Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (1821 -1878). He was born into a noble family. I spent my childhood in the village of Greshnevo. The father is a despot, the mother was offended by him for many years. He studied at the gymnasium, then at St. Petersburg University. I was hungry. I started writing poetry. The first collection "Dreams and Sounds" was unsuccessful. In 1847, together with a friend, writer Panaev, he bought Sovremennik, which, despite its popularity among young people, was banned in 1862. He wrote poems and verses about the difficult lot of the people (“Peddlers”, “Peasant Children”). Many poems were dedicated to the beloved poet A.Ya. Panaeva, their complex relationship, a “Panaevsky” cycle of poems appeared. He also had successful prose works “Dead Lake” and “Three Countries of the World”, written together with A. Panaeva. In 1869 he began to manage the magazine “Domestic Notes”, which published both Saltykov-Shchedrin and Leo Tolstoy. He began working over the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” he created the poems “Grandfather” and “Russian Women.” I became seriously ill. He married a simple woman from the people, Fekla Anisimovna Viktorova (Zinochka). Dedicated "Last Songs" to her. He died in 1877, bequeathing the money he earned to build a school for peasant children.
Biography of Nekrasov
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 28, 1821 (December 10, new style) in the Podolsk province. The father of the future great poet was a very powerful man with a complex character. It is noteworthy that Nekrasov’s mother, Elena Zakrevskaya, married against the will of her parents. She was a sophisticated, well-mannered girl, whose head was turned by a poor and poorly educated officer.
After all, Elena Zakrevskaya’s parents were right: her family life was deplorable. Nikolai Nekrasov, recalling his childhood, often compared his mother to a martyr. He even dedicated many of his beautiful poems to her. As a child, the classic of Russian poetry was also subjected to the tyranny of his cruel and power-hungry parent.
Nekrasov had 13 brothers and sisters. As a child, Nikolai Nekrasov repeatedly witnessed his father’s brutal reprisals against serfs. During his travels around the villages, Alexey Nekrasov often took little Nikolai with him. In front of the boy's eyes, the peasants were beaten to death. These sad pictures of the difficult life of the Russian people lay deep in his heart, and were subsequently reflected in his work.
The poet's father dreamed that Nikolai would follow in his footsteps and become a military man and at the age of 17 sent him to the capital of Russia to be assigned to a noble regiment, however, the future classic had an irresistible desire to continue his education. He did not heed his father’s threats to deprive him of his allowance, and entered the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University as a volunteer student. Nekrasov remembered his student years. It was a time of poverty and deprivation. He didn't even have money to have a proper lunch. Once Nikolai Alekseevich even lost his home and at the end of November he found himself on the street, sick and deprived of his livelihood. On the street, a passer-by took mercy on him and took him to a shelter, where even Nekrasov earned 15 kopecks by writing a petition to someone.
Gradually, life began to improve, and Nekrasov learned to earn a living by writing small articles, composing romantic poems and creating frivolous vaudevilles for the Alexandria Theater. He even started to have savings.
In 1840, a collection of Nekrasov’s poems “Dreams and Sounds” was published. The famous critic Belinsky criticized his poems so much that Nikolai Alekseevich, in upset feelings, rushed to buy and destroy the entire circulation. Now this publication is a bibliographic rarity.
Nekrasov led the Sovremennik magazine for a long time, and under his skillful leadership the publication became very popular among the reading public.
Here, too, changes occurred in my personal life. Back in the 40s, the critic Belinsky brought Nekrasov to visit the famous writer Panaev. His wife Avdotya Panaeva was considered very attractive in literary circles, she had a lot of fans. At one time, even Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky himself sought her favor, but he was refused. But they developed a relationship with Nekrasov. He managed to recapture his wife from Panaev.
Being already quite an adult and a famous writer, Nekrasov became addicted to the game. It is worth noting that his paternal grandfather at one time lost his entire fortune at cards. It turns out that the passion for the game was inherited by Nikolai Nekrasov.
In the 50s of the 19th century, he often began to visit the English Club, where the game was taking place. When Avdotya Panaeva noticed that this gaming addiction can lead to disastrous results. To this Nikolai Alekseevich remarked to her that he would never lose at cards, because he plays with people who do not have long nails.
There was a curious incident in Nekrasov’s life. He was once beaten by a fiction writer, Afanasyev-Chuzhbinsky, who was famous for his long, well-groomed nails. By the way, at that time many men wore long nails. This was a sign of aristocracy and was considered refined. So, Nekrasov sat down to play a game of cards with the fiction writer “a little at a time.” While the game was going on with small stakes, the author of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” won and was glad that Afanasyev-Chuzhbinsky had so fortunately stopped by for lunch. But when they decided to raise the stakes, fortune suddenly turned away from the poet and turned to the fiction writer. As a result, Nekrasov lost a thousand rubles (a very large amount at that time). As it turned out later, Nekrasov was cruelly deceived. Afanasyev-Chuzhbinsky managed to mark the specks of the cards with his beautiful and long nails. It turns out that Nikolai Alekseevich became a victim of an ordinary sharper, but it would seem that he was a writer, a cultured person.
Every year Nekrasov put aside about 20,000 rubles for the game - huge money, I must say. During the game, he increased this amount several times, and then the game began with very high stakes. It is worth noting that over time, the classic himself mastered some cheating techniques, which helped him out quite well from time to time and made him a very successful player who never knew losing. 
This is how the following picture appears: a classic player comes home after a tense game, where he won many thousands of rubles, sits down at the table and writes:
Late fall. The rooks have flown away, the forest is bare, the fields are empty,
Only one strip is not compressed... It makes me sad.
It seems that the ears of corn are whispering to each other: “We are bored of listening to the autumn blizzard,
It's boring to bend down to the ground, bathing fat grains in dust!
Every night we are ravaged by the villages of every passing voracious bird,
The hare tramples us, and the storm beats us... Where is our plowman? what else is waiting?
Or are we worse born than others? Or did they bloom and spike unharmoniously?
No! We are no worse than others - and long ago the grain filled and ripened in us.
Didn’t he plow and sow for the same reason, so that the autumn wind would scatter us?..”
The wind brings them a sad answer: “Your plowman has no urine.”
He knew why he plowed and sowed, but he started the work beyond his strength.
The poor guy is feeling bad - he doesn’t eat or drink, the worm is sucking his aching heart,
The hands that made these furrows dried up into slivers and hung like whips.
As if leaning on a plow with his hand, the Plowman walked thoughtfully in a stripe.
Like all gambling people, Nekrasov was a very superstitious person. One day his personal superstitions turned into a real tragedy. Ignatius Piotrovsky, who worked with Nekrasov at the Sovremennik publishing house, turned to Nikolai Alekseevich with a request to lend him a certain amount of money. But, unfortunately, Nekrasov refused him: a big game was planned, and lending money to someone before the game is considered a very bad omen. Piotrovsky threatened that if he refused, he would commit suicide, but Nekrasov remained adamant. As a result, the petitioner made his threat come true - he shot himself in the forehead. Nekrasov later recalled this incident for the rest of his life, and very much regretted that he did not come to the man’s aid in difficult times.
Women of Nekrasov
There were several women in Nekrasov’s life. He loved a luxurious lifestyle and tried not to deny himself anything. He lived in marriage with Avdotya Panaeva for more than 16 years, and together with her legal husband. This “triple alliance” lasted until the death of the legal spouse.
It is worth noting that the beautiful Avdotya Panaeva did not immediately respond to the advances of the persistent and ardent Nikolai Alekseevich. Ivan Panaev, her husband, literally after a year of marriage, completely stopped paying attention to her and began to spend time with friends and easily accessible women. The wife turned out to be completely useless to anyone.
Nekrasov courted her for a long time, but could not achieve favor. Avdotya Yakovlevna did not believe in the sincerity of his feelings. One day Nekrasov took her for a ride along the Neva and threatened her that if she refused, he would jump into the river, and he didn’t know how to swim at all, so he would certainly drown. Panaeva only chuckled contemptuously, but Nekrasov did not fail to immediately put his threat into action. Avdotya Yakovlevna began to scream in horror, the poet was saved and she finally responded to his advances.
In 1846, the Panaevs and Nekrasovs spent the summer together and, upon arrival in St. Petersburg, settled together in the same apartment. In 1849, Nekrasov and Avdotya were expecting a child and wrote the novel “Three Sides of the World” together; unfortunately, the boy was born very weak and soon died.
Nekrasov was a very jealous and passionate person. His attacks of rage alternated with periods of black melancholy and melancholy. After all, they are. In 1864, Avdotya Yakovlevna married the critic Golovachev and gave birth to a daughter.
Nekrasov is dating Frenchwoman Selina Lefren. This flighty woman helped Nekrasov squander most of his fortune and returned to her homeland, Paris.
The last woman in the life of the classic of Russian literature was Fekla Anisimovna Viktorova. 
By that time, Nekrasov was already heavily addicted to alcohol. Six months before his death, he married nineteen-year-old Thekla. The girl, whom he called Zinaida, remained with him until his death, which occurred on December 27, 1877. Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov died of rectal cancer.
Brief biography of Nikolai Nekrasov
Nikolai Nekrasov is a Russian poet, writer, publicist and classic of Russian literature. In addition, Nekrasov was a democratic revolutionary, head of the Sovremennik magazine and editor of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. The writer’s most famous work is the poem-novel “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on December 10, 1821 in Nemirov into a noble family. The writer spent his childhood years in the Yaroslavl province. At the age of 11, he entered the Yaroslavl gymnasium, where he studied for 5 years.
The writer's father was a rather despotic man. When Nikolai refused to become a military man at the insistence of his father, he was deprived of financial support.
At the age of 17, the writer moved to St. Petersburg, where, in order to survive, he wrote poetry to order. During this period he met Belinsky. When Nekrasov was 26 years old, together with the literary critic Panaev, he bought the Sovremennik magazine. The magazine quickly gained momentum and had great influence in society. However, in 1862 the government banned its publication.
While working at Sovremennik, several collections of Nekrasov’s poems were published. Among them are those who brought him fame in wide circles. For example, “Peasant Children” and “Peddlers”. In the 1840s, Nekrasov also began to collaborate with the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, and in 1868 he rented it from Kraevsky.
During the same period, he wrote the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” as well as “Russian Women,” “Grandfather,” and a number of other satirical works, including the popular poem “Contemporaries.”
In 1875, the poet became terminally ill. In recent years, he worked on a cycle of poems, “Last Songs,” which he dedicated to his wife and last love, Zinaida Nikolaevna Nekrasova. The writer died on January 8, 1878 and was buried at the St. Petersburg Novodevichy cemetery.
Video short biography of Nikolai Nekrasov
In his views, the poet considered himself a democrat, but his contemporaries were ambivalent about his ideas and views. Despite this, the great poet and publicist left behind a poetic legacy that allows him to be placed on a par with the greatest classical writers. Nekrasov's creativity is highly appreciated all over the world, and his works have been translated into many languages.
Origin of the poet
It is known that Nikolai Alekseevich came from a family of nobles who once lived in the Yaroslavl province, where the poet’s grandfather Sergei Alekseevich Nekrasov lived for many years. But he had a slight weakness, which, unfortunately, was later passed on to the poet’s father - a love of gambling. So easily Sergei Alekseevich was able to lose most of the family’s capital, and his children were left with a modest inheritance.
This led to the fact that Alexei Nekrasov, the poet’s father, became an army officer and wandered around the garrisons. One day he met Elena Zakrevskaya, a rich and very pretty girl. He called her Polish. Alexey made an offer, but was refused, as the parents were preparing a more reliable and secure future for their daughter. But Elena Andreevna fell in love with a poor officer, so she did not accept her parents’ decision and got married secretly from them. Alexey Sergeevich was not rich, but he and his entire large family were not poor.
When in 1821 the regiment of Lieutenant Alexei Nekrasov was stationed in the Podolsk province, in the city of Nemirov, a boy Nikolai was born into the family. This event occurred on November 28th.
It must be said that the parents’ marriage was unhappy, so the child also suffered. When the poet subsequently recalls his childhood years, the image of his mother will always be sacrificial and suffering. Nikolai saw his mother as a victim of the rough and even depraved environment in which his father lived. Then he would dedicate many poetic works to his mother, because it was something bright and tender in his life. Nikolai's mother gave a lot to her children, of whom she had thirteen. She tried her best to surround them with warmth and love. All surviving children owe their education to her.
But there were other bright images in his childhood life. So, his reliable friend was his sister, with a fate similar to that of her mother. Nekrasov also dedicated his poems to her.
Childhood
Little Nikolai Nekrasov spent his entire childhood in the village of Greshnevo near Yaroslavl. The family settled on his grandfather's estate when the poet was barely three years old.
From an early age, the future poet saw how cruelly his father treated the peasants, how rude he was to his wife, and how often his father’s mistresses—serf girls—passed and changed before the boy’s eyes.
But his father’s hobbies for women and cards forced him to take the place of police officer. Traveling around villages and hamlets to extract arrears from the peasants, my father took Nikolai with him. Therefore, from early childhood the poet saw injustice and the great grief ordinary people were experiencing. This would later become the main theme for his poetic works. Nikolai never betrayed his principles, did not forget the environment in which he grew up.
Nikolai Nekrasov had barely turned eleven years old when he was sent to a gymnasium in the city of Yaroslavl, where he studied for five years. But unfortunately, his studies were not good for him, he did not do well in many subjects, and he also did not show good behavior. He had many conflicts with teachers, as he wrote his short satirical poems on them. At the age of sixteen, he decided to write down these poetic samples of his in a thin notebook at home.
Education
In 1838, Nikolai Nekrasov, who was barely seventeen years old, was sent by his father to St. Petersburg so that he could serve in a regiment for nobles. But here the wishes of the son and father diverged. The father dreamed of military service for his son, and the poet himself thought about literature, which fascinated him more and more every day.
One day Nikolai Nekrasov met his friend, Glushitsky, who was a student at that time. After talking with a friend who told Nikolai about student life and education, the young man finally decided not to connect his life with military affairs. Then Glushitsky introduced his friend to his other friends, the same students, and soon the poet had a great desire to study at the university. Although his father was categorically against studying at the university, Nikolai disobeyed.
But, unfortunately, he failed the exams. This could not stop him, and he decided to become a free student who simply came to lectures and listened. He chose the Faculty of Philology and attended it persistently for three years. But every year it became more and more difficult for him, since his father nevertheless fulfilled the threats and deprived him of financial support. Therefore, most of Nikolai Nekrasov’s time was spent finding at least some small work or even a part-time job. Soon the need turned out to be very strong, he could not even have lunch, and he could no longer pay for the rented small room. He got sick, lived in slums, ate in the cheapest canteens.
Writing activity
After hardships, the life of the young poet gradually began to improve. At first he began to give private lessons, and this brought him a small but stable income, and then he began to publish his articles in literary magazines. In addition, he was given the opportunity to write vaudevilles for the theater. At this time, the young poet enthusiastically works on prose, sometimes writing poetry. Journalism became his favorite genre at this time. Then he will say about himself:
“How long have I worked!”
His early works show romanticism, although later all of Nekrasov’s works were classified by critics and writers as realism. The young poet began to have his own savings, which helped him publish his first book of poetry. But critics did not always praise his poetic works. Many mercilessly scolded the young poet and shamed him. For example, the most respected critic Belinsky reacted very coldly and disdainfully to Nekrasov’s work. But there were also those who praised the poet, considering his works to be real literary art.
Soon the writer decides to turn to the humorous direction and writes several poems. And new successful changes take place in his life. Nikolai Nekrasov becomes an employee of one of the magazines. He becomes close to Belinsky's circle. It was the critic who had the strongest influence on the inexperienced publicist.
Publishing becomes his life and source of income. At first, he published various almanacs, in which both young, aspiring poets and writers, and real sharks of the pen were published. He became so successful in his new business that, together with Panaev, he acquired the popular magazine Sovremennik and became its editors. At that time, writers who later became famous began to publish in it: Turgenev, Ogarev, Goncharova, Ostrovsky and others.
Nikolai Nekrasov himself published his poetic and prosaic works on the pages of this literary magazine. But in 1850 he fell ill with a throat disease and was forced to leave for Italy. And when he returned, he saw that changes were coming in an enlightened society. As a result of all this, the writers who published in magazines were divided into two groups. Censorship restrictions have also intensified.
Because of the bold publications, the magazine was given a warning. The authorities were afraid of the activities of writers. A real disgrace was organized against the most dangerous masters of the pen. Many ended up in exile. The activities of Sovremennik were initially suspended. Then, in 1866, the magazine was closed for good.
Nekrasov goes to work for the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. He begins to publish a supplement to the magazine, which has satirical content.
Personal life of the poet
In his personal life, the poet had three women whom he loved and whom he mentioned in his will:
A. Panaeva.
S. Lefren
Z.N. Nekrasova
Avdotya Panaeva was married to a friend of Nikolai Nekrasov. Their meeting took place at literary evenings. Then the poet was 26 years old. Avdotya, although not immediately, noticed Nikolai Nekrasov and reciprocated. They began to live together, and even in the house where her legal husband lived. This union lasted for 16 years. In this strange union, a child is born, but he dies in his early years, and discord begins between the lovers and soon Avdotya leaves for another revolutionary poet.
Nikolai Nekrasov met Selina Lefren by chance, since his sister lived in her apartment. The poet also stayed in this apartment for the summer. There was a small romance between the young people.
At the age of 48, he met Fekla Viktorova, who later became his wife. At the time we met, Fekla was only twenty-three years old, and she was from a simple village family. Nekrasov was involved in her education, and over time the girl changed her name and began to call herself Zinaida Nikolaevna.
last years of life
In his last days and years, the publicist and poet worked a lot. In 1875, he fell ill and upon medical examination it turned out that he had cancer, which could not be cured.
After this, Nikolai Alekseevich was confined to bed rest for two years. When the literary community learned about the serious illness of the writer, interest in him increased and his works began to enjoy success, fame and popularity. Many colleagues tried to support him with kind words, he received letters and telegrams from all over Russia.
The poet died at the end of 1877 according to the old style. About eight o'clock in the evening of December 27th. A large number of people attended his funeral. Everyone who could attend the funeral wished to pay tribute to the great writer and poet.
The work of the classic, appreciated during his lifetime, remains an invaluable gift after almost 140 years, and some works amaze with their relevance, modernity and significance.
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (1821─1877) - an outstanding Russian poet, writer and publicist, who became a classic of Russian literature. The most famous were his works “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, “Troika”, “Poet and Citizen”, “Grandfather Mazai and the Hares”. For a long time he was involved in active social activities, managing the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski.
Nikolai Alekseevich became famous as an apologist for popular suffering, trying to show through his works the true tragedy of the peasantry. He is also known as an innovative poet who actively introduced folk prose and speech patterns into Russian poetry.
Childhood and youth
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 22, 1821 in the Vinnitsa district of the Podolsk province in the family of a large Yaroslavl landowner Alexei Nekrasov. At this time, the regiment in which he served was quartered in these places. The mother of the great poet was a Polish woman, Elena Zakrevskaya. Soon after the birth of his son, the father quit military service, and the family moved near Yaroslavl to the family estate Greshnevo.
The future poet early became acquainted with the realities of the Russian serf village and the difficult life of a peasant. All this made a depressing impression and left a deep imprint on his soul. The gloomy and dull life in these places will be echoed in the poet’s future poems “Motherland”, “The Unhappy”, “In the Unknown Wilderness”.
The harsh realities were complicated by the poor relationship between mother and father, which had a detrimental effect on the life of a large family (Nekrasov had 13 sisters and brothers). It was there, in his native land, that Nekrasov first fell ill with poetry. He was inspired by his beloved mother, who was well educated, to love art. After her death, the poet found many books in Polish, in the margins of which she left notes. Little Kolya also dedicated his first poems, written at the age of seven, to his mother:
Dear mother, please accept
This weak work
And consider
Is it suitable anywhere?
After entering the gymnasium, Nekrasov left his homeland and enjoyed freedom. He lived in the city in a private apartment with his younger brother and was left to his own devices. This is probably why he did not study well, and he often got into verbal altercations with teachers and wrote satirical poems about them.
At the age of 16, Nikolai moved to St. Petersburg. The change in circumstances turned out to be forced, since after expulsion from the gymnasium he was threatened with a military career with a barracks spirit intolerable to the freedom-loving Kolya. In 1838, he arrived in the capital with a letter of recommendation to enter the cadet corps, but instead began preparing to enter the university. Emphasizing his desire to break with the hated past, in which the only bright spot were memories of his mother, the poet writes the poem “Thought.”
Nekrasov’s first collection of poetry, entitled “Dreams and Sounds,” was not accepted either by critics or by the author himself. After this, he withdrew from poetry for a long time, and immediately destroyed all copies of the book that fell into his hands. Until his death, Nikolai Alekseevich did not like to remember these plays and poems.
In the literary field
After such a turn, his father refused material support, so Nekrasov was forced to do odd jobs and even risked starvation. Nevertheless, he firmly believed in literature as the most perfect form of free and rational activity. Even the most severe need did not force him to leave this field. In memory of this period, he began to write, but never finished, the novel “The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikov.”
In the period from 1840 to 1843, Nikolai Alekseevich began writing prose, while simultaneously collaborating with the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. Many stories came from his pen - “Morning in the Editorial Office”, “Carriage”, “Landowner 23 Years Old”, “Experienced Woman” and many others. Under the pseudonym of Perepelsky, he writes dramas “The Husband Is Out of Place”, “Feokfist Onufrievich Bob”, Grandfather’s Parrots”, “Actor”. At the same time, he became known as the author of numerous reviews and feuilletons.
In 1842, the long-awaited reconciliation with his father took place, which opened the way for him home. “With a tired head, neither alive nor dead,” is how he describes his return to Greshnevo. By that time, the already elderly father had forgiven him and was even proud of his son’s ability to overcome difficulties.
The next year, Nekrasov met V. Belinsky, who at first did not take his literary gift very seriously. Everything changed after the appearance of the poem “On the Road,” which forced the famous critic to call him a “true poet.” Belinsky admired the famous “Motherland” even more. Nekrasov did not remain in debt and called the meeting with him his salvation. As it turned out, the poet with his enormous talent really needed a person who would enlighten him with his ideas.
Singer of the folk soul
After writing the poem “On the Road,” which exposed the soul of an intelligent man who was no stranger to people’s suffering, he created about a dozen more works. In them, the author accumulates all his hatred for the meaningless opinion of the crowd, ready to brand any victim of a hard life with false and empty chatter. His poems “When from the darkness of delusion” became one of the first attempts by Russian authors to show a bright image of a woman who was dying from poverty and misfortune.
In the period from 1845 to 1854, the poet did not write much, creating the immortal poems “In Memory of Belinsky”, “Muse”, “Masha”, “Uncompressed Strip”, “Wedding”. It is difficult not to notice in them the calling that the great poet found in his destiny. True, he still followed this path with extreme caution, which was also facilitated by the difficult years for literature associated with the strengthening of the reactionary Nikolaev regime.
Social activity
Beginning in 1847, the poet took the helm of the Sovremennik magazine, becoming its publisher and editor. Under his leadership, the publication became a full-fledged organ of the revolutionary-democratic camp; the most advanced literary minds in Russia collaborated with him. Despite desperate attempts to save the magazine, when Nekrasov recited his poems at a dinner in honor of the famous Count N. Muravyov (“the hangman”), Sovremennik was closed in 1866. The reason for such a decisive step by the authorities was Karakozov’s shots in the Summer Garden, which almost cost the emperor his life. Until his last days, the poet regretted his action, calling it “the wrong sound.”
Two years later, Nekrasov returned to publishing, acquiring the right to publish Otechestvennye Zapiski. This magazine will be the last brainchild of Nikolai Alekseevich. On its pages he published chapters of the famous poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, as well as “Russian Women”, “Grandfather” and a number of satirical works.
Late period
Much more fruitful was the period from 1855 to 1864, which began with the accession of the new Emperor Alexander II. During these years, Nekrasov appears as a true creator of poetic pictures of folk and social life. The first work in this series was the poem “Sasha”. It so happened that at this time there was a social upsurge, including the birth of the populist movement. The response of this concerned poet and citizen was the writing of the poem “Peddlers”, “Songs to Eremushka”, “Reflections at the Main Entrance” and, of course, “Poet and Citizen”. In an effort to support the impulse of the revolutionary intelligentsia, he calls for heroism and self-sacrifice for the sake of people's happiness in the poem “To the Sowers.”
The late creative period is characterized by the presence of elegiac motifs in poetry. They found expression in such poems as “Morning”, “Elegy”, “Three Elegies”, “Despondency”. Standing apart is the poet’s most famous work, “Who Lives Well in Rus',” which became the crown of his creative activity. It can be called a real guide to people's life, where there was a place for the people's ideals of freedom, the exponent of which was the hero of the work, Grisha Dobrosklonov. The poem contains a large layer of peasant culture, conveyed to the reader in the form of beliefs, sayings, and colloquial folk language.
In 1862, after reprisals against many radical friends, Nekrasov returned to his native place in the Yaroslavl region. His stay in his small homeland inspired the poet to write the poem “A Knight for an Hour,” which the author especially loved. Soon he bought his own estate, Karabikha, where he came every summer.
Poet and citizen
Nikolai Nekrasov has taken his own, very special place in Russian literature. He became a real people's poet, an exponent of their aspirations and sufferings. Denouncing the vices of those in power, he, as best he could, stood up for the interests of the village oppressed by serfdom. Close communication with his colleagues at Sovremennik helped him develop deep moral convictions associated with his active civic position. In his works “About the Weather”, “Crying Children”, “Reflections at the Front Entrance”, he shares with readers his revolutionary ideas, born in the name of people's happiness.
In 1856, the literary collection “Poems” was published, which became a kind of manifesto of progressive literature, which dreamed of forever removing the shackles of serfdom. All this contributed to the growth of the authority of Nikolai Alekseevich, who became a moral guide for many representatives of the youth of that time. And it is no coincidence that he was proudly called the most Russian poet. In the 1860s, the concept of the “Nekrasov School” was established, which “enrolled” poets of the real and civil school, who wrote about the people and spoke to their readers in their language. Among the most famous authors of this movement are D. Minaev and N. Dobrolyubov.
A distinctive feature of Nekrasov’s work was its satirical orientation. In his poems “Lullaby” and “Modern Ode” he ridicules noble hypocrites and bourgeois philanthropists. And in “The Court” and “Song of Free Speech” a bright, sharply satirical political subtext is visible. The poet exposes censorship, feudal landowners and the illusory freedom given by the emperor.
In the last years of his life, Nekrasov suffered from severe stomach cancer. He agreed to have an operation performed by the famous Dr. Billroth, but it was unsuccessful. A trip to Crimea did not save him from a serious illness - on December 27, 1877, Nikolai Alekseevich passed away. His funeral turned into an unprecedented expression of popular sympathy among thousands of people who came on a frosty winter day to honor the memory of the great poet.
Personal life
In the most difficult times of lack of money, Nekrasov was helped by the well-known holder of a literary salon in St. Petersburg, Ivan Panaev. In his house, the poet met many outstanding literary figures - Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Saltykov-Shchedrin. What stood out was the acquaintance with the beautiful Avdotya Panayeva, Ivan’s wife. Despite her strong character, Nekrasov managed to win the woman’s favor. After the success that came, Nikolai Alekseevich purchased a large apartment on Liteiny, where the Panaev family also moved in. True, the husband had long lost interest in Avdotya and did not have any feelings for her. After Panaev's death, the long-awaited marriage with Avdotya did not take place. She quickly married Sovremennik secretary A. Golovachev and moved out of the apartment.
Tormented by unrequited love, Nekrasov, together with his sister Anna, goes abroad, where he meets a new passion - the Frenchwoman Sedina Lefren. For five years they would maintain a long-distance relationship, however, having received a lot of money from a successful publisher, she disappeared from his life forever.
At the end of his life, Nekrasov became close to Fekla Viktorova, whom, according to legend, he won at cards. She was a girl of humble origin and was often embarrassed by her presence among educated society. Experiencing more paternal feelings for her, the poet awarded the girl his patronymic and contributed to the acquisition of a new name - Zinochka. Indirect proof of this is the fact that he dedicated all his later poems to A. Panaeva.
Nevertheless, shortly before his death, already very weak and exhausted, the poet decided to marry Thekla, which took place in a temporary temple built right in the dining room of his house.