Nikolaj Alexeyevich Nekrasov (1821 - 1878)
Никола́й Алексе́евич Некра́сов
Peasant Poetry
Russian Realism (~ 1840 - 1880)
Nikolay A. Nekrasov
Princess Maria Volkonskaya
(1805 - 1863)
"natural school"
"pure poetry"
followed her husband to Siberia in 1827
her memoir was an important source of information for Nekrasov
"O bitterly, bitterly I wept
When that morning I stood
On the bank of my native river
And first did call it
The river of slavery and sorrow!"
"a poet of vengeance and grief"
one of the first writers of Russian realism
important publisher (Sovremennik - "The Contemporary")
themes:
- life of the Russian peasant
- human suffering
the poet's role is "to be first of all a teacher, and as far as possible, a representative for the humble and voiceless" (Nekrasov)
• greatly influenced by Nekrasov
• realistic style, descriptions of "true" contemporary Russia
• political and social problems, e.g. serfdom, repression and
suffering of peasants
• Кому на Руси жить хорошо? ("Who lives happy in Russia?", 1863-1876)
• tradition of Pushkin
• art for art's sake, no political
or social intentions
• descriptions of nature and
beauty rather than life's
reality
Princess Ekaterina Trubetskaya
(1800 - 1853)
"epic" long poem, four parts; unfinished
yet one of Nekrasov's best and most popular poems
• style: elements of Russian folklore and tales, e.g. metre (dactyls), vulgar speech and expressions
followed her husband into Siberian exile in 1826
died there 1853
Biography
Literary Works
Decembrist poetry:
"Русские женщины" (Russian Women)
• Peasant Poetry
e.g. - "Reflections at the Grand Entrance" (1858)
- "Peasant Children" (1861)
- "The Peddlers" (1861)
- "Red-Nose Frost" (1863)
- "Who lives happy in Russia?" (1863-1876)
• father a retired army major and land owner
mother a well-educated, sensitive noblewoman
• grew up on the family estate, witnessed his father's
brutality against peasants and his own family
• 1838 - supposed to enter military service in St. Petersburg
instead study for the university
-> break with his father
• 1838-41 - lived in poverty in the depths of St. Petersburg
• 1840/41 - began to earn money working for newspapers
• long poem, published in two parts:
Part I - "Princess Trubetskaya" (1872)
Part II - "Princess M. N. Volkonskaya" (1873)
• tells about the fate of two Decembrist wives, who followed their husbands to exile in Siberia
• first legally published account of the Decembrist revolt on the 26th (or 14th) of December 1825.
И я подбежала… И душу мою
Наполнило чувство святое.
Я только теперь, в руднике роковом,
Услышав ужасные звуки,
Увидев оковы на муже моем,
Вполне поняла его муки.
Он много страдал, и умел он страдать!…
Невольно пред ним я склонила
Колени – и, прежде чем мужа обнять,
Оковы к губам приложила!…
И тихого ангела бог ниспослал
В подземные копи – в мгновенье
И говор, и грохот работ замолчал,
И замерло словно движенье.
I hastened towards him, my soul as I went
Was stirred by the holiest feeling.
And now, only now in this underground Hell
Where deafening clamor persisted,
And seeing his chains did I visage full well
The torments in which he existed,
His strength and his patience, enduring these pains / In which his destroyers had placed him,
I fell on my knees to him. Lifting his chains
I kissed them before I embraced him.
Then God sent the angel of peace underground,
And, as in our midst he came flying,
The voices he silenced, the work’s mighty sound,
All action, as though it were dying.
• Women in his Poetry
e.g. - "On the Road" (1845)
- "Mother" (1868)
- "Russian Women" (1871-72)
Vasily Timm
"I want to say thank you, Russian people! On the road, in exile, wherever I have been during this difficult time of exile, – people! With you, I have carried my back-breaking burden more vigorously. Many sorrows may have fallen to your lot; you share the sadness of others. Wherever my tears are about to drop, your tears have already fallen long ago!"
В день смерти Гоголя
(Блажен незлобливый поэт...)
Блажен незлобливый поэт,
В ком мало желчи, много чувства:
Ему так искренен привет
Друзей спокойного искусства;
Ему сочувствие в толпе,
Как ропот волн, ласкает ухо;
Он чужд сомнения в себе -
Сей пытки творческого духа;
Любя беспечность и покой,
Гнушаясь дерзкою сатирой,
Он прочно властвует толпой
С своей миролюбивой лирой.
Дивясь великому уму,
Его не гонят, не злословят,
И современники ему
При жизни памятник готовят...
Но нет пощады у судьбы
Тому, чей благородный гений
Стал обличителем толпы,
Ее страстей и заблуждений.
Питая ненавистью грудь,
Уста вооружив сатирой,
Проходит он тернистый путь
С своей карающею лирой.
Его преследуют хулы:
Он ловит звуки одобренья
Не в сладком ропоте хвалы,
А в диких криках озлобленья.
И веря и не веря вновь
Мечте высокого призванья,
Он проповедует любовь
Враждебным словом отрицанья,-
И каждый звук его речей
Плодит ему врагов суровых,
И умных и пустых людей,
Равно клеймить его готовых.
Со всех сторон его клянут
И, только труп его увидя,
Как много сделал он, поймут,
И как любил он - ненавидя!
On the Day of Gogol's Death
(How blessed's the good-natured poet...)
How blessed's the good-natured poet,
With little bile and much emotion:
All lovers of the gentle arts
Send him sincerest greetings;
The admiration of the crowd
Sounds in his ear like rippling waves;
He is a stranger to self-doubt-
That torture of creative souls;
Lover of comfort and tranquility,
Shunning audacious satire,
He firmly dominates the crowd
With his peace-loving lyre.
He is not cursed nor driven out
But worshipped for his splendid mind,
While all his countrymen prepare
A monument to him in life.
But fate will show no mercy
To one whose noble genius
Has led him to unmask the crowd,
Expose its passions and mistakes.
His heart abrim with hate
His lips all clad in satire,
He wanders down a thorny path
His wrathful lyre in hand.
He is reviled at every step:
He catches sounds of admiration
Not in sweet murmurings of praise
But in wild cries of enmity.
With disbelief and new belief
In his high calling's dream,
He preaches love to all
Through venomous denial.
His speech's every syllable
Engenders for him cruel foes,
And all men, whether smart or dull,
Are quick to vilify him.
They curse at him from every side,
And only when they see his corpse
They'll understand how much he did,
And that in hate, he was yet full of love!