The idyllic picture of late autumn, when the trees have already shed their leaves and the birds have long flown to warmer climes, is disrupted by a lonely strip of wheat, which the peasant did not harvest for an unknown reason. Awareness of the role that work in the field plays in the lives of ordinary people, how important each ear of harvest is for their lives, leads the reader to sad thoughts.
The use of a literary device such as personification helps the author bring to life the abandoned harvest and the free, omnipresent wind. The tight ears of corn whisper to each other, asking why they are not being harvested? By repeating the word “boring,” the author enhances the feeling of hopelessness and helps to realize the gravity of the current situation. At the same time, the ears of corn cannot understand the reasons for such inattention on the part of the plowman. After all, the harvest is rich, and the ears are “fat” and heavy.
However, the peasant never comes, as a result of which the crop has to endure many hardships:
They are beaten by autumn winds;
Hares and other animals running across the field trample;
The ears become food for flocks of birds.
And then the cold wind explains to the wheat that the plowman is mortally ill. His hands, once strong, have dried up and hung “like whips”; his powerful voice, which carried a folk song over the fields during sowing and harvesting of the fields, has disappeared, his eyes can no longer see, and his heart wears out. incurable disease. It becomes clear that the peasant will never return to the field.
Analysis of the work
Critics compared Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov’s poem “The Uncompressed Strip” with a folk song. This is facilitated by writing a distich using both masculine and feminine rhymes. The refrains of the words “boring”, the personification of the forest, ears of corn and wind, complement the feeling of the people of the poem. Numerous epithets evoke a feeling of melancholy and hopelessness:
"sad thought";
"gluttonous bird";
"sad answer";
"diseased heart";
"mournful song"
The juxtaposition of the fat grains and the withered hands of the peasant heightens the awareness of the sad plight of the peasants. Nekrasov knew well that work in the field, so hard and difficult, was the only one that allowed the Russian peasant to feed his family. Only a serious illness or extreme old age could be the reason that the peasant did not reap the entire harvest, and, therefore, left his wife and children to starve.
The history of writing the poem
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov spent his childhood on a personal estate in the village of Grishnevo. There, as a child, the future writer could observe the true situation of the peasants, their daily hard work, and complete lack of rights. All this formed in the boy a certain attitude towards the existing system.
The writer's father, a retired military man, held the position of police officer, whose duties included pacifying the peasants, resolving controversial situations, and punishing offenses. Father often took little Nicholas with himself, as a result of which the boy could see what was happening with his own eyes. Constant showdowns with peasants, humiliating punishments and the reluctance of the authorities to delve into the problems of ordinary people could not harden the child’s heart. On the contrary, he worried with all his heart about ordinary people who, by chance, found themselves in difficult life situations.
Love for the common people arose in the boy during games with peasant children. And his father’s ban on these games instilled perseverance and perseverance in young Nekrasov. The writer retained these character traits throughout his life.
For the first time, an acute feeling of pain for ordinary people was caused by the contemplation of barge haulers pulling a barge along the Volga. Exhausted, groaning people stirred up a feeling of injustice and powerlessness in the boy.
Nekrasov experienced the same emotions at home, observing his father’s attitude towards his mother - a dearly beloved boy, a well-educated, talented, intelligent, but deeply unhappy woman. Elena Andreevna endured the bullying from her husband meekly, silently, only occasionally it was possible to watch him cry all day, sitting at the piano. From his mother, the future poet learned patience and humility. However, it is precisely these feelings, reflected in the writer’s work, that clearly indicate doom and hopelessness.
Endless love for the Motherland and its endless expanses is visible in all of Nekrasov’s works. He colorfully describes his favorite places, while contrasting the beauty of the Russian land with the plight of its people.
Serfdom in the works of Nekrasov
WITH early years The writer had a growing feeling that only freedom could be the solution to the problems of the common people. He opposed serfdom and was an ardent supporter of the revolutionary ideas that took place in literary circles. Of course, it was impossible to write about this openly, but Nekrasov found skillful ways to convey to the reader the awkward way of life of a peasant. And the poem “Uncompressed Strip” is a clear confirmation of this.
Much later, after the abolition of serfdom, Nekrasov came to the conclusion that the newfound freedom did not become salvation for the peasants. As a result of the changes, they lost their main source of livelihood - land. Unfortunately, the peasants did not know how to earn anything else, and they did not know what to do with their newfound freedom. Often in the late works of Nikolai Alekseevich the main characters are former serfs and servants who complain about old times, speak warmly about the past.
The confusion of the peasants was understandable. The reforms did not eradicate the violation of the rights of ordinary people. There is still oppression of the peasants, and people who have been given back their right to freedom are exploited everywhere. As such remnants of serfdom, the writer points to land bondage, which put the peasants in an even more difficult situation.
But in 1854 reforms were still a long way off. The peasants remained absolutely powerless. In the poems, the author points out that on some estates the serfs were jealous of cattle and dogs, who lived much better than people.
Direct communication with ordinary people formed the most truthful image of a man, as critics and contemporaries of the writer pointed out. The peculiarities of Nekrasov’s creativity include the absence of melodrama and exquisite details inherent in XIX literature century. Description in simple, accessible words life situations, which the author himself witnessed, contributed to the fact that by the mid-50s he was rightfully called a poet-citizen.
Literary activity of the writer
Nekrasov’s first collection of poems, “Dreams and Sounds,” received approval from critics, however, Belinsky himself said that Nikolai Alekseevich could become a mediocre prose writer, but the poem “On the Road” delighted him. The critic predicted a great future for the aspiring author in the literary field. The idea of the work, based on the confrontation between two sides, masters and powerless peasants, was close to Belinsky. Their Team work in Sovremennik, and then in Otechestvennye Zapiski, it brought together like-minded people and became the basis for reformist ideas that permeated every issue of the publication. It was Belinsky that Nekrasov was indebted to for the cultivation and formation of ideological ideals.
After the critic's death, the magazine changed direction, following the path preferred by society. This helped the publication to remain afloat, but it lost its reformist spirit. Works written in tandem with A.Ya. Panaeva, “Three Countries” and “Dead Lake” were occupied most pages of Sovremennik, were popular, however, they were recognized as mediocre adventure novels.
A throat disease diagnosed in Nekrasov in the mid-50s inspired sad moods on the writer and returned the image of an oppressed people to his work. A distinctive feature of the works of that time is undisguised sadness, based on the contemplation of lawlessness and deprivation of the common people. A trip to Italy and the treatment carried out there contributed to the fact that the writer began to work with renewed vigor. This period is considered the most fruitful in the writer’s work. He subtly sensed changes in the mood of society and ordinary people, which he reflected in literature. The main theme remained the life of the peasants, their everyday life, hopes, and aspirations.
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Nikolay Nekrasov grew up in a noble family, but his childhood was spent on the family estate of the Yaroslavl province, where the future poet grew up with peasant children. The cruelty of his father, who not only beat the serfs, but also raised his hand against members of the household, left a deep mark on the soul of the poet for the rest of his life, who in his own home was as powerless as the serfs. Therefore, Nekrasov not only sympathized with representatives of the lower classes of society, but also in his work constantly addressed their problems, trying to show the life of peasants without embellishment.
Nekrasov left his parents' home very early, but never for a moment forgot what he had seen and experienced in his childhood. A quarter of a century later, in 1854, the poet wrote a poem in which he again touched on the topic of serfdom. The author of this work, which would later become a textbook, sincerely believed that if the peasants received freedom, they would be able to build their lives in such a way as not to experience hunger and need. However, the poet was deeply mistaken, since the abolition of serfdom on paper drove ordinary people into even greater bondage, since it deprived them of the most valuable thing in life - land.
"Uncompressed strip" is a poem that reveals how important farming was for the ordinary peasant at that time. This was the only source of his well-being, and it depended on the harvest whether a peasant family would have bread in winter, or whether it would have to starve. But a good harvest was not always the key to prosperity, and he managed to convey this very clearly in his work.
“Late autumn, the rooks have flown away” - these lines, known to every schoolchild, create a peaceful and almost idyllic picture. However, against the backdrop of a serene autumn landscape, when nature is already preparing for hibernation, the author sees an unharvested strip of wheat and notes that “it brings a sad thought.” Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that a peasant, who has invested so much labor to obtain a harvest on which his life directly depends, could be so dismissive of bread. Moreover, the grain has grown beautifully, and is now forced to become prey to the wind, birds and wild animals. Using the technique of animating inanimate objects, the author, on behalf of the unharvested wheat, asks the question: “Where is our plowman? What else are you waiting for?
However, the ever-present wind brings a disappointing answer to the heavy ears of corn, telling the sad story of a peasant who is unable to harvest his crops due to illness. “He knew why he plowed and sowed,” the poet notes, but at the same time emphasizes that it is unlikely that a zealous owner who knows the value of his work will be able to reap its fruits. And this means that the peasant will inevitably die by starvation, and no one will come to his aid, because most families have exactly the same problems, among which hunger and disease occupy one of the first places.
Having given the floor to the wheat and the wind, Nekrasov tried to abstract himself from the picture he saw and evaluate it as impartially as possible. After all, the only explanation for the fact that one of the peasants did not harvest the harvest is a serious illness. However, the saddest thing in this situation is that this does not surprise anyone and does not evoke sympathy - people, according to the poet, are so accustomed to death that they simply do not notice it. And this submission to fate causes a feeling of annoyance in Nekrasov, who is convinced that by the right of his birth a person is free, therefore he must build his life so that it does not depend on circumstances.
ON THE. Nekrasov was of noble origin and saw how cruelly the serfs were treated. Therefore, one of the main themes of his work was serfdom. The poet hoped that the abolition of serfdom would improve the situation of people, but it took away the most important thing from them - land. In the analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Uncompressed Strip" according to plan, this topic will be considered in more detail.
Theme of serfdom
The analysis of Nekrasov's poem "The Uncompressed Strip" shows the image of a powerless peasant. For the poet it was important topic: his father was a cruel landowner, and Nekrasov more than once saw his father’s rude and evil treatment of the peasants. The poet showed the attitude of the entire nobility towards them - they were not considered any significant part of society.
The most valuable thing the serfs had was land. This is also shown in the poem: in fact, it was unthinkable for a man to leave the grain harvest unharvested, into which so much effort and labor had been invested. But the peasant could not collect it because he fell ill. And no one cared about this - everyone looked indifferently at his difficulties.
With this indifference, Nekrasov emphasized his disdain for the common people. Diseases, hunger, and high mortality were commonplace, so at the end of the work a peasant is shown who, seeing the unharvested grain, continued to do his work. In the analysis of Nekrasov's poem "The Uncompressed Strip" it should be emphasized that serfdom is the key theme of his creation.
Features of the composition
The next point in the analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Uncompressed Strip” is the construction of the work. It can be divided into three parts. The first describes nature in the best traditions of landscape poetry. The description of late autumn sets the reader in a peaceful, but at the same time sad mood.
In the second part, the ears of corn are shown as a living creature who complains that they have forgotten about him and left him alone. They wonder if maybe they are not worthy of being removed by the plowman. But then the ears themselves answer that they are no worse than others, the same amount of love and care has been invested in them as in others.
In the analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “The Uncompressed Strip,” it should be noted why it was through the field that the poet decided to talk about the problem of the serfs. Because peasants are farmers, the most valuable thing for them is the land that gives them food. And only serious circumstances could force the plowman not to enter the field. But besides him, there was no one to take care of the harvest.
This is exactly what the wind tells the ears of grain when it gives them the answer to their question. He tries to explain to them that it is not the plowman's fault that he left them unharnessed. And no one would take care of the peasant himself, because everyone had so many worries that there was simply no time left to help others. And the serfs found themselves abandoned and without rights, and this oppressed the poet and was reflected in his poems.
Genre of the work
In the analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Uncompressed Strip" the next point is the definition of literary orientation and genre. It refers to a civic elegy. The work raises important questions about the lack of rights of peasants and the diseases of serfs, which were relevant in the time of the poet.
Therefore, here the sick plowman plays the role of the lyrical hero. And the reader will not be able to deceive the fabulous image of the wind, which should bring with it coolness, but it brought not peace, but a sad answer. In the analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Uncompressed Strip" it should be noted that distinctive feature This work is a realistic view of the poet, and the animation of ears of corn and wind is just a fabulous design.
Image of nature
The late autumn landscape evokes feelings of calm and sadness in the reader. Nature is preparing for winter, birds are flying away to warmer lands, and the earth thanks those who looked after and cared for it with generous gifts. So in this case, the plowman was rewarded for his agricultural labors. Beautiful, golden ears of corn were patiently waiting for the peasant to collect them.
For the tiller there was no more beautiful than the landscape than endless fields of gold. After all, for him this is not only wonderful, but also the result of his work and the security of his family. Therefore, the landscape chosen by the poet best emphasizes the image of the farmer.
Artistic means of expression
In the analysis of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov's "Uncompressed Strip" is a definition of the tropes and images used. Verbs and epithets are associated with late autumn, and the syntactic parallelism of the state of nature and the state of man (sad thoughtfulness) allows the landscape to be spiritualized, and the reader can hear the conversation of the ears of corn.
The metaphors used and the personification of the forces of nature make the poem more expressive. The description of the plowman's inner world shows the peasant's connection with the land. This poem by Nekrasov shows not only the beauty of the grain field, but also raises questions regarding serfdom. The poet wanted society to think about how difficult it is for the peasants, and that they also need to be taken care of. And all this against the backdrop of a beautiful landscape.
“Uncompressed Strip” is one of many poems by N. Nekrasov, developing the peasant theme. It was published in 1854. The poet grew up in the family of a landowner who treated cruelly not only the peasants, but also members of his own family. Since childhood, Nikolai Alekseevich observed the hard work of people and their suffering. He left the threshold of his home early, but never forgot about the pain and suffering he once saw there.
The theme of the analyzed verse is grain-growing labor under serfdom. The author shows how hard work undermined the health of the peasants, while the landowners did not need sick people.
At the center of the work is an unusual character - an uncompressed strip. The author leads the reader to it gradually. First, he presents a gloomy autumn sketch of nature: a bare forest and empty fields, there is silence all around, because even the rooks have already flown south. This picture of nature evokes melancholy. In the middle of the field, a lonely strip of ears of grain is visible, but it does not please the eye, but “brings a sad thought.” The lyrical hero watches the strip, at some point it seems to him that the ears of corn are whispering to each other.
The conversation of plants is sad. They are tired of listening to the autumn blizzard and bowing their heads to the ground. The ears of corn remember their harvested brothers and compare themselves with them. They realize that they are no worse than others, but they do not understand why they were abandoned uncompressed. This makes the ears of corn feel offended.
The wind brings the answer to the spikelets. He sadly says that the plowman fell ill, because “he started the work beyond his strength.” Now he has no urine to eat or drink. The farmer has become very thin, his arms now resemble whips. The man’s voice disappeared and his eyes went dark. Now all that remains is to remember how the farmer once soulfully brought his song out into the field. The analyzed work ends with a description of the exhausted farmer. The author does not say whether the man recovered or not; the reader must guess this for himself. Although the portrait of an emaciated plowman with dull eyes suggests his death.
The poem contains both human images and images taken from nature. To create them, the poet uses a variety of artistic means. The main role is played by personifications, with the help of them N. Nekrasov animates the ears of corn and the wind: “the ears of grain whisper to each other,” “the wind brings them a sad answer.” Metaphors help to portray a portrait of an exhausted plowman: “his hands... have dried up to a sliver,” “his eyes have dimmed,” “a worm is sucking his aching heart.” Epithets play a supporting role: “late autumn”, “autumn blizzard”, “fat grains”, “mournful song”. There is only one comparison in the text: hands “like whips.”
The analyzed poem consists of fifteen couplets. Each stanza is a continuation of the previous one. In terms of meaning, it can be divided into three parts: a short landscape introduction, the conversation of the ears of grain and the response of the wind. The lines are written in dactyl trimeter, which slows down the pace of the narrative and makes it dull. To convey a sad mood, alliteration of the consonants “z”, “s”, “ch” is also used.
"Uncompressed strip" analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, issues and other issues are discussed in this article.
History of creation
The poem “The Uncompressed Stripe” was presumably written in 1854, published in Sovremennik No. 1 for 1856 and included in the collected works of 1856. The image of the uncompressed stripe could have been suggested by the folk song “It’s my stripe, but it’s my stripe.” The poem was set to music several times in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Literary direction and genre
The poem belongs to the genre of civil elegy, like the classic work of this genre - the elegy “Let changing fashion tell us.” It is precisely about the suffering of the people, according to the behest of the lyrical hero of that elegy, that this one tells us. The circumstances of the illness of the serf peasant are typical of Nekrasov’s modern times and evoke in the memory of the lyrical hero the typical image of a sick plowman. No one will be deceived by the appearance of a fairy-tale character - the wind, bringing a sad answer. In fact, this image of a sick plowman, a man whom the lyrical hero has never seen and will never see, is brought to life by Nekrasov’s artistic thinking of a realist, and the fairy-tale frame is just an entourage.
Theme, main idea and composition
The poem can be roughly divided into three parts. The first part is a peaceful landscape of late autumn. The second part is the imaginary complaints of the ears of the unharvested strip. The third part is the imaginary response of the wind. The lyrical hero in the poem seems to withdraw from himself and does not show himself. His role is to eavesdrop on the conversation between the dying ears of corn and the wind, but the whole conversation actually takes place “as if,” that is, it reflects the innermost thoughts of the lyrical hero.
The theme of the poem is the hard life of a serf peasant, for whom even if the harvest fails, illness will occur.
The main idea is sympathy for a lonely sick person who has lost his health due to hard work; awareness of the mortality of all things and acceptance of this fact.
Some thought that the poem is an allegory, the image of the plowman is Nicholas I, who shouldered the burden Crimean War and died during it. But the poem needs to be interpreted more broadly.
The creation of the image of the plowman could have been influenced by Nekrasov’s serious illness in 1853. He associated himself with a sick plowman who could not do his job (to sow the reasonable, the good, the eternal), the song he sang at the plow fell silent.
Paths and images
The landscape in the first part is written in the best traditions of landscape poetry. Verbs associated with the dying of nature: rooks flew away, forest exposed, fields empty, stripe not compressed. Epithets are traditional for the autumn landscape: late autumn, autumn snowstorm. The parallelism in the state of nature and man (the boredom of the ears of grain and the sad thought of the lyrical hero) allows us to personify nature and hear the conversation of the ears of grain.
In the second part, the ears of corn complain that they are wasted, fat grains bathe in dust(metaphor). They face various dangers. The strip is ravaged by flocks (stanitas) of birds (metaphor), a hare tramples and a storm hits. The reader associates ears of corn with weak people, who cannot even defend themselves against “hares,” although they carry enormous wealth - bread, that is, with serfs. The ears ask a rhetorical question about what they did wrong, and they themselves answer: “No! We are no worse than others." The ears of corn are like the peasants themselves, who do not understand where their efforts and strength go, why they plow and sow.
In the third part, the wind, the personification of natural forces that destroy labor and human life itself, responds to the ears of corn. He is all-knowing, like a pagan god. The wind, like God, evaluates the life of a plowman: the peasant knew why he plowed and sowed, “but he started the work beyond his strength.” The reader does not understand the reason for the plowman’s illness and loneliness: perhaps he is old, perhaps he has strained himself at work. Nekrasov's contemporaries understood that the unharvested strip meant the starvation of the plowman who did not harvest bread for the winter, and of his family, if he had one.
Nekrasov draws inner world farmer: he is purposeful, but thoughtful, usually sings sad songs while working. The portrait of a plowman is written using metaphors and comparisons: the plowman has no lobe, a worm is sucking his aching heart, his hands have dried up to a sliver, they hang like whips, his eyes have dimmed, his voice has disappeared.
It is not for nothing that Nekrasov ends the description of the plowman with his missing voice, as if returning again to that moment when the peasant was plowing that very strip and singing. The mournful song is a prophecy of the sad fate of the peasant, which, like work, is inseparable from the song.
The ears of corn dying in the dust share the lot of their owner, the plowman. Elegiac discussions about the frailty of existence acquire a generalized meaning and go beyond the description of the bitter fate of the serf.
Meter and rhyme
The poem is written in dactyl tetrameter, the rhyme is paired, female rhyme alternates with male rhyme.
