Again she, dear side,
And again the soul is full of poetry ...
N. A. Nekrasov
The democratic movement in Russia in the middle of the 19th century gave birth to a “third,” after Pushkin and Lermontov, the great Russian poet N. A. Nekrasov, who significantly renewed the content and form of Russian lyric poetry and poem.
Nekrasov was indebted to many of his comrades-in-arms Belinsky, and later Chernyshevsky, communication with whom brought up his democracy. A difficult life path enriched Nekrasov

Such impressions, which helped him better than any of the writers, to get to know the life of the people, the urban poor, the commoners. The personality of Nekrasov is extremely complex. Memoirists note that he was a “repentant nobleman,” that is, he experienced remorse before an oppressed people. With his poetic activity, he tried to atone for the sin of his privileged origin.
Nekrasov wrote that the most important thing is to love the people and the homeland and "serve them with heart and soul." The Russian people, in whose unlimited possibilities Nekrasov sacredly believed, and his native land with its surprisingly harsh, but infinitely beautiful nature, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the poet. The image of the motherland runs through all of his work. "Motherland! I have humbled myself in soul, I have returned to you as a loving son ”; “O Mother Russia! you greet your son ”; “Motherland! I will reach the grave without waiting for your freedom ”; "You are wretched, you are abundant, you are powerful, you are also powerless, Mother Russia!" - the words with which the poet addressed his homeland. In a foreign land, Nekrasov yearned, languished from inaction, was in a creative dead end. But as soon as he returned, breathed in the smells familiar from childhood and saw his native landscapes, he experienced a creative upsurge:
Again she, dear side,
With her green, blessed summer,
And again the soul is full of poetry ...
Yes, only here can I be a poet!
Comparing the beauty of the Russian landscape full of peculiar charm with the landscapes of the West, Nekrasov writes about its healing power:
All the rye is like a living steppe,
No castles, no people, no mountains ...
Thank you, dear side,
For your healing space!
Nekrasov dedicated lines, surprising in their penetration and beauty, to his native meadows and fields, to the “proud” Russian rivers. We read a description of the Russian spring, remarkable in its expressiveness, in the poem "Green Noise":
Playfully diverges
Suddenly the riding wind:
Alder bushes will swing,
Will raise flower dust,
Like a cloud: everything is green
Both air and water!
Admiring the beauty of nature, the poet never forgot how hard it was for the people under the skies of their homeland. The theme of "homeland" in Nekrasov's poetry acquired a particularly democratic, peasant character. The poverty of the wretched Russian village, the backbreaking work of the peasant, the hard lot of the Russian woman, the hard labor of the barge haule, the lack of rights of the people, the arbitrariness of the "powers that be" - all these tragic aspects of the sad Russian reality worried the poet.
The spectacle of the people's disasters
Unbearable my friend
The poet exclaims with heartache. His poems were filled with hatred for the offenders of ordinary people. Therefore, in the work of Nekrasov, the words “love for the motherland” were constantly combined with the words “anger” and “hatred”.
Who lives without sorrow and anger,
He does not love his homeland.
His poems are “living witnesses for the world of shed tears”. In his poetry, Nekrasov completely immerses himself in purely Russian concerns: "An Uncompressed Strip" (1854), "Forgotten Village" (1855), "On the Volga" (1860), "Village Suffering is in full swing" (1864), "Reflections at the entrance ”(1858),“ Railway ”(1864). Nekrasov does not need to clarify his understanding of the homeland, to look for ways to the people. He meets people everywhere: on a hunt, on a halt, on a walk, in a field, in a hut, in a forest. He knows how to feel and understand the mood of an ordinary person. Nekrasov passionately believed in the happy future of his mother-homeland. He wrote about his native land:
You are still destined to suffer a lot
But you won't die, I know.
The poet urged “not to be shy for the dear homeland,” as he believed that the people would win happiness for themselves. “I believe in the people,” said the poet. This great faith of Nekrasov is of particular importance in our difficult time, full of difficult trials. Without Nekrasov, it is impossible to understand either the past of Russian poetry or its present.

You read at once: People and homeland in the lyrics of N. A. Nekrasov

The words of the poet himself can serve as an epigraph for the lesson. : "I dedicated the lyre to my people ..."

The purpose of the lesson: using the example of Nekrasov's poems to show ”to the students that the poet saw the meaning of his life in serving the people; to instill in children a sense of pride in the best people of our Motherland.

The schoolchildren are already familiar with the work of the great Russian poet, so it is advisable to involve them in their work in the lesson, having given individual tasks in advance: to prepare messages, to select from the works studied in the middle grades excerpts in which the heavy share of the Russian people is shown, etc.

Approximate advancing tasks:

1. Re-read the poem "Frost, Red Nose" and prepare a message on the topic "Image in the poem of the suffering of the people." In the answer, use lines from the poem.
2. Love and hate are two motives that characterize Nekrasov's poetry. How did they express themselves in the poem "Reflections at the main entrance"? What is the ideological meaning of this poem? In what other poem of the poet sounds the same sad motive?
3. How is the theme of folk labor revealed in the poem "Railroad"? Find the lines that contain the main meaning of the poem. The student who prepares this message should emphasize that the revolutionary influence of the "Railroad" was noted by V.G. Plekhanov; the poem was read, memorized, recited at underground meetings and evenings. This was due to the fact that in the "Railroad" Nekrasov brilliantly predicted the bright future of the people, expressed revolutionary views on the people and faith in their wonderful future:

Will endure everything - and wide, clear
He will make a way for himself with his chest.

Summing up the conversation, the teacher will say that, according to Nekrasov, to love the people means to hate their oppressors, to devote all our strength to the struggle for their happiness. Therefore, the personal in Nekrasov poetry is inseparable from the social, the public. In the work "A Knight for an Hour", the poet calls the struggle for the happiness of the people a great deed of love. About his muse Nekrasov says: "You have men on your mind!"

A fiery feeling of love for the homeland permeates all of his poetry. The Russian heroic people, their native land, with its "healing" space, endless fields, green forests, snowy winters - this is the deep, inexhaustible source from which the poet drew his inspiration. In his poem Silence, he states:

Not to the heavens of someone else's homeland -
I composed songs to my homeland!

The fate of the toiler worried Nekrasov throughout his life, he ardently sympathizes with the people, drawing the glaring contrasts of life and the urban poor, and the poverty and grief of peasant life. The world of his poetry is a world seen "through tears" through the eyes of a disadvantaged and oppressed people. Therefore, the desire to see his homeland free and happy gave rise to the poet's desire to actively intervene in the struggle for this liberation. The strength of Nekrasov's poetry lies in deep penetration into the essence of the national character, this is evidenced by his works "Frost, Red Nose", "Railroad", "Reflections at the Front Entrance" and a number of other works already familiar to students.

The teacher will name some of Nekrasov's other poems about the people: "Every year, strength decreases ..." (1861), "Freedom" (1861), "Duma" (1861), "How a coward is celebrated" (1870), "Morning" (1874 ). In these and other poems, Nekrasov passionately dreamed of freedom, the people:

Motherland! I will reach the grave
Without waiting for your freedom!
But I wish I knew, dying,
That you are on the right track
That your plowman, sowing the fields,
Sees a buzzy day ahead ...

("Every year, the strength decreases ...").

Nekrasov understood the feudal nature of the reform:

I know: instead of serf networks
People came up with many others ...
And in 1870 he sees the same thing all around:
In the life of a peasant, now free,
Poverty, ignorance, darkness ...

Nekrasov's wounded heart was always filled with pain about the bitter fate of the people. In the poem "Despondency" (1874), observing the "burnt fields" by the sun, he writes:

Is it possible that the plow will be the reward again?
Hungry year! .. Chu! the woman sings!
As if she was putting her friend in the coffin.
The soul hurts, despondency grows.
People! People!..

Burning, holy worry
For your lot I have brought to gray hair!

And yet Nekrasov never tired of hoping: "I believe in the people" ("Woe of old Naum."); “It's time to go forward” ..., “… everyone go into battle!”.

Proceeding from a deep knowledge of the life of the people, their diligence, high moral qualities, Nekrasov firmly believed in his great and wonderful future, he repeatedly spoke about this in his poems and poems. Most often he drew it in pictures of a working peasant life. Then it will appear in the dream of Daria, the heroine of the poem "Frost, Red Nose", who dreams of "hot summer" and the work of her entire family: mother-in-law, "rezvushka" "beauty Masha", Grisukha, who has "peas on his neck with a collar", her husband Prokluk that "walks boldly behind a cart of sheaves of gold"; then in the form of a house, in which "purity, sweetness", well-being and contentment.

But these dreams of prosperity constantly ran into the impossibility of their implementation in the conditions of an autocratic-serf state. And yet Nekrasov firmly believes that "no limits have been set for the Russian people: there is a wide road ahead of them."

AA Grigoriev, a famous poet and critic, called Nekrasov "a man with a national heart." The poet's "people's heart" was manifested with great force in the "Song of Labor", which is recommended for extracurricular reading. In the lesson, it should be explained that this song expresses not so much the experience of the poet himself, but the experience of the entire working people, who know the value of labor and, thanks to centuries of experience, can express themselves firmly and definitely on this matter:

Work as hard as you can and desire
So that your work is always sweet.

Nekrasov understood that a bright future is possible only after the revolution, which will, he knew, not soon.

As a result, the teacher will say that Nekrasov devoted all his work to the people, knew his plight perfectly well, sought to draw attention to him and arouse in him a feeling of protest against his oppressed position. Students should be encouraged to write down and remember the most expressive lines of the poet about this: "... generations of people live and die without a trace" ("On the Volga"), "You will wake up full of strength ..." ("Reflections at the front door") and etc. According to the peasant Fyodor Zobov, "Nekrasov, as a singer of national grief, must take the first place in the souls of the working masses in Russian literature."

One of the manifestations of Nekrasov's patriotic feelings were his poems about nature. Students will read masterfully painted pictures of Russian nature in the works "Peasant Children", "Grandfather Mazai and the Hares", "On the Volga", "Frost, Red Nose", "Railroad".

The teacher will point to a number of works: "Silence" (1857), "Green Noise" (1862), "Heart Breaks from Torment" (1863), "Despondency" (1874), etc. One of these poems is "Heart Breaks from Torment ... ”must have been previously prepared and expressively read by a student.

There is no time for a detailed analysis of these poems, but the students need to learn the main thing: Nekrasov loved his homeland, its inconspicuous landscape, saw in it a source of inspiration, believed that rapprochement with nature elevates a person, awakens good feelings. The hero of "Green Noise" conceived something unkind against his wife, who betrayed him, "but suddenly spring has crept up" and "the fierce thought is weakening, the knife is falling out of his hands." Love and precisely found colors, details distinguish the pacifying picture of the Russian spring, which had a beneficial effect on the hero of "Green Noise".
In the poem "The heart is breaking with anguish ..." the author sincerely admits:

Mother Nature! I'm coming to you again
With my everlasting desire -
Drown this music of malice!
So that the soul feels peace
And the eye that saw it could
Enjoy your beauty.

Nekrasov's nature is distinguished by the "harmony of life":

I love, golden spring,
Your solid, wonderfully mixed noise:
You rejoice for a moment without stopping,
Like a child, without worries and thoughts.
In the charm of happiness and glory,
You are all devoted to the feeling of life ...

Influenced by the "surrounding cheerful nature"

The strength of youth, courage, passion
And a great sense of freedom
Fill the revived breast;
The soul boils with a thirst for business ...

In conditions of social inequality and oppression, "strong and well-fed lands" cannot take away only the "treasures of nature" from the hungry poor. And the poor man, being outside the city, rejoices at the babbling brook, the rustling oak, the evening nightingale, admires the moon, the vault of heaven:

The village got rid of the old spleen from the soul.
Forgotten hard, oppressive work,
Boring poverty eternal concern -
And the heart is fun ...

Continuing the traditions of Pushkin and Lermontov, Nekrasov uses the landscape to convey the author's mood. For example, in the poem "Homeland" the poet is pleased with the traces of the destruction of the old "noble nest", for they symbolize the beginning of the death of the place he hated, where he suffered:

And, with disgust, throwing a glance around,
With joy I see that the dark forest has been cut down ...
And the cornfield is burnt ...
And an empty and gloomy house falls to one side ...

And in the poem “It's stuffy! Without happiness and will ... "the picture of a gloomy sultry night, personifying an era of darker reaction, is saturated with a passionate expectation of a refreshing storms, is associated with the poet's dreams of a revolution that will destroy the musty, stifling world of violence and exploitation of the people.

The landscape has a social character in the poems Morning (1874), Uncompressed Strip (1854), On the Volga (1860) and in a number of other works.

According to Nekrasov's deep conviction, the poet is "a teacher and, if possible, an intercessor for the voiceless and humiliated." The poet remained faithful to these thoughts until the end of his life. The fate of a true writer must be inextricably linked with the fate of the people. It is this idea that Nekrasov develops in the poem "Elegy" (1874). The greatest poet of his time, passionately loving his people, his homeland, he is modern like no other, because his poems bring up courage, responsiveness, love of work, call for struggle and heroism. The bright future of Russia seemed to him the life of a free, prosperous society:

Freed from the shackles
Tireless people
Will mature, densely populate
Coastal deserts;
The science of water will deepen:
On their smooth plain
The giant ships will run
An uncountable crowd
And vigorous work will be eternal
Over the eternal river ...

Homework:

1. Complete tasks 1,2,3 according to the textbook.
2. Read "Green Noise", think over the answer to the question: How does this poem confirm the idea that Nekrasov's landscape is social in nature?
3. Read the poem "To the Sowers". This poem is considered the testament of the dying Nekrasov. Why?
4. Read "Song to Eremushka". Why was this work so popular among the revolutionary democrats? How did it complete the growth of the revolutionary appeal in the lyrics of Nekrasov? (For an answer, take the poems "Reflection at the Front Entrance", "On the Volga", "Railway" and "Song of Eremushka".)

Literature:

1. N.A. Nekrasov Lyrics. M., "Children's Literature", 1987.
2. Aksenova E.K. Education of feelings with artistic words. M., Uchpedgiz, 1962.
3. Gorchak N.L. Painting as a means of developing speech. M. - L., Education, 1965.
4. Dubinskaya M.S., Novoselskaya L.S. Russian literature in grades 4-5. Kiev, "Radianska school", 1981.
5. Korovina V.Ya. Literature. 6th grade. Textbook for educational institutions. M., Education, 2012.
6. Magazine "Literature at school" No. 1, 2001

Again she, dear side,



N. A. Nekrasov

The democratic movement in Russia in the middle of the 19th century gave birth to the "third", after Pushkin and Lermontov, the great Russian poet - N. A Nekrasov.
The personality of Nekrasov is extremely complex. Memoirists note that he was a "repentant nobleman", that is, he experienced remorse before the oppressed people. He tried with his poetic activity, as it were, to atone for the sin of his privileged origin.
A distinctive feature of Nekrasov's poetry is that she served the public interests of her time, expressed the thoughts, feelings and hopes of the advanced circles of society, called for the struggle for the rights of the oppressed and downtrodden peasantry. Nekrasov gave his talent to the Russian people, for whose happiness he fought.
Nekrasov wrote that the most important thing is to love the people and homeland and "serve them with heart and soul."
The Russian people, in whose unlimited possibilities Nekrasov sacredly believed, and his native land with its surprisingly harsh, but infinitely beautiful nature, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the poet.
The image of the motherland runs through all of his work. "Motherland! I have humbled myself in soul, I have returned to you as a loving son ”; “O Mother Russia! you greet your son ”; “Motherland! I will reach the grave without waiting for your freedom ”; "You are wretched, you are abundant, you are powerful, you are powerless, Mother Russia!" - with these words the poet addressed his homeland.
In a foreign land, Nekrasov yearned, languished from inaction. But as soon as he returned, breathed in the smells familiar from childhood and saw his native landscapes, he experienced a creative upsurge:

Again she, dear side,
With her green, blessed summer,
And again the soul is full of poetry ...
Yes, only here can I be a poet!

Comparing the beauty of the Russian landscape full of peculiar charm with the landscapes of the West, Nekrasov writes about its healing power:

Thank you, dear side,
For your healing space!

Admiring the beauty of nature, the poet never forgot how hard it was for the people under the skies of their homeland.
The theme of "homeland" in Nekrasov's poetry acquired a particularly democratic, peasant character. The poverty of the wretched Russian village, the backbreaking work of the peasant, the hard lot of the Russian woman, the hard labor of the barge haule, the lack of rights of the people, the arbitrariness of the "powers that be" - all these tragic aspects of the sad Russian reality worried the poet.

The spectacle of the people's disasters
Unbearable my friend

The poet exclaims with heartache. His poems were filled with hatred for the offenders of ordinary people. Therefore, in the work of Nekrasov, the words "love for the homeland" were constantly combined with the words "anger" and "hatred":

Who lives without sorrow and anger,
He does not love his homeland.

Nekrasov did not need to clarify his understanding of the homeland, to look for ways to the people. He meets people everywhere: on a hunt, on a halt, on a walk, in a field, in a hut, in a forest. He knew how to feel and understand the mood of an ordinary person. Nekrasov passionately believed in the happy future of his mother-homeland. He wrote about his native land:

You are still destined to suffer a lot
But you won't die, I know.

The poet urged "not to be shy for the dear fatherland", as he believed that the people would win happiness for themselves. “I believe in the people,” he said. This great faith of Nekrasov is of particular importance in our difficult time, full of difficult trials. Without Nekrasov, it is impossible to understand either the past of Russian poetry or its present.

You may not be a poet, But you must be a citizen. N.A. Nekrasov A poet in Russia is more than a poet. Poets are destined to be born in it Only those in whom the proud spirit of citizenship wanders, Who has no comfort, no peace. Evgeny Evtushenko Nikolay Alekseevich ...

Nekrasov's poetry is full of descriptions of the tragic life of the people. On the one hand, he dreams of a wonderful future for the peasants, on the other, he understands that dreams alone are not enough. Therefore, all his lyrics are imbued with a call to fight for happiness, freedom of the people ...

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born in Ukraine on November 28 (December 10), 1821 in Nemyriv, where his father was then serving. Soon Major Aleksey Sergeevich Nekrasov retired and in the fall of 1824 returned with his family to their homes. In Greshnev, he started the usual ...

N.A. Nekrasov is a poet of human suffering. In his poems, endless love for one's neighbor is conveyed, for those who have a "wounded" heart, who have experienced cruelty and violence, unbearable mental anguish. With his talent, the poet served the people, all the offended and oppressed ...

Lermontov and Nekrasov. In the works devoted to this topic, each of the poets touches on the most acute problems of his time. The heyday of Lermontov's creativity falls on the thirties of the nineteenth century, that is, at the time of the reaction that came after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. Naturally, these motives were reflected in the works of Lermontov, dedicated to the homeland. draws gendarmerie Russia. In the poem "Complaints of a Turk" he exclaims bitterly: There he moans from slavery and kings.

Friend! this land ... my homeland!

The poet is outraged that the government seeks to suppress any manifestation of free thought. In his poem Farewell, Unwashed Russia, he complains that the constant autocratic police oppression has turned Russia into a “land of slaves” with “blue uniforms”. The problem of slavery was also relevant for Nekrasov.

However, he considered it in a slightly different aspect. The poet is primarily concerned about the slavish obedience of the peasants. This is explained by the fact that the poet saw in the peasantry a genuine force capable of renewing and reviving Russia of his day. In the poem "The Railway" shows that the ideas of slave humility are very strong among the people, even hard work and poverty cannot change their worldview: we were robbed by the literate foremen, the bosses crushed, the need was crushed We all suffered, God's warriors, Peaceful children of labor! of the people in the poem is tragic and large-scale.

The author speaks with sincere sympathy about the plight of the builders. Sometimes the narration takes on the character of documentary evidence: You see, standing, exhausted by fever, Great-sized, sick Belarusian; Bloodless lips, drooping eyelids, Ulcers on skinny arms, Forever knee-deep in water Legs swollen, tangled hair. The poet ends the description of the disasters of the people with an exclamation: He has endured enough of the Russian people, He has also taken out this railroad - He will endure whatever the Lord sends!

It will endure everything - and a wide, clear Breast will pave the way for itself ... However, these optimistic lines end with a bitter verdict of the poet: It’s a pity - to live in this beautiful time, I don’t have to - neither me, nor you. The poet does not hope that the situation of the people will improve in the near future, primarily because the people themselves have come to terms with their fate. Emphasizing this, Nekrasov ends with an ugly scene, which once again proves that the psychology of peasant builders is the psychology of slaves: Unharness the people of horses - and the merchant With a cry of hurray! rushed along the road ...

The image of Russia, "possessed by a servile affliction", also appears in the poem "Reflections at the Front Entrance". The poet goes from depicting urban scenes to describing peasant Russia. The images of peasant walkers appear before us: ...

An Armenian thin on his shoulders, On a knapsack on bent backs, A cross on his neck and blood on his legs ... The cross is a symbol of martyrdom, which the peasant is destined to bear. But the poet not only speaks of the plight of the peasantry.

He seeks to show the depth of the suffering of the entire people's Russia. The generalized image of suffering Russia appears in the groaning song of the peasants: ... Native land! Give me such a monastery, I have never seen such a corner, Wherever your sower and keeper, Wherever the Russian peasant moans ...

In this part of the poem, Nekrasov uses the traditions of Russian song. The poet often uses repetitions characteristic of folk poetry: he moans through the fields, along the roads, he moans. in prisons, in prison, In mines, on an iron chain, He groans under a barn, under a haystack, Under a cart, sleeping in the steppe ... Sympathizing with the people's grief, Nekrasov at the same time claims that only the peasants themselves can save themselves from suffering. At the end of the poem, the poet asks the Russian people: What does the composition with allsoch mean. ru 2005 your moan is endless?

Will you wake up, full of strength? .. Nekrasov believes in the awakening of the people, it is not for nothing that in the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" he paints images of peasant fighters with great expressiveness. With sincere sympathy are shown in the poem Brmil Girin, Yakim Nagoy, Savely - the Svyatoi Russian hero. Belief in a strong Russian character, love for people's Russia brings Lermontov and Nekrasov closer together. draws the image of peasant Russia in the poem "Motherland".

"Motherland" is the poet's lyrical meditation about his attitude to his homeland, not to court Russia, but to the people, peasant, mighty and suffering: I love my homeland, but with a strange love! My mind will not win, Neither the glory, bought in blood, nor the peace full of proud confidence. The poet speaks of his love for his native nature: I love the smoke of a burnt stubble, In the steppe, a wagon train And on a hill among a yellow field A couple of white birches.

The poet is pleased with the sincere joy of the people at the holidays: And on a holiday, in the dewy evening. Watch until midnight ready To dance with stamping and whistling Under the talk of drunken peasants. Homeland for Lermontov is People's Russia. The poet endlessly respects the Russian people, admires his feat in the war of 1812.

The theme of heroism and patriotism of the people sounds in the poem "Borodino". This poem was a discovery in Russian poetry. Lermontov not only showed the battle as an ordinary soldier could see and remember it, but also spoke about it in the language of an ordinary soldier. The narrator's speech is expressive and deeply emotional, he seems to relive the battle: you will not see such battles! Banners were worn like shadows, Fire glittered in the smoke, Damask steel sounded, buckshot squealed, The fighters' hand was tired to prick, And the Mountain of bloody bodies prevented the cannonballs from flying ... homeland in the war of 1812.

It is interesting that the soldier never once mentioned his role in the battle, he leads, as it were, on behalf of all the participants in the battle. Using this technique, the poet creates a generalized image of the people, conveys the atmosphere of spiritual unity on the battlefield. The theme of the history of the people is also heard in Lermontov's poem "about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov."

Addressing this topic testifies to the poet's interest in the historical past of his homeland, in the knowledge of the Russian character. The author praises masculinity, decisiveness, courage, self-esteem. In the poem, Lermontov uses the traditions of folk poetry. The author often uses expressions typical of folk oral art: "handsome fellow", "gentle speech." Nekrasov also widely used the techniques of folk art in his works.

This is, first of all, reflected in the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia". .. Already the first lines of the poem introduce us to the world of folk tales: In what year - count, In what land - guess, Seven men came together on the pole path ... wisdom, sly humor, sadness and joy. The theme of the homeland and the theme of the people merge in the work of the poets. This indicates that Lermontov and Nekrasov consider people's Russia as their homeland.

They devoted everything they did to serving the interests of the people, since they saw this as the main task of poetry. Thus, Lermontov in his poem "The Poet" condemns the poet who betrayed the interests of the people. The author claims that the poet's voice should sound like "a bell on a veche tower in the days of people's celebrations and troubles."

Nekrasov also in his work affirms the principle of the civic spirit of poetry. In the poem "Poet and Citizen" he says: You may not be a poet, But you must be a citizen! This does not mean at all: do not be a poet, but be a citizen. For Nekrasov, a true poet is a "worthy son of the fatherland." Summing up his work, Nekrasov admitted: I dedicated the lyre to my people.

Perhaps, I will die unknown to him, But I served him - and my heart is calm ... Thus, both poets saw the meaning of their work in serving the fatherland, therefore the theme of the motherland occupies one of the leading places in their poetry.

The poetry of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is entirely devoted to Russia and the Russian people. The great poet developed and strengthened the motives of nationality and citizenship, continuing the traditions of Pushkin. Throughout his life, Nekrasov wrote only about Russia, about its great and long-suffering people.

The theme of the Motherland and the theme of the people in Nekrasov's lyrics are inseparable. The poet creates in his poems terrible, but true pictures of the life of an ordinary person in Russia. People's Russia is opposed by the author to the world of cruel feudal landlords and soulless officials. The poem "Motherland" is dedicated to the poet's relatives, the Volga expanses. But Nekrasov's memories of his childhood disgust the poet. He tells about the life of gentlemen who spent time in feasts, debauchery and abuse of serfs. Nekrasov says about the unfortunate common people:

Where a swarm of suppressed and quivering slaves
I envied the life of the last master's dogs.

The title of this poem emphasizes that such a life was characteristic of all feudal Russia. In the soul of Nekrasov, love for the Motherland and hatred for the injustice reigning in it collide. An example of this is the poem "On the Volga". The poet speaks of his still childlike love for the great Russian river, considers the Volga a "cradle". Nekrasov would never part with the Volga,

When would, oh Volga! upon you
This howl was not heard!

A terrible picture, seen in childhood and remaining in his memory for the rest of his life, rises before the poet's eyes. Volga barge haulers excited the young soul, forced Nekrasov to forget about the beauty of his native places. Now he calls the Volga "the river of slavery and longing." This is one of the many poems written based on personal observations of Nekrasov.

The famous poem "Reflections at the main entrance" was created in a similar way. The village petitioners at the house of a rich dignitary are the embodiment of all the humiliated and powerless Russian people. The Russian peasant has no protection anywhere, he cannot find truth and justice. The author directly blames the owners of the "luxury chambers". The nobles do not care about the fate of ordinary people, and therefore the Russian people only have to groan and endure. Nekrasov shows that the small episode seen by the poet is a reflection of what is happening in Russia:

Motherland!
Give me such a place
I have not seen such a corner.
Wherever your sower and keeper.
Where would a Russian peasant not moan?

The poet again recalls the Volga and the barge haulers groaning on its banks. The Russian land is overflowing with national grief. Nekrasov worries whether the Russian people will be able to change their lives, or whether they are destined to continue to suffer and endure.

A working man is in a slave position, he does not receive happiness from his work. This idea sounds vividly in the poem "Railroad". Nekrasov shows the true builders of the railway, who were driven to the construction by the terrible king-hunger. The crowd of the dead outside the carriage windows makes you feel love and respect for the workers and hatred for the oppressors. For the poet, the builders of the road are his brothers. Nekrasov does not hide his feelings. The author's sympathy and pain are heard in the description of a tall, sick Belarusian. The poet urges:

Bless the folk robot
And learn to respect the man.

This poem is imbued with the author's faith in the great future of Russia and its people. The patience and slavish obedience of an ordinary person aroused the anger of Nekrasov. But the author is convinced that the Russian people will be able to overcome all troubles and sorrows, withstand and triumph over the struggle against their misfortune. Nekrasov calls the future of Russia a wonderful time. People's Rus will pave the "broad and clear" road to happiness.
The great Russian poet and citizen Nekrasov could rightfully say about himself: "I dedicated my lyre to my people."

The poet's patriotism, his love for the common people are manifested in every line of Nekrasov's poems. His poetry is an example of service to Russia and the Russian people, to which the author devoted his whole life, all the strength of his noble and honest soul.