Lermontov's lyrics: main themes and motives. The main motives of Nekrasov's lyrics. Theme of the poet and poetry Message to future generations

Love, friendship, nature, Motherland, poet and poetry, philosophy of life - these are the main motives of Pushkin’s lyrics. The poet addresses these themes in many of his poems.

Love theme

A. S. Pushkin considered love to be one of the most important human values. Therefore, this topic has become one of the most important in the works of the famous writer and poet. The lyrical hero in the poems of A. S. Pushkin enjoys love in all its manifestations. Even separation and parting are assessed as a life experience, as a moment of happiness on a person’s path.

Friendship theme

Friendship was of particular importance in the life of A.S. Pushkin. He valued his comrades at the Lyceum and respected those who embodied his views on life. The lyrical hero thanks all those who influenced his worldview. Friendship in the works of A. S. Pushkin acquires both a mood of happiness and a mood of tragedy, since many of his friends have already passed away.

Nature theme

The main themes and motives of Pushkin's lyrics are revealed with the help of pictures of nature. Landscape lyrics are not only a desire to convey the beauty of the surrounding world, but also a way of revealing the inner self of the lyrical hero. Nature is a kind of personification of freedom and harmony. Merging with nature, a person feels peace and inspiration.

Theme of the Motherland

The ideas of patriotism are heard in many of A. S. Pushkin’s works. The writer always thought about his country, about its future, so he often raised current and topical problems in his poems. Civil issues are becoming important. For the sake of saving the Motherland and its improvement, the lyrical hero is ready to sacrifice himself.

Theme of the poet and poetry

The theme of the poet and poetry in Russian literature largely developed thanks to the Pushkin tradition. The poet was one of the first to understand the importance of a writer in the human world: it is he who is capable of “burning the hearts of people with a verb.” The poet, according to A.S. Pushkin, has a divine principle that distinguishes him from ordinary people.

Philosophical motives

The great writer and poet of the 19th century addressed eternal problems in many of his poems. A.S. Pushkin thought about the purpose of man, about the essence of being, about life and death, about good and evil principles. A. S. Pushkin turned to philosophical lyrics throughout his entire work; these motifs were combined with many other themes.

Generalization

A table with examples of the most famous poems will help demonstrate the main themes heard in the lyrical works of A. S. Pushkin.

These poems can briefly introduce you to the peculiarities of A. S. Pushkin’s treatment of a particular topic.

This article, which will help you write an essay “The main motives of Pushkin’s lyrics,” will examine how the themes of love, friendship, nature, Motherland, poet and poetry are reflected in the poems of the great Russian poet.

The most popular February materials for 9th grade.

The word "lyrics" came to us from the Greek language. In the classical sense, LYRICS is one of the types of literature, which is based on an image of a person’s spiritual life, the world of his feelings and emotions, thoughts and reflections. A lyrical work implies a poetic narrative that reflects the author’s thoughts about various natural phenomena and life in general.

In the list of the most common genres in which the authors of our site write, philosophical lyrics take second place - right after landscape (urban) lyrics. Because the authors confidently consider everything that is not about what the eye sees to be philosophy. Is it so? Which poems are philosophical lyrics, and which are nothing more than a story in verse or a list of rhymed edifications?

PHILOSOPHICAL LYRICS are poems based on thoughts about the meaning of life or eternal human values. They, like any other lyrics, contain the requirement to comply with all literary rules for writing poetry (rhyme, imagery, personification, etc.) and the presence of a hidden meaning, in addition to the clear main one. The hidden meaning is sometimes not revealed immediately, but after reading the work several times, sometimes even after a real event that happened later (the poem is a prophecy). Hidden meaning may be present in poems written on the theme of space, nature, religion or some inexplicable things (UFOs, science fiction films, etc.).

Before moving on to specific examples, let us turn to the history of literature.

In Russian poetry, Fyodor Tyutchev is considered the founder of philosophical lyrics. The world, nature, man in his poems are in a constant clash of opposing forces, where man is doomed to a “hopeless”, “unequal” battle, to a “desperate” struggle with life, fate, with himself. The poet is particularly drawn to depicting storms and thunderstorms in nature and in the human soul. The ideological content of Tyutchev's philosophical lyrics is significant not so much in its diversity as in its depth. The least place is occupied here by the lyrics of compassion, represented, however, by such exciting works as “Tears of Men” and “Send, Lord, Your Joy.” The limits set to human knowledge, the limited knowledge of the “human self”, the merging of man with the life of nature, descriptions of nature, the gentle and joyless recognition of the limitations of human love - these are the dominant motives of Tyutchev’s philosophical poetry. Another motive of the poet is the motive of the chaotic, mystical fundamental principle of life.

F. Tyutchev “When the decrepit forces...” 1866

When the decrepit forces
They're starting to cheat on us
And we must, like old-timers,
Give new arrivals a place, -

Save us then, kind genius,
From cowardly reproaches,
From slander, from bitterness
To life changing;

From a feeling of hidden anger
To a renewed world,
Where new guests sit
For the feast prepared for them;

From the bile of bitter consciousness,
That the stream no longer carries us
And that others have callings,
Others are called forward;

From everything that is the more fervent,
The deeper it lay for a long time, -
And senile love is more shameful
Grumpy old man's fervor.

F. Tyutchev. “Above this dark crowd” 1857

Above this dark crowd
Of the unawakened people
Will you ever rise, freedom,
Will your golden ray shine?..

Your ray will shine and revive,
And sleep will disperse the fogs...
But old, rotten wounds,
Scars of violence and insults,

Corruption of souls and emptiness,
What gnaws at the mind and aches in the heart, -
Who will heal them, who will cover them?..
You, pure robe of Christ...

The themes of modern philosophical lyric poetry can be very different. Its continuation and varieties are “civil lyrics” and “religious lyrics”, “mysticism and esotericism”. If philosophical lyrics examine the eternal themes of the meaning of life, good and evil, the world order and the purpose of our stay on earth, then “civil” poetry is closer to social problems - to history and politics, it describes (certainly in poetic language!) our collective aspirations, love for our homeland , the fight against evil in society. The theme of “religious lyrics” is the understanding of one’s faith, church life, relationship with God, religious virtues and sins, repentance. “Mysticism and esotericism” is a reflection in poetry of a special philosophical picture of the world, different from the religious one. I will try to prepare separate articles about each of these varieties, but for now let’s talk about how NOT to write philosophical lyrics.

Like all lyrical works in general, these poems should come either from the first person or from the perspective of the lyrical hero (He, She): lyricism presupposes confidential, frank reflection, based on specific lived experience: not “how it happens in general” and not “how should be”, and, especially, not as “THEY” do... LYRICS IS THE WORLD OF ONE PERSON, real or created by the author’s imagination, but completely concrete, setting out the EXPERIENCE. All sorts of slogans and appeals of the author to others, as a rule, do not make such a deep impression on the reader as his personal thoughts. And even if the poems contain the address “you” or a faceless “we” (which is generally undesirable!), then this still should not be a detached appeal to the crowd, and nothing more than a form of personal reflection on YOUR life . Lyrics where there is no author, where there are only rhymed rules of behavior for others, cease to be lyrics. Let me give you an example:

How many winters and years they glorify the planet,
And yet once again
Something is missing in life
Sometimes for each of us.

Sighing, we regret something,
Indulging in thoughts in silence...
And again we are sick at heart,
And we look for the root of evil from outside.

And the mind torments like a thirst for heat,
What others have more than everything:
Career, home and all that,
And you, how damned!
……. Etc.
(author STIKHI.RU)

I randomly copied one of the latest publications in the “philosophical poetry” section: a typical example of poems, of which there are a great many on our website! Here the author teaches us in rhyme how worthless and imperfect WE are - he says quite correct, obvious things about how “something in life is sometimes missing for each of us...” After these lines, you involuntarily remember the words of the famous song from the Soviet TV series : “if someone here and there sometimes doesn’t want to live honestly...” The author is completely detached, he offers us a set of truths that everyone already knows, and this... boring.

The second mistake of the poems of the so-called philosophical lyrics is the pettiness of the themes or the complete absence of philosophical reflection, as such. Because simply listing known facts is not philosophy. Even if they are immediately given an assessment (“what is good and what is bad”), then this is also not philosophy.

Philosophy is the form and knowledge of the world, developing a system of knowledge about the fundamental principles and foundations of human existence, about the most general essential features of man’s relationship to nature, society and spiritual life.

Of course, poems are not a scientific treatise, they do not imply the depth of elaboration of the topic, I am talking here rather about the depth of the subject of reflection in the poems that you decided to classify as “philosophical lyrics”, and not at all about the details, the detailing of the ideas that you placed in your poem. Moreover, if you try to rhyme and retell in verse some scientific article, or a philosophical parable, or a new rule of life that you have derived, without introducing there either your personal experience or figurative, poetic language with tropes (subtexts and hidden meaning), then This won’t be philosophical lyrics either!

Rhyming everything you recently read in some book is not the subject of poetry at all. I know the authors of the site who can turn even a fragment of a book on gardening into poetry:

This thing grows in my garden.
People call it Kloshchevina.
Where is her homeland? Alas, science does not know.
But the plant genus is considered to be an ancient one.

It's supposed to be in distant Africa
It was born before the new era.
God created her, both good and high,
And very persistent, since it has taken root with us.

Walking around the world since time immemorial
And she has conquered many different countries around the world.
Subtropics and tropics consider it theirs
Yes, and here she became an aboriginal a long time ago.

Castor bean is useful. This is without a doubt.
Castor oil, the generous gift of its fruits.
And I prefer August, the time of flowering.
Here is her photo. And there is no need for flattering words.
(Author STIKHI.RU)

It’s another matter if the same castor bean that you read about awakens a certain stream of thoughts in you, and you, having devoted several poetic lines to it at the beginning of the poem, start from its properties, as from an example of a persistent and hardy creature, then move on to reflection about the importance of patience, unpretentiousness in the conditions of survival in the difficulties that the author personally faced (and it is important that his personal story be heard in the poems - at least in one phrase), and in the end it would be good to make an aphoristic conclusion that would be understandable and interesting not not only to you, but also to the readers... Would you like to try it?

Next time I will share with you my thoughts on civic and religious lyrics. See you!

From Greek theme (the basis of the plot of the work).

Intimate lyrics

M.Yu. Lermontov “She is not proud of her beauty...”

B.L. Parsnip “Winter Evening”.

Landscape lyrics

A.A. Fet “Wonderful picture...”

S.A. Yesenin “behind the dark strand of woods...”.

Lyrics of friendship

B.Sh. Okudzhava "Ancient student song".

Theme of the poet and poetry

M.I. Tsvetaeva "Rolandov Horn".

Patriotic and civil lyrics

ON THE. Nekrasov "Motherland"

A.A. Akhmatova “I am not with those who abandoned the earth...”

Philosophical lyrics

F.I. Tyutchev "The Last Cataclysm"

I.A. Bunin "Evening".

The most important character in the lyrics is lyrical hero: It is his inner world that is shown in the lyrical work, on his behalf the lyricist speaks to the reader, and the external world is depicted in terms of the impressions it makes on the lyrical hero. Note! Do not confuse the lyrical hero with the epic one. Pushkin reproduced the inner world of Eugene Onegin in great detail, but this is an epic hero, a participant in the main events of the novel. The lyrical hero of Pushkin's novel is the Narrator, the one who is familiar with Onegin and tells his story, deeply experiencing it. Onegin becomes a lyrical hero only once in the novel - when he writes a letter to Tatyana, just as she becomes a lyrical heroine when she writes a letter to Onegin.

By creating the image of a lyrical hero, a poet can make him personally very close to himself (poems by Lermontov, Fet, Nekrasov, Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova, etc.). But sometimes the poet seems to be “hiding” behind the mask of a lyrical hero, completely far from the personality of the poet himself; for example, A Blok makes Ophelia a lyrical heroine (two poems called “Ophelia’s Song”) or the street actor Harlequin (“I was covered in colorful rags...”), M. Tsvetaev - Hamlet (“At the bottom is she, where il..."), V. Bryusov - Cleopatra ("Cleopatra"), S. Yesenin - a peasant boy from a folk song or fairy tale ("Mother walked through the forest in a bathing suit..."). So, when discussing a lyrical work, it is more competent to talk about the expression in it of the feelings not of the author, but of the lyrical hero.

Like other types of literature, lyrics include a number of genres. Some of them arose in ancient times, others - in the Middle Ages, some - quite recently, one and a half to two centuries ago, or even in the last century.

Motive

From French motif - lit. movement.

A stable formal and content component of a work. Unlike the topic, it has a direct verbal fixation in the text. Identifying the motive helps to understand the subtext of the work.

The motifs of struggle, flight, retribution, suffering, disappointment, melancholy, and loneliness are traditional in the lyrics.

Leitmotif

A leading motif in one or many works.

The motive of exile in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov "Clouds".

The motive of loneliness in the early lyrics of V.V. Mayakovsky.

Bibliography.

Lyrics (from the Greek lyga - a musical instrument, to the accompaniment of which poems, songs, etc. were performed), one of the three types of fiction (along with epic and drama), within which the attitude of the author (or character) is revealed as direct expression, outpouring of his feelings, thoughts, impressions, moods, desires, etc.

Unlike epic and drama, which depict complete characters acting in various circumstances, lyric poetry depicts individual states of character at a certain moment in life. A lyrical image is an image-experience, an expression of the author’s feelings and thoughts in connection with various life experiences. The range of lyrical works is limitless, since all phenomena of life - nature and society - can cause corresponding human experiences. The peculiarity and power of the impact of lyrics lies in the fact that they always, even if we are talking about the past (if these are memories), express a living, immediate feeling, experience experienced by the author at the moment. Each lyrical work, no matter how limited it may be in size, is a complete work of art that conveys the internally complete state of the poet.

The increased emotionality of the content of a lyrical work is also associated with the corresponding form of expression: lyricism requires concise, expressive speech, each word of which carries a special semantic and emotional load, lyricism gravitates towards poetic speech, which contributes to the expression of the poet’s feelings and a stronger emotional impact on the reader.

The lyrical work captures the poet’s personal experiences, which, however, are characteristic of many people, generalizes and expresses them with the power inherent in poetry.

In a lyrical work, the poet conveys the vital, typical through the personal. Lyrics, like other types of fiction, develop under the influence of historical conditions, social struggle, which evokes in people the need to express their attitude to new phenomena, their experiences associated with them. Lyrics, naturally, are connected with the entire literary process, in particular with the change of various literary directions, trends and methods: classicism, romanticism, critical realism.

The heyday of lyricism occurs in the era of romanticism.

It is characteristic that in many countries it was during this era that the work of great national poets took shape (Mickiewicz in Poland, Hugo in France, Byron in England, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev in Russia).

Types and themes of lyrics

There are various classifications of types of lyrics.

They are distinguished by subject:

· philosophical (“God” by G. R. Derzhavin, “The Inexpressible” by V. A. Zhukovsky, “A Vain Gift, an Accidental Gift” by A. S. Pushkin, “Truth” by E. A. Baratynsky, “Fountain” by F. I. Tyutchev)

· civil (“To Chaadaev” by A.S. Pushkin, “Farewell, unwashed Russia” by M. Yu. Lermontov, “Testament” by T. G. Shevchenko, “Reflection at the front entrance” by N. A. Nekrasova, “Newspaper Readers” "M. Tsvetaeva, "Midnight in Moscow" by O. Mandelstam, "Russia" by A. A. Blok, "Poems about the Soviet passport" by V. V. Mayakovsky, "The torn base of the monument is crushed" by A. T. Tvardovsky)

· landscape (“Autumn Evening” by F.I. Tyutchev, cycles “Spring”, “Summer”, “Autumn”, “Snow” by A.A. Fet, “Green Hairstyle”, “White Birch” by S.A. Yesenin)

· love (“I loved you” by A.A. Pushkin, “I don’t like your irony...”, “Yes, our life flowed rebelliously...”, “So this is a joke? My dear...” N.A. Nekrasova)

· political (“Napoleon”, “Like a dear daughter to the slaughter...” F.I. Tyutchev), etc.

However, it must be borne in mind that for the most part lyrical works are multi-themed, since in one experience of the poet various motives can be reflected: love, friendship, civic feelings (cf., for example, “I remember a wonderful moment”, “October 19, 1825” A. Pushkin, “In Memory of Odoevsky”, “I am writing to you...” by M. Lermontov, “A Knight for an Hour” by N. Nekrasov, “To Comrade Nette...” by V. Mayakovsky and many others). Reading and studying the lyrics of different poets of different eras extremely enriches and ennobles the spiritual world of a person.

The following lyrical genres are distinguished:

· Ode is a genre that glorifies any important historical event, person or phenomenon. This genre received special development in classicism: “Ode on the day of accession to the throne...” by M. Lomonosov.

· Song is a genre that can belong to both the epic and lyrical genres. The epic song has a plot: “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” by A.S. Pushkin. The lyrical song is based on the emotional experiences of the main character or the author himself: Mary’s song from “A Feast in the Time of Plague” by A.S. Pushkin.

· Elegy is a genre of romantic poetry, the poet’s sad reflection on life, fate, his place in this world: “The luminary of the day has gone out” by A.S. Pushkin.

· Message is a genre that is not associated with a specific tradition. A characteristic feature is the address to some person: “To Chaadaev” by A.S. Pushkin.

· Sonnet is a genre that is presented in the form of a lyric poem, characterized by strict requirements for form. A sonnet must have 14 lines. There are 2 types of sonnet: English sonnet, French sonnet.

· Epigram is a short poem, no more than a quatrain, which ridicules or presents in a humorous form a particular person: “On Vorontsov” by A.S. Pushkin.

· Satire is a more detailed poem, both in volume and in the scale of what is depicted. Usually makes fun of social disadvantages. Satire is characterized by civic pathos: Kantemir’s satires, “My rosy, fat-bellied mocker...” by A.S. Pushkin. Satire is often classified as an epic type.

This division into genres is very arbitrary, because they are rarely presented in their pure form. A poem can combine several genres at the same time: “To the Sea” by A. Pushkin combines both elegy and message.

The main form of lyrical works is a poem, but it should be remembered that lyricism also exists in prose: these are inserted lyrical fragments in epic works (these are some extra-plot elements of N.V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls”), and isolated lyrical miniatures (some from “Poems in Prose” by I. S. Turgenev, many stories by I. A. Bunin).

Theme of the poet and poetry occupies a special place in Nekrasov’s work. Its originality is determined by the fact that for Nekrasov the problem of appointing an artist was not only aesthetic. Understanding it meant solving the fundamental question of the purpose of a human citizen in society. “A special flair for suffering,” which both Nekrasov’s contemporaries and researchers of his work note as a characteristic feature of the poet, was also manifested in Nekrasov’s perception of his era as tragic, as “a time of grief.” A witness to the people’s suffering, “deeply wounded” by this suffering, as Dostoevsky accurately said, Nekrasov saw his duty as a poet not only to tell the world about these sufferings, to “sing” them, but also to “turn reality around” “recreate minds.”

The illusory nature of such hopes for the ability of the poetic word to change life will very soon become obvious to the poet. IN poem of 1845 “Rhymes! poems! It’s been a long time since I was a genius.”, recalling the dreams and aspirations that united the young poets, Nekrasov will say with bitter irony about the utopian plans of the young poets:

"Heaven's Chosen", we sang, sang
And recreate minds with songs,
They wanted to turn reality around
And it seemed to us that our work was not empty,
It’s not childish nonsense that the Almighty himself is with us
And the hour of blissful fate is near,
When our work is blessed by our neighbor!

The bitter notes sounded in this early poem, caused by a clear awareness of the naivety of such dreams, an understanding of the impossibility of remaking the world with a poetic word, will become the leitmotif in Nekrasov’s later poems. The poet, in his other works, will more than once express the idea of ​​the powerlessness of the poetic word, its inability to change people. “Where are the fruits of that useful work?” - he will ask bitterly 1857 poem “About the Weather” regarding numerous books about the “curious life of the poor.” Shedding “a river of tears” over books, readers were in no hurry to alleviate the existence of not the book poor, but the real poor. However, the irony caused by disbelief in the ability of the artistic word to “turn reality around” was never accompanied by Nekrasov’s doubt about the purpose of the writer “to remind the crowd that the people are in poverty while they rejoice and sing.”

The conviction that the vocation of a writer is to be a figure who actively intervenes in life also determined a new understanding of poetry. Nekrasov does not deny the divine origin of the poetic gift: the poet in his work will be called “the chosen one of heaven,” and not always with irony, as in the poem “Rhymes! poems! It’s been a long time since I was a genius.” But at the same time, Nekrasov insists that poetic creativity is also “hard work” (for example, in the 1856 poem “Almost saying: “You are a mere insignificance”). In a poem addressed to fellow writers (“Russian Writer,” 1855), he calls the Russian writer “a toiler-worker on the basis of Thought and Good.”

Nekrasov was clearly aware of the peculiarity of his aesthetic position and sought to emphasize the difference between his views on poetic creativity and the views of his predecessors. Thus, the beginning of a poem with a very traditional title - "Muse"(1852) - a kind of declaration of independence. Describing his inspiring Muse, the author carefully emphasizes the dissimilarity of his “ever-crying and incomprehensible maiden” from the tenderly singing Muse of Russian poets. The description is based on a deliberate opposition, in which negations dominate: “no”, “I don’t remember”:

No, the Muse sings tenderly and beautifully
I don’t remember the sweet-voiced song above me!
In heavenly beauty, inaudibly, like a spirit,
Flying from a height, my hearing is infantile
She didn't teach magical harmony<...>

His Muse is different: “unloved,” “sad companion of the sad poor.” The poet creates a multifaceted, contradictory image of the inspiring Muse. She is not a heavenly guest, but a beggar, a sufferer, begging for alms and worshiping only wealth: “crying, grieving and hurting, / Always thirsty, humbly asking, / For which gold is the only idol.” Conveying the meaning of her songs, sometimes mournful, sometimes “raunchy,” Nekrasov seems to recreate a brief sketch of his bitter youth. Describing the melodies of his Muse’s songs, the poet noted the dominant “sound” in them - the “moan”, which will indeed become the dominant sound image in the picture of Russian life he himself created:

<...>But the same mournful groan
It sounded even more shrill in a noisy revelry.
Everything was heard in him in a crazy confusion:
Calculations of petty and dirty vanity,
And wonderful dreams of youth,
Lost love, suppressed tears,
Curses, complaints, powerless threats.

The muse - a grieving beggar - is only one face of the inspiration. Her melancholy complaints are instantly replaced by rage and threats to the unrighteous world, and instead of the beautiful Virgin Muse, familiar to the Russian reader, full of heavenly harmony, the avenging goddess Nemesis appears:

In a fit of rage, with human untruth
The madwoman vowed to start a stubborn battle.
Indulging in wild and gloomy fun,
Played madly with my cradle,
She screamed: “Vengeance!” - and a violent tongue
God's thunder called for accomplices!

A rush of “wild passions” and “fierce sorrow” is sometimes replaced by a “divinely beautiful moment”,

When the sufferer, with her head bowed,
"Farewell to your enemies!" whispered above me...

The relationship between the poet and his Muse is devoid of harmony. In Nekrasov’s poem, the motif of the struggle with the Muse is heard for the first time. The “fierce battle” into which the hero enters with his “wild”, “mad” Muse ends with the triumph of the “incomprehensible maiden”: she forces the hero to go through the circles of earthly hell. Opening up this terrible world of suffering and humiliation to him, the Muse teaches him to feel someone else’s pain in order to tell the world about it:

Through the dark abysses of Violence and Evil,
She led me through labor and hunger -
Taught me to feel my suffering
And she blessed the world to announce them...

In this poem of 1852, Nekrasov expressed his understanding of his mission in literature, his calling, about which many years later, summing up his creative path, he would say the same way as in the early 1850s: “I was called to sing your suffering, / Amazing the people with patience.” But the poet is not only the “singer” of people’s suffering. The image of God's thunder as the “accomplice” of the Muse seems very important in this poem. The poet, in Nekrasov’s understanding, is not just “the chosen one of heaven,” but a companion of God, an assistant in a fair trial of earthly untruth. And in later poems, embodying his ideal of a poet, Nekrasov appeals to him: “Arm yourself with heavenly thunders / Raise our fallen spirit to the heights!” (“To the Poet (in memory of Schiller)”, 1874), connecting with the image of God’s thunderstorm his idea of ​​higher, just retribution - cleansing, renewal of unrighteous life, ridding society of moral stuffiness and stagnation.

But another task seemed no less important to him - teaching, educating in the reader, through the power of the poetic word, a new consciousness, a new attitude to life. The idea that literature “at any cost, under any circumstances” “must not retreat one step from its goal - to elevate society to its ideal - the ideal of goodness, light and truth!” - becomes the writer’s sincere idea.

In the same year, 1852, Nekrasov created his other famous poem, dedicated to the purpose of the poet - "Blessed is the gentle poet". Like the poem “Muse”, it is built on an antithesis: the composition is based on the opposition of the destinies of two poets - the “kindly” and the “embittered”. The opposition itself, as is known, goes back to the seventh chapter of N.V.’s poem. Gogol "Dead Souls". It should be noted that, in asserting the unconditional well-being of the fate of the “kind” poet, Nekrasov is overly categorical. Neither critics nor readers were kind to those poets who “abhorred daring satire.” It is no coincidence that in response to this poem Y.P. Polonsky, one of those whom Nekrasov meant by the name of “kindly” poets, responded with a confessional poem about the dramatic fate of the “peace-loving lyre.” But the excessive polemical nature of Nekrasov’s poem was caused not only by the desire to attract the attention and sympathy of society to the fate of those poets who saw their purpose in correcting the vices of society, in “exposing the crowd.” The author sought to show the true meaning and true purpose of the “hatred” that fills the works of the “embarrassed” poet, forcing him to stigmatize the vices of society. The source of this hatred is true love, the poet’s highest goal is also love - love for people, love for his country:

Feeding my chest with hatred,
Armed with satire,
He goes through a thorny path
With your punishing lyre<...>

And believing and not believing again
The dream of a high calling,
He preaches love
With a hostile word of denial<...>

They curse him from all sides
And just seeing his corpse,
They will understand how much he has done,
And how he loved - while hating!

But it is characteristic that, while affirming such a high mission of the poet, Nekrasov never idealized either his hero-poet or his contemporary poets. The hero-poet in Nekrasov's lyrics is deprived of the aura of infallibility. He is never presented as the bearer of higher knowledge or truths. The image of a prophet as an exponent of God’s word will be close to Nekrasov, but he will call a “prophet” not a poet, but a democratic revolutionary, N.G. Chernyshevsky, who consistently defended his convictions. The hero-poet in Nekrasov’s poems is not endowed with talent that would allow him to feel his clear superiority over the “unenlightened.” He is not a genius and is marked by many human weaknesses: inconsistency in asserting his position, weak-willedness, and a tendency to compromise. According to V.V. Kozhinov, one of Nekrasov’s discoveries is that he “for the first time introduces into poetry the “everyday” person, the whole person, including in a non-poetic state. For the first time, he presents the poet as a person “under the yoke” of all kinds, including “petty” everyday “concerns,” with an unenlightened soul that has not risen above them.”

The contradiction between the high mission of the artist and the human weaknesses of the hero-poet will become the source of one of the dramatic motives in Nekrasov’s lyrics - the motive of unfulfilled duty. For the first time it sounded sharply, strongly, tragically in a poem "Poet and Citizen"(1855-1856), in many ways determining his ideological and artistic originality: declarations about the high purpose of the artist of words are inextricably linked here with the bitter confession of the poet, who admits his inability to follow them.

The poem is constructed as a dialogue: the poet and the citizen express their opinions about the role of the poet and the purpose of poetry. The poet and the citizen are in many ways like-minded. But there are also certain differences in their views. There is also a difference in human characters: a consistent, integral, persistent citizen, unyielding in his convictions, is contrasted with a poet. This is a man endowed with talent and a proud, fair soul, but a cowardly and inconsistent defender of his ideals and the truth he has realized.

In the citizen's declarations, some researchers see the ideals of V.G. Belinsky and N.G. Chernyshevsky. And at the same time, in the research literature, an objection is rightly expressed against “a simplified interpretation of the poem and the reduction of its images to prototypes.” A.M. Garkavi claims that the images of both the poet and the citizen “have the meaning of artistic generalizations” and “are carriers of the lyrical principle”: “Nekrasov’s aesthetic views are formulated in the statements of the poet and citizen.” And indeed: it is to the citizen that Nekrasov entrusts his dear thoughts about the purpose of poetry, which are expressed more than once in lyrics, in letters, in critical articles. So, for example, in a letter from L.N. Tolstoy (1856) sounds the central idea affirmed in the poem by a citizen: “<...>In our fatherland, the role of a writer is, first of all, the role of a teacher and, if possible, an intercessor for the voiceless and humiliated,” Nekrasov wrote.

Researchers see in this work a polemic with Pushkin’s poem “The Poet and the Crowd.” Like Pushkin's, Nekrasov's poem is structured as a dialogue, an argument. But if Pushkin’s poet opposes the “senseless” crowd, then Nekrasov’s poet’s antagonist is a citizen, the embodiment of moral responsibility and a sense of duty to the homeland. The polemic begins with the lines of Pushkin quoted by the poet - words about the purpose of the poet: “Not for everyday excitement, / Not for self-interest, not for battles, / We were born for inspiration, / For sweet sounds and prayers.” As you know, Pushkin’s poem ended with these words.

For the Nekrasov poet, these lines are the absolute truth, proof of the poet’s right not to participate in the life of society. The citizen’s attitude towards Pushkin’s lines is much more restrained. Researchers see his position as a polemic with Pushkin. Indeed, the citizen does not share the poet’s enthusiasm and admits that he “takes his poems to his heart more vividly than Pushkin’s poems.” However, this recognition does not mean denying the significance of Pushkin’s word. N.N.’s statement seems fair. Skatov that this is “not a refutation of the irrefutable Pushkin,” but “a refutation of the poet,” who “is not Pushkin.” The poet's poems do not seem artistically perfect to the citizen. He calls his poems “stupid”, says about his elegies that they are “not new”, “satires are alien to beauty, / Ignoble and offensive”, “the verse is viscous”. Pushkin is an unattainable model even for a citizen. It is important that further Pushkin is likened by a citizen to the sun, and a poet to the stars: he is “noticeable,” “but without the sun the stars are visible.” It can be assumed that these words are also polemical, but in relation to Chernyshevsky. In the mid-1850s. Chernyshevsky wrote to Nekrasov, placing his talent above Pushkin’s: “We have never had a poet like you. Pushkin, Lermontov, Koltsov as lyricists cannot be compared with you.”

Why does the citizen see not in Pushkin’s poetry, but in the poet’s imperfect lyricism, a source of strength that should awaken society? The reason for his persistent attention is an era completely different from Pushkin’s. This is the time when “the sun is not visible from anywhere,” this is the “time of grief.” Describing his era, the citizen uses one of the traditional images found in Pushkin’s lyrics: the country-ship. The present time is likened to them by a menacing storm, and it dictates a different role for the poet. Poetry, when the “storm groans”, should not be soporific “sweet sounds”, it should awaken the desire to resist the “earthly thunders”:

But the thunder struck; the storm is moaning,
And it tears the rigging, and tilts the mast, -
This is not the time to play chess,
This is not the time to sing songs!
Here is a dog - and he knows the danger
And barks furiously into the wind:
He has nothing else to do...
What would you do, poet?
Is it really in a distant cabin?
You would become an inspired lyre
To please the ears of sloths
And drown out the roar of the storm?

This symbolic picture of time, drawn by a citizen, is close to the author: the image of the era that Nekrasov repeatedly creates in his poems is dominated by the same metaphor - a storm, a thunderstorm. For example, in the poem “The Grief of Old Nahum”: “But I was born at the wrong time - / It was a bad time!<...>/ The thunder rumbled incessantly, / And the whirlwind was terrible, / And the man stood under it / Frightened and speechless.” One of the direct sources of this metaphor may be the famous Pushkin poem “Arion”, in which the boat that died during a thunderstorm symbolizes the tragic end of the Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825. In this Pushkin poem, the idea of ​​the fate of the poet, who inspired swimmers with his songs, was extremely important . “Thrown ashore” by a “thunderstorm,” Pushkin’s singer saw his purpose in singing “former hymns,” an expression the essence of which is recognition of the singer’s unchanging loyalty to his dead friends, their “hymns” - their ideals. But Nekrasov is not satisfied only with the idea of ​​the poet’s loyalty to high ideals; his role is considered more effective - it is to actively resist “earthly thunder.”

One can assume another possible source of images in Nekrasov’s poem: by drawing an anti-ideal image of a poet trying to drown out the “roar of the storm” and “delighting” the ears of the “lazy” with an inspired lyre, Nekrasov is polemicizing not so much with Pushkin as with the poem by Y.P. Polonsky “Rocking in a Storm” (1851). Polonsky’s lyrical hero, indeed, sought to escape from the sea storm, symbolizing life’s hardships and shocks, into “golden dreams” - memories of past happiness. The poet’s “dream” “in a time of grief,” according to the Nekrasov citizen, is shameful. He persistently repeats these words to the poet: “you shouldn’t sleep now,” “you only fell asleep temporarily: / Wake up: boldly smash your vices,” “it’s a shame to sleep with your talent.” When determining his requirements for a poet, a citizen proceeds from the requirements of the time itself. Poetry in “times of grief” should not lead readers away from real problems into the ideal world: it is a shame “in times of grief / The beauty of valleys, skies and seas / And to sing of sweet affection...”. Inaction and silence in a tragic time for the country are shameful. It is important to note that among those whom the citizen enrolls in the “camp of the harmless”, considering them to be untrue citizens of the country, inactive in the “time of grief”, they are placed nearby: money-grubbers, thieves, “sweet singers” and “wise men”, whose purpose is “conversations.” "

The son cannot look calmly
On my dear mother's grief,
There will be no worthy citizen
I have a cold heart for my homeland,
There is no worse reproach for him...
Go into the fire for the honor of your fatherland,
For convictions, for love...
Go and die blamelessly.
You will not die in vain: the matter is strong,
When blood flows through them...

The citizen’s statements contain many of Pushkin’s definitions: the poet, the citizen believes, is “the chosen one of heaven,” “the herald of age-old truths,” his “strings” are “prophetic.” “Service to art” is also recognized by him as the purpose of the poet. But at the same time he emphasizes another task: serving people. The citizen utters words expressed more than once by Nekrasov himself: about the inseparability of serving art with serving society and one’s neighbor. Thus, in one of his letters, Nekrasov asserted: “Only one theory is correct: love the truth unselfishly and passionately, more than anything and, by the way, more than yourself, and serve it, then everything will turn out fine: if you serve art, you will serve society, If you serve society, you will also serve art.” In the poem, this idea is embodied in a clear poetic formula:

Be a citizen! serving art,
Live for the good of your neighbor,
Subordinating your genius to feeling
All-embracing Love<...>

What is “Universal Love”? Written with a capital letter, the word “Love” means a feeling that does not separate a person from the world, but, on the contrary, promotes unity with people and the unity of all people. A citizen speaks of love for the country and people: for a poet, Love must be expressed in fiery words about goodness and beauty.

The poet’s statement following these words is not a dispute with the citizen’s beliefs. The poet does not reject the words of the citizen, he only does not recognize his right to follow these words: “to teach others requires a genius, / A strong soul is required.” And therefore, he places the activist, the citizen, above the poet, but understands his role in his own way: a true citizen, unlike a poet, silently fulfills his duty, moving towards his intended goal:

Blessed is the silent citizen:
He, alien to the muses from the cradle,
Master of your actions,
Leads them to a rewarding goal,
And his work is successful, the dispute...

The citizen does not agree with this definition of “citizen”: a “silent citizen,” in his opinion, is only pathetic. He also does not agree with the word “blessed,” or more precisely, with the possibility of such a definition of the citizen’s share: “blessed,” in his opinion, is not a “silent citizen,” but a “chattering poet.” A true citizen is one who “bears on his body like his own / All the ulcers of his homeland.” When he utters the famous words: “You may not be a poet, / But you must be a citizen,” then we are talking about the urgent need for true citizens that the country experiences. In addition, these words, which, as is known, go back to the poem by K.F. Ryleev’s “Voinarovsky”, at the same time contained an indication of a certain poetic tradition that a true poet should follow.

The dispute is essentially over. But not because the poet changed his beliefs, his position. She remained the same. In essence, when a poet argues with a citizen or when he expresses the idea of ​​poetry as inspired prayer and sweet sounds, he is not arguing with a citizen, but with himself. The dialogue gradually turns into a monologue-confession of the poet, and the reader understands that the indifference to social issues that the poet proclaimed at the beginning of the conversation, his passivity and melancholy have their source in the drama he experienced. The reader is presented with the story of a man who left the struggle, afraid of responsibility for the bitter truths that he expressed in his poems. Assessing his past life from the point of view of those values ​​and duties that the citizen proclaimed and which he himself recognizes as unconditional, the poet strictly judges himself for apostasy from these covenants. These covenants are love and hatred: love for the unfortunate and disadvantaged, love for the fatherland and people, hatred for what prevents a person from being happy:

Without disgust, without fear
I went to prison and to the place of execution,
I went to courts and hospitals.
I won’t repeat what I saw there...
I swear I honestly hated it!
I swear, I truly loved!
So what?.. having heard my sounds,
They considered them black slander;
I had to fold my hands humbly
Or pay with your head...
<...>The soul fearfully retreated.

Nekrasov conveys deeply personal experiences to his hero: his own pain, his own suffering. Repentance seems overly passionate, perhaps even exaggerated, especially considering Nekrasov’s genuine services to Russian society. But this passion and power of repentance can be explained by the highest ideal of a human citizen, which Nekrasov recognized for himself and to which he was invariably devoted:

<...>I don't hide the bitter truth
And I timidly bow my head
In the words: an honest citizen.
That fatal, vain flame
To this day it burns my chest,
And I'm glad if someone
He will throw a stone at me with contempt.

No one reproaches himself as passionately and ardently for trampling on the “duty of a sacred man” as the Nekrasov poet. He is also acutely aware of the fact that the refusal of honest civil service caused the loss of his creative gift. The lack of civic courage, which in poetry manifests itself as a departure from social issues and the fear of describing the vices of rulers, leads to the fact that the Nekrasov poet ceases to be not only a citizen, but also a poet:

But how afraid I was! how afraid I was!
When my neighbor drowned
In waves of essential grief -
Now the thunder of heaven, now the fury of the sea
I chanted good-naturedly.
Scouring little thieves
For the pleasure of the big ones,
I marveled at the audacity of the boys
And he was proud of their praise.
Under the yoke of years the soul bent,
She's cooled down to everything
And the Muse turned away completely,
The proud is full of contempt.

The idea of ​​serving the poet, first of all, to the good of society is one of the central ideas in Nekrasov’s ideas about the purpose of the poet and poetry. Nekrasov realized how difficult it was to achieve this goal. At the same time, we were talking not only about the civic courage of the author, but also about the possibility of the words he expressed to pass through censorship. The collisions experienced by the poet with the inflexible censor were embodied in the image of the Muse, cut with a whip, the Muse in the crown of thorns, found in a number of poems by Nekrasov (“Celebration of life - the years of youth”, 1855, “I am unknown. I have not acquired you”, 1855, “O Muse! I am at the door of the tomb", 1877). The crown of thorns of Nekrasov's Muse - an unchanging detail of her appearance - emphasizes the idea of ​​the poet as a sufferer for faith, for a high idea. In the poem “I am unknown. “I have not gained you,” it is also said about the death of the Muse under the whip:

No! She accepted her crown of thorns,
Without flinching, the dishonored Muse
And under the whip she died without a sound.

This same understanding of creativity and the idea of ​​the path of the poetic word to the reader as a “thorny path” full of suffering and torment was expressed in poem “Yesterday, at six o’clock”, where in the fate of a peasant woman, punished with a whip on Sennaya Square, the lyrical hero guessed his Muse. The researchers noted that Nekrasov’s poem could not be a response to a direct impression: such punishments had already been abolished in 1848. But, choosing a young peasant woman, publicly punished, humiliated, as a symbol of his poetry, the poet undoubtedly wanted to emphasize the tragedy of the artist’s fate: the muse that inspired him was likened to the most powerless, defenseless and most unfortunate creature on earth - a young peasant woman. Calling her “The Muse of Revenge and Sadness,” Nekrasov talks about those two main feelings that become the source of his poetic motives: love and hatred. “That heart will not learn to love, / Which is tired of hating,” these lines from the poem “Shut up, Muse of Revenge and Sorrow” express the writer’s moral credo and truly define the pathos of his work.

Love and hate are the components of Nekrasov’s relationship to the world. It is no coincidence that 1855 poem "To the Demon" They are the ones that dominate the hero’s self-characterization:

Do I see it straight or crookedly?
I’m just boiling with my soul:
I hate it so deeply
I love you so unselfishly!

Love and hatred, love and revenge are recognized by Nekrasov as characteristic features of his poetry. IN poem of 1855 “Celebration of life - years of youth”, defining the originality of his poetic gift and the pathos of his creativity, Nekrasov will write:

There is no free poetry in you,
My harsh, clumsy verse!

There is no creative art in you...
But living blood boils in you,
A vengeful feeling triumphs,
Burning out, love is warming<...>

In this confession and reflection, the author, in fact, takes the position of opponents of his work, insisting on the “unpoeticism” and artistic imperfection of Nekrasov’s work. Perhaps he evaluates his poetry even more harshly than his critics. Explaining the low assessment of talent that was heard in a number of Nekrasov’s poems and which is “in blatant contradiction with the real social and aesthetic significance of Nekrasov’s poetic activity,” B.O. Corman sees its source in the fact that Nekrasov’s lyrical hero “constantly correlates his poetic activity with the needs of social development, with the situation of the people. Dissatisfaction with oneself, harsh self-esteem, bitter and unfair words about one’s poetry - all this is determined in Nekrasov’s lyrics by his characteristic folk criterion for assessing reality.”

Denying the artistic perfection of his poems, Nekrasov places a much higher value on the feelings that should inspire the poet and that inspired him himself - love and hatred. What kind of love is the poet talking about? For Nekrasov, this is the highest justice, love-service, love-compassion for one's neighbor. But it is precisely this kind of love that makes a person hate what brings suffering and pain to people. This love-hate, “which glorifies the good, / Which brands the villain and the fool / And bestows a crown of thorns / on the defenseless singer...”, is glorified by Nekrasov.

The motifs of “living blood” and “boiling” also seem very important in this self-characterization. The verb “boils” - one of the constants in Nekrasov’s lyrics - clearly conveys the extraordinary intensity, fullness of feelings of the lyrical hero, who always passionately surrenders to his experience - love or hatred, revenge, compassion or anger. Significant for Nekrasov’s understanding of the essence of poetic creativity is the motif of “living blood” as the basis of the poetic word. It is no coincidence that Nekrasov likens poetic works that suffered from the censor’s scissors to a peasant woman cut with a whip, or blood shed in vain. In the first part of the poem “About the Weather,” Nekrasov creates the image of the indignant and suffering A.S. Pushkin, who saw a poem mutilated by the censor. In his words spoken to the messenger, one can hear living pain, understandable to Nekrasov’s lyrical hero: “This is blood, he says, sheds, - / My blood<...>»

Much in Nekrasov’s aesthetic views is also clarified by another sincere motive of the poet: the affirmation of the dependence of his poetic word on the world of his native nature and the sad melodies of folk songs. This idea was expressed in poem "Newspaper". The world of the “native side” here appears as eternal bad weather: the storm, the wind, the thunderstorm make the Russian forests bend and groan, and this groan merges with a sad folk song, echoing in the melancholy tunes of the Russian poet:

Since it was written and written to us like this, -
So there is a reason for this!
Not ordered to the free wind
Sing sad songs in the fields,
Not ordered to the hungry wolf
Mournful groans in the forests;
Since time immemorial the rain has been pouring
Above the native side of the sky,
They bend, they groan, they break under the storm
Since time immemorial, native forests,
Since time immemorial, people's work
It boils under a sad song,
Our free muse echoes her,
He echoes her - or is honestly silent.

The drama in the sound of the theme of the poet and poetry intensified in the last decade of Nekrasov’s life. In many ways, it is determined by the consciousness of unfulfilled duty. One of the poems where this motif takes on a tragic poignancy was written in 1867. Already the first line: “I will die soon. A pitiful inheritance...” denotes his main motives: a bitter premonition of imminent death and the need to take stock of both the creative and human path. Caused by severe reproaches for double-mindedness, for the discrepancy between Nekrasov’s poetic appeals and human behavior, this poem becomes the confession of a man who believes in his ideals, in the fact that the purpose of his muse is only to glorify the suffering of the people, but who has not become a consistent conductor of these ideals. The leitmotif of the poem is a plea for forgiveness addressed to the homeland: “For a drop of blood shared with the people, / Forgive me, oh homeland! I’m sorry!..” The hero is trying to understand the reasons for his cowardice and apostasy. One of these reasons is the trials and suffering experienced in youth:

I spent my childhood under the yoke of fate
And youth is in a painful struggle.
A short storm strengthens us,
Although we are instantly embarrassed by her,
But long - settles forever
There is a habit of timid silence in the soul.

“Habits of timid silence” are called the main reason for the hero’s involuntary defection:

I didn’t trade the lira, but it happened
When inexorable fate threatened,
The lyre made an incorrect sound
My hand...

But the hero does not beg for forgiveness, he severely reproaches and executes himself for apostasy. Denying his right to remain in people's memory, the hero no less passionately asserts the true duty of a writer - to be a teacher, an educator, ready to give his life for a high goal:

I was called to sing of your suffering,
Amazing people with patience!
And throw at least a single ray of consciousness
On the path that God leads you,
But, loving life, to its momentary benefits
Chained by habit and environment,
I walked towards the goal with a hesitant step,
I didn't sacrifice myself for her.

One of Nekrasov’s last poems dedicated to the topic of the poet’s appointment, which was so significant for him, is "Elegy"(1874). Researchers call it “Pushkinsky”. Indeed, in this poem-testament, addressed to the “youths” - the younger generation, Nekrasov’s thought organically merges with Pushkin’s testaments. The most important idea of ​​the poem is not only the recognition of the constant significance for the poet of the theme of “suffering of the people”, but also the affirmation of the highest purpose of every poet - service to the people:

<...>Alas! bye peoples
They languish in poverty, submitting to the whips,
Like skinny herds across mown meadows,
The muse will mourn their fate, the muse will serve them,
And there is no stronger, more beautiful union in the world!..

The poetic formulas included in these lines from Pushkin’s poem “Village” (“submitting to the scourge,” “lean herds,” going back to Pushkin’s “skinny slavery”) allow Nekrasov, according to the precise observation of N.N. Skatov, “to derive your ancestry from Pushkin, not declaring it, but confirming it with the whole structure of your “Pushkin” poems here.” In Nekrasov’s poem one can also see an echo of other Pushkin motifs, in particular, a certain polemic in relation to Pushkin’s poem “The Desert Sower of Freedom...” (1823), with the despair of the lyrical “I” that sounded in it, not believing in the possibility of awakening the people with the power of a life-giving word :

Desert sower of freedom,
I left early, before the star;
With a clean and innocent hand
Into the enslaved reins
Threw a life-giving seed -
But I only lost time
Good thoughts and works...
Graze, peaceful peoples!
The cry of honor will not wake you up.
Why do the herds need the gifts of freedom?
They should be cut or trimmed.
Their inheritance from generation to generation
A yoke with rattles and a whip.

Nekrasov's comparison of a submissive people with a herd undoubtedly goes back to this poem. But if Pushkin expressed disbelief in the possibility of “waking up peaceful peoples,” then Nekrasov’s hero is filled with the desire to serve the unfortunate and submissive “slaves.”

Researchers see in Nekrasov's "Elegy" echoes of another Pushkin poem - "Echo", in which the poetic word was interpreted as an echo of the voices of the world. But Nekrasov does not repeat Pushkin’s motif, he develops it: poetry, the poetic word according to Nekrasov, also gives birth to an echo, a reverberation in the world. This thought is devoid of an optimistic sound: conquering the “vales and fields”, forcing them to echo his song, the poet, alas, is powerless to evoke a response from the one to whom his words are dedicated. The poem ends with this dramatic confession, the motif of the silent people:

I wander thoughtfully in the evening twilight,
And the song composes itself in the mind,
Recent, secret thoughts are a living embodiment:
I call for blessings on rural labors,
I promise curses to the people's enemy,
And I pray to my friend in heaven for power,
And my song is loud!.. The valleys and fields echo it,
And the echo of distant mountains sends her feedback,
And the forest responded... Nature listens to me,
But the one about whom I sing in the evening silence,
To whom are the poet’s dreams dedicated?
Alas! He doesn’t heed and doesn’t give an answer...

In one of his last poems - "Zine"(1876) the lyrical hero will again talk about the inevitability of forgetting his name by the people, and again see in this a fair retribution for his inability to be a “fighter” - equally in public service or poetic. Only civil service is affirmed as the only ideal:

Who, serving the great goals of the age,
He gives his life completely
To fight for a human brother,
Only he will survive himself...

In his later lyrics, Nekrasov is not inclined to belittle the significance and power of the poetic word: it is no coincidence that poetic work is likened to an ascetic feat in one of the poems of 1877 (“Zina”): and this work is interpreted as a condition for salvation, the “life-giving” of a person. Poetry is a “happy gift,” but it only becomes meaningful when the poet is endowed with the “resolve” to fight to the end. This idea is stated in the poem "To the Poet"(1877), which sounds like a testament and a confession:

Love and Labor are under piles of ruins!
Everywhere you look - betrayal, hostility,
And you stand - inactive and sad
And you slowly burn with shame.
And you send a reproach to heaven for the happy gift:
Why did you crown it with it?
When the soul is dreamily fearful
No determination to fight?..

But it would be wrong to say that in later lyric poetry the path traveled is interpreted only pessimistically. Along with tragic intonations, there can also be a belief in the high meaning of accomplished work. This belief was expressed, for example, in the poem “Dream”. The symbol of the poet here is the plowman, clearly evoking the tragic intonations and images of the poem “The Uncompressed Strip” (1854). In the poem “Dream,” one of the last created by Nekrasov, the image of a plowman who did not collect ears of corn is already associated with his own fate:

I dreamed: standing on a cliff,
I wanted to throw myself into the sea,
Suddenly an angel of light and peace
He sang a wonderful song to me:
“Wait for spring! I'll come early
I’ll say: be human again!
I will remove the cover of fog from the head
And sleep with heavy eyelids;
And I will return my voice to the muse,
And again the blissful hours
You will find by collecting the ear
From your uncompressed strip.

This poem is devoid of dramatic notes; on the contrary, it is filled with faith in the possibility of returning to interrupted, unfinished work, faith in the feasibility of good impulses.