-willed desires, plans, aspirations. It is not for nothing that in the finale of the poem "Silence" Nekrasov's lines sound:
Strengthen by his example,
Broken under the yoke of grief!
Don't chase personal happiness
And yield to God - without arguing ...
Nekrasov accepts life not only in its earthly incarnation, but also in the supra-spiritual one. If throughout the poem Daria talks about work, about the hard-earned "peasant penny", etc., then the author himself, with the whole course of the inner idea of the poem, confirms that human life does not come down to this, that it is truly wonderful, controlled by higher forces. That is why in the final stanzas of the poem "Frost, Red Nose" the words sound: " She smiled. // We will not regret about her". Nekrasov speaks here of God's Providence, with which there is no need to argue, for He is good. Moreover, the deaths presented in the poem betray the true holiness of people. That is why there is no need to regret Daria. In the lives of the saints, there are frequent references to at their funeral, people felt Pascha, i.e. the inevitability of the resurrection of a holy man. This is how Daria feels the Assumption of the Schema-nun, this is how the author himself imagines the Assumption of Daria, who said goodbye to the earthly heavy share and now painlessly, in a wonderful happy dream passed to Heavenly life. Before us is not death , and dormancy:
We can't sleep anywhere!
...................................
And Daria stood and froze
In my enchanted dream...
In the same way, Nekrasov speaks of dormition in relation to Proclus, calling him "Sleeping Proclus":
Fell asleep, working in sweat!
Fell asleep, having worked the earth!
Lies uncared for,
On a white pine table...
Death in the poem is not only not ugly, but even poetic: there is epic poetry in the description of Proclus lying on the table under the icons. In Nekrasov's stanzas there is an emphasis on the peculiar beauty of the Christian dormition:
Lies motionless, stern,
With a burning candle in their heads
In a wide canvas shirt
And in fake new bast shoes.
Large, with corns, hands,
Having put in a lot of work,
Beautiful, alien to flour
Face- and a beard to the arms ...
This beauty is the beauty of the holiness of a person who has reposed to God. Hence Nekrasov's image of Proclus is captured by the gospel metaphor: the author compares him with a "dove":
They lowered the darling into the hole,
A roost was laid under the chicken ...
Subdued to everything, as pigeon...
The image of a dove in this case goes back to the gospel words of Jesus Christ: " Be ... simple as doves"(Matt. 10, 16). It is not for nothing that the schema-nun who died in the monastery is compared with the dove-dove: " You are like a white turtledove between sisters / Between gray, simple doves"The sanctity of this deceased schema nun is obvious, which Daria not only calls an "angel", but also turns to her, as to a saint, for help in her work:
So meek angels!
Say, my killer whale,
God with holy lips
So that I don't stay
A bitter widow with orphans!
Thus, three unusual deaths pass before us: the deaths of holy men. Despite the tragic events, we feel deep poetry in Nekrasov's descriptions. The thing is that in the poem God's Providence decides human destinies. He is the main character of the poem. This is what Nekrasov represents in the poetic, fabulously folklore image of Frost the governor. The last description of the wonderful, "attracting with an unknown mystery" forest is Nekrasov's poetic reminder of the nature of God's Providence. It is not the forest that the poet describes at all, calling it "deeply impassive", namely the good will of God, with the "alogism" of which the dead heroes encountered in the poem, passionately experiencing life's dramas in an earthly way.
The conflict between worldly logic and unexpectedly manifesting, "illogical" God's will is reinforced in the poem, it would seem, by a completely non-obligatory image of the holy fool Pakhom, who is almost never mentioned by the commentators of the poem. In the UP chapter of the poem, after describing how the father dug a grave for Proclus, and the mother bought a coffin for her son, this unusual character appears. Before continuing our thought about his place in the compositional and semantic structure of the poem, let's try to peer into this image, given that Nekrasov, although he is inclined to depict Christian asceticism, including foolishness, rarely places such heroes in his works. The "old acquaintance Pakhom" grows up in the poem, as if from under the ground; the poet emphasizes the exoticism of the very appearance of the hero, and his clothes, habits:
The village has not opened yet
And close - flickering fire.
The old woman made a cross,
The horse shied away -
Without a hat, with bare feet,
With a big pointed stake
Suddenly appeared before them
An old acquaintance Pahom.
Covered with a women's shirt,
The chains on it rang...
Before us is a classic holy fool. In winter, he goes without clothes, without a hat. Perhaps Nekrasov had the experience of a personal meeting with such a village holy fool. Most likely, the poet makes up a contaminated image, shining at once with many features taken from hagiographic literature about the blessed. After all, it is unlikely that the “village fool” was able to simultaneously combine such features of the external appearance of many holy fools as wandering (namely, his sudden appearance on the road from the cemetery speaks of wandering), walking barefoot and without a hat, wearing iron chains, walking in women's clothing, lowing instead of speech.
In hagiographic literature, all these external signs of holy foolishness are "evenly distributed" among various types of holy fools (and this once again confirms that Nekrasov knew hagiographic literature quite well). For example, from the life of the "classical" holy fool, Blessed Basil of Moscow, it is known that he "did not wear clothes on his body, but was always homeless and went naked both in summer and in winter, freezing from the cold in winter, and suffering from heat in summer" [ 6 ], which is why they called Blessed Vasily "nagokhodets". Nothing, however, is said about chains, women's clothing. Chains were worn by many blessed ones. Such was, for example, the Moscow holy fool John, nicknamed the Big Cap (he is portrayed by A.S. Pushkin in "Boris Godunov", almost for the first time calling his cap "iron"). John the Big Kolpak moved from Moscow to Rostov, built himself a cell near the church and so escaped, hanging his body with heavy iron rings and chains. Fools who changed men's clothes for women's are much less common. The holy fools are not always silent or, as in Nekrasov, "mumble" [ 7 ].
It must be said that during the period of writing the poem "Frost, Red Nose" Nekrasov was perhaps the only major writer in Russian literature who, with absolute, truly popular trust (all the same "folk Orthodoxy"!) Related to the feat of foolishness. General situation was such that in the Synodal period of the Russian Orthodox Church(XVIII - XIX centuries) holy fools irritated both secular and spiritual authorities. The remarkable church writer Georgy Fedotov in his famous book "Saints Ancient Rus'"notes:" Foolishness - like monastic holiness - is localized in the north, returning to its Novgorod homeland. Vologda, Totma, Kargopol, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka are the cities of the last holy fools. In Moscow, the authorities - both state and church - begin to be suspicious of the blessed. She notices the presence among them of false fools, naturally insane or deceivers. There is also a diminution of church festivities by already canonized saints (Basil the Blessed). The Synod generally ceases to canonize holy fools. Deprived of the spiritual support of the church intelligentsia, persecuted by the police, foolishness descends into the people and undergoes a process of degeneration"[ 8 ]. The situation became especially aggravated precisely by the 60s of the XIX century, when Nekrasov's poem was written. It is perfectly illustrated by the literary fate of the most famous holy fool in the 19th century - Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha.
Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha (1783-1861) - Moscow holy fool, well known to his (and ours) contemporaries and even got into some works of art N.S. Leskov, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.N. Ostrovsky. Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha was very well known not only in Orthodox Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg, as people went to him for advice and prayer from all over Russia. Often among its visitors one could find representatives of high society. The "New Encyclopedic Dictionary", published at the beginning of the 20th century, says: "A rare day passed without a hundred visitors visiting Koreishi ... Many representatives (especially representatives) of high society visited him ...". N.S. Leskov in the story "A Little Mistake" did not escape the temptation to draw an overly exotic and somewhat caricatured figure[ 9 ]. Unfortunately, we see almost the same thing in F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Demons", where Ivan Yakovlevich is depicted under the name of Semyon Yakovlevich and not without a touch of caricature. Apparently, both Leskov and Dostoevsky used the same source of information about this holy fool: the book of I. Pryzhov [ 10 ]. L.Ya. Lurie rightly noted in the preface to the reprint of Pryzhov’s book: “The holy fools, the cross-eyed kaliks, whores for I. Aksakov ... are something like pythonesses, people’s righteous people and soothsayers. For Pryzhov, their existence is a sign of savagery, pathology or conscious fraud "[ 11 ]. In fact, Pryzhov did not have the goal of objectively looking at the life of 26 Moscow holy fools, whom he undertook to describe in his book: he does not recognize the right of any of them to be called a holy fool for Christ's sake. All of them are described as hysterics and rascals. After Pryzhov's book, the name of Ivan Yakovlevich became a household name in the democratic press of the 1860s, and in many respects in the literary community as a whole. S.S. Shashkov sent an article about the journal Grazhdanin for publication to Iskra, in which he caustically says about F. Dostoevsky that he "made his debut as the successor of the late Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha, anathematizing Belinsky, proving the moral salvation of penal servitude ... "[ 12 ]. It is also known that, in response to F. Dostoevsky's reproach, S.S. Dudyshkin called Dostoevsky's words an "aphorism" worthy "in his courage to enter the collection of sayings of Ivan Yakovlevich" [ 13 ]. Thus, the name of Ivan Yakovlevich became the designation of madness in the literary environment. This became possible for the same reason that Pryzhov's book was born: in the 1860s. in Russia there has been a general decline in faith, increased skepticism in relation to everything holy, especially mystical [ 14 ]. Here, the official Synodal alertness towards the holy fools and everything miraculous (only in 1903, at the insistence of Nicholas II personally, St. Seraphim of Sarov was glorified as a saint) dramatically coincided in time with the militant atheism of the nihilists and revolutionaries.
We see a completely different attitude to foolishness in Nekrasov. Having passed through the retort of popular Orthodoxy, he could hardly ever be ironic about the holy fools. On the contrary, in the poem "Frost, Red Nose" the holy fool Pakhom performs an important artistic function. It was he who was given the opportunity to voice God's will, to suggest what the author's view of the problem of justice raised in the poem consists of:
Tapped the rustic fool
In the frosty ground with a stake,
Then he mumbled angrily,
He sighed and said, "Don't worry!
He worked for you!
And your turn has come!
Mother bought a coffin for her son,
His father dug a hole for him
His wife sewed a shroud for him.
All at once I gave you work! .. "
It was Pakhom who said that everything that happened to Proclus is "not a problem," for it enters into God's Providence for the human soul - for his good. At the same time, Pahom expresses participation as a person: he mumbles "compassionately." Undoubtedly, Pahom voices the author's concept of what happened, designates the internal theme of "non-tendentious"[ 15 ] Nekrasov's poems. From any other point of view, the appearance of this figure in the poem is insignificant and not entirely clear. The poem "Frost, Red Nose" presented a deeply intimate spiritual world Nekrasov, talking about death in front of his own, as it seems to him, grave. There is a lot of irrational, intuitive in the poem. Nekrasov appears in it as a man of the deepest inner faith, nurtured in the midst of popular Orthodoxy.
The further description of the holy fool Pakhom, filled with the highest artistry, is curious:
Mumbled again - and without a goal
The fool ran into space.
The chains rang sadly,
And bare calves shone
And the staff scrawled in the snow.
The ending of the episode with the holy fool is a classic depiction of holy foolishness incarnate. Five lines list all the main "attributes" of foolishness: "mooing", external "aimlessness" of movement, chains, bodily nudity. But the image created by Nekrasov is very deep. It should be taken into account that the whole picture drawn in the last lines is aimed at emphasizing the idea of "aimlessness", and therefore the "stupidity" of the holy fool. However, behind the external plan, the poet has an internal plan - deeply meaningful. Despite the aimlessness, outward randomness of the movement of the holy fool "in space", he turned out to be at the right time in the right place (so the horse shied aside!) - and announced God's will to people. The aimlessness of movement is supported by his "mooing" (aimless sound emission): he began his conversation with Proclus's parents with a mooing and ended with it. But between these mooings is intelligible, fateful speech. In the lines cited - the true poetry of foolishness, this kind of spiritual art, taken seriously, without mockery by Nekrasov. The poet's faith is presented in the poem in a completely different way than in those works of Nekrasov, in which revolutionary pathos is manifested ("Russian Women", "In Memory of Dobrolyubov", "Who Lives Well in Rus'", etc.). If in the works mentioned the poet introduces revolutionary content into the Christian form, then the poem "Frost the Red Nose" in its entirety reflected the genuine sincerity, humility, depth of Nekrasov's personal faith, not bookish Christianity, coming from the French utopian socialists, but deep folk Orthodoxy, which the author of the poem absorbed with mother's milk.
Vladimir Ivanovich Melnik, Doctor of Philology, professor, member of the Writers' Union of Russia (Moscow)
FOOTNOTE:
1. Library for reading. 1864, N 2. S. 68.
2. Priyma F.Ya. On the characteristics of folklorism N.A. Nekrasov // Russian literature. 1981. N 2. S. 88.
3. History of Russian literature. In 4 volumes. T. 3. L., 1982. S. 369 - 370.
4. We deliberately avoid the question of dating the appearance of the introduction to the poem: in fact, the introduction only more clearly marked the semantic facets of the work, but did not form the basis of the author's intention. The introduction brought the mood of the moment and revealed it emotionally vividly.
5. Priyma F.Ya. On the characteristics of folklorism N.A. Nekrasov // Russian literature. 1981. N 2. S. 87 - 88. In Soviet time the mistake of those who wrote about Nekrasov's folklorism was that they left aside the question of the poet's orientation towards the people's consciousness as a whole. This consciousness included not only folklorism, but also a deep layer of popular Orthodoxy, which peacefully coexisted with folklorism. Hence the exaggeration and at the same time the insufficiency of many of our ideas about Nekrasov's connections with the people's consciousness.
6. Lives of the saints of St. Demetrius of Rostov. August. M., 1911. S. 39.
7. About the "mooing" holy fool of St. bllzh. Andrey Simbirsky, see: Melnik V.I. Rev. Seraphim of Sarov and the Simbirsk intelligentsia (Religious education of I.A. Goncharov) // Rev. Seraphim of Sarov and Russian literature. M., 2004. S. 64.
8. Fedotov G. Saints of Ancient Rus'. SPb., 2004. S. 258.
9. A completely different attitude to the type of village "fool" is expressed by Leskov in the story of 1891 "The Fool". But this character of his, in general, is devoid of the features of a holy fool: rather, he is an exceptional rural idealist-truth-lover, a true follower of the Gospel in life.
10. Pryzhov I.G. Life of I.Ya. Koreans. SPb., 1860; His same: Essays, articles, letters. Academy. 1934; Ivan Pryzhov. 26 Moscow prophets, holy fools, fools and fools. SPb.-M., 1996.
11. Ivan Pryzhov. 26 Moscow prophets, holy fools, fools and fools. SPb. M., 1996. S. 6.
12. Quoted from the book: Chronicle of the life and work of F.M. Dostoevsky. T. 2. St. Petersburg, 1994. S. 336.
13. Ibid. T. 1. SPb., 1993. S. 315.
14. For details, see about this: Melnik V.I. Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha in Russian literature. Artistic image and spirit-bearing personality // Roman-magazine XXI century. M., 2004. NN 11-12. S. 102 - 107.
15. According to P.D. Boborykin, Nekrasov asked his listeners to take into account that “his new work has no trend” (Library for Reading. 1864, N 2. P. 68).
