Composition description based on the painting by K. Savitsky "repair work on the railway"

Once I was very small, I was then no more than 4 years old, they took me to the village. For the first time in my life. The village was called and is called Zavorykino. Such a wonderful name. At that time I could not know that this village, and especially one large wooden house in it, was our family nest. Yes, not a noble nest. So what? And who said that, according to Turgenev, nests can only be noble ones. No, it was a large peasant house for two families. And this house with everything that surrounded it was my small Motherland.

Today the village has turned into a holiday village. And that wooden house is long gone. A modern brick cottage has already been built in its place. Other people live in it. But, nevertheless, today I go to the village of Zavorykino. By an inexplicable attraction to touch the ancestral root, to breathe the air of those places.

The visible image of nature does not change as quickly as man in his often irresistible desire to transform nature, in such a natural desire to adapt it to his needs. The people themselves living on earth are changing quite quickly. The human age is short compared to the natural one. The forests and fields around Zavorykino remained the same. Haven't changed since the first time I saw them. Therefore, the air with all its smells remained the same. And I, inhaling it into myself, feel like I fall down not much not a little to the source of my stay on earth.

*****
And then, at the very beginning of the 50s, I was taken to this village for the first time. It is clear that it was necessary to go by train. The beginning of the journey began from the Tulskaya platform in Moscow to the Mikhnevo station. It is 70 km. from Moscow. And it was here at the long plank platform that I first saw a steam locomotive. A huge black car with huge, taller than my height, red wheels connected by a long metal beam. He seemed to me such a monstrous terrible beast, frozen for a while before throwing forward. My whole soul sank at the sight of an indescribably huge monster.

I have never seen anything like it in my life. I mean, I saw it in the picture. I myself had a little train given to me. But what stood before me was not a toy. Not a fairy tale. And not a picture. A real steam locomotive. Until now, I have never seen him so huge, but I have heard many times. Because I often fell asleep to the sounds of trains rumbling in the distance and lingering beeps coming from this railway of the Paveletsky direction.
Therefore, when I hear the lines of one wonderful song, I involuntarily descend with all my being to the very beginning of my childhood.

Silence behind the Rogozhskaya outpost.
Sleeping trees by the sleepy river.
Only lineups follow lineups
Yes, someone is called by beeps.

By the way, this Rogozhskaya Zastava, or as it was called the Ilyich Zastava Square for a long time, was not too far from my house.

*****
But back to the first steam locomotive I saw. Imagine all my horror when suddenly this monster in all its awesome power came to life and moved. But first the voice of the monster rang out - a sonorous, sharp, loud whistle. And then the beam moved, accelerating, and began to walk, jerking back and forth, spinning the red wheels. Horror! Everything inside me shrank from fear and I recoiled back, not knowing where to find salvation. Since then, this picture has been imprinted in my mind and has not let go until now, as one of the biggest shocks and impressions in my entire life.

For a long time already there are no steam locomotives. And by fate I myself was supposed to travel many thousands of kilometers along the iron tracks. Several times along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok. And our railways began from the very times that we see in Savitsky's picture. This is how they were built and how they were repaired in those days. Of all the mechanisms for work - roughly knocked together wheelbarrows, but shovels with hoes. And that's it.

But roads had to be built. Especially in a country like ours. With all its vast expanses. Wide is my native land. Without roads, without railways, Russia could not do without. It was necessary to build. But there were also opponents of the construction. Yes, and what. And how they put pressure on the king. Among them were not only hardened retrogrades, but also very enlightened faces. Here is what the democrat and London inmate Herzen said. He publicly stated that "the steel line is necessary only so that in Moscow they find out for a couple of days what other books the government has banned."

But the tsar was probably influenced by another phrase from one very competent report: “... there is no country in the world where railways would be more profitable and even necessary than in Russia, since they make it possible to shorten long distances by increasing speed movement ... "This coincided with the goals of the government: it was necessary to unite, populate and develop vast territories.

The civilization of the people and the country can be judged by several signs. The most important of these is roads. The more convenient and denser the road network, the higher the level of civilization. Then, as without internal ties, there is no development of the people, and there is no country either. Let's say Gaius Julius Caesar began the deep conquest of Gaul with the fact that he began to build roads in the country of the Druids with the characters Obelix and Osterix now known to all of us. True, he went to conquer new lands, and not to introduce signs of civilization into them. It was easier for Roman legionnaires in armor to move along the roads. But the Romans are gone. They were supplanted by the Germanic tribe of the Franks. But the roads remain. And then out of all this came France. And the roads are still amazing. I saw, I know.

But if there are roads, then over time I wanted to drive faster and faster on them. And more and more people. And these are also signs of a developed civilization. For some time now, the world has begun to develop in the sense of civilization faster and faster, and the rapprochement of countries and peoples has also accelerated. And this is not least thanks to the roads. And when such wonderful machines as steam locomotives appeared, then the possibilities appeared almost and unlimited.

*****
And so they built it. First, a small road from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo. And then the big one from St. Petersburg to Moscow. With two palaces - stations at the starting points of the railway line. They still stand to this day. Architect - Konstantin Ton. Let me remind you that this is the same architect who built the Grand Kremlin Palace and the first Cathedral of Christ the Savior standing not so far from it.

And now imagine what a startling impression the first steam locomotive had to make on not too educated, dark peasants when they saw it. I think it's the same as it was for me when I was young. Then, when they saw this black monster with red wheels with a smoky black pipe and thick black smoke, a trail carried by the wind in its movement, rushing along the rails with a roar. And they, apart from horse-drawn transport, have never seen anything in their lives.

This was told by a certain wanderer Feklusha known to all Kabanikhe. Well, first she told her about a country where people with dog heads live. And then she told about the harnessed fiery serpent. It is clear that it was a steam locomotive. And they believed her. She saw. She knows. That's what's going on in the world. How not to believe.

For a long time they did not even dare to sit on the first train, let alone go. An incomprehensible, huge colossus, unknown as moving at a terrible speed, furiously roaring and releasing clouds of smoke, was controlled by evil spirits: the devils set the wheels in motion, and their leader led the train. To check and reassure the population, the first to be put on the train were ... prisoners. And only then, making sure that the train travels exactly along the laid track and is able to stop on its own, the first “official” passengers boarded it, with the emperor at the head.

And here is what the enlightened poet Kukolnik wrote about the same thing. He was a very famous poet and wanted to surpass Pushkin himself in glory. The puppeteer was a close friend of M. Glinka and together they composed the very famous song "Following". Most often we listen to it in choral performance. Complex piece of music. Requires virtuoso performance. I especially like her in the performance of BDH. Type in YouTube and enjoy. And here are the words of the same song composed on the occasion of the construction of the railway. But first, one detail that may be confusing. For some reason, the puppeteer calls a steam locomotive a steamboat. Apparently, that's how it was in the first place.

A column of smoke - boils, the steamer smokes ...
Variegation, revelry, excitement,
Expectation, impatience...
Orthodox people are having fun!
And faster, faster than will
The train rushes into the open field.

No, a secret thought flies faster
And the heart, counting the moments, knocks.
Insidious thoughts flicker on the road,
And you whisper involuntarily: "Oh God, how long!"

Not the air, not the greens of the sufferer beckon, -
There, clear eyes burn so brightly,
So full of bliss are the minutes of goodbye,
So sweet with hope are the hours of parting.

*****
Beautiful, poignant and romantic. But now I'm listening and I can't help but remember how this romance was created, by whose labors it was created And all the serfs built the road. Contractors hired them both in nearby villages and in remote provinces. At the same time, contracts were not concluded with them, but with the landowners to whom they belonged.

The advance due at the conclusion of the contract was almost entirely received by the landowner as payment of dues and to cover arrears. In the first years, 50-60 thousand people worked at the construction site. According to the contracts, they went to work at dawn and returned after dark. During the day there was a two-hour break for lunch and rest. Depending on the season, the length of the working day was 12-16 hours. The contractors were interested in making the most of the hired people, so they set exorbitantly high production rates. In earthworks, for example, they reached a cubic sazhen per day, and with transportation over a considerable distance.
There was a norm and there was mutual responsibility. If a member of the artel did not complete the daily task, fell ill or did not go to work for other reasons, deductions were made from the earnings of the entire artel.

Workers lived in dugouts, huts, tents, less often in wooden barracks. Furnaces or pits were arranged in them, "so that the constantly maintained fire would drain the space." People settled in artels, sometimes several dozen people, slept on bunks covered with hay. Hard work, poor nutrition, lack of basic living conditions led to mass diseases, including typhoid and cholera. During the construction of the road, many thousands of people died from diseases. And someone tells us about the horrors of the Gulag.

*****
And here is what another poet writes about this, whom we know incomparably more than Kukolnik. This is his masterpiece.
In it, we are talking about fellow travelers in a train carriage flying "on cast-iron rails." They are talking. The father is a general, his teenage son Vanya and the poet himself. And what are they talking about? Let's listen. The boy is completely delighted with the railway. With all the admiration and curiosity characteristic of boys, he looks out the window. And he is breathtaking from the speed of the pictures of autumn flashing before him. It is his first time traveling by train. But his companion opposite, also looking thoughtfully at the changing landscapes, decided to enlighten the boy. In my opinion, it is cruel and even, in my opinion, not at the right time. Then you can. But not right now. There was no need to spoil the happiness that this extraordinary journey gave the boy. But let's remember:

"Good dad! Why in charm
Keep Vanya smart?
You let me in the moonlight
Show him the truth.

This work, Vanya, was terribly enormous, -
Not on the shoulder alone!
There is a king in the world: this king is merciless,
Hunger is his name.

He leads armies; at sea by ships
Rules; drives people to the artel,
Walks behind the plow, stands behind the shoulders
Stonecutters, weavers.
He drove the masses of the people here.
Many are in a terrible struggle,
Calling to life these barren wilds,
The coffin was found here.

Straight path: the mounds are narrow,
Poles, rails, bridges.
And on the sides, all the bones are Russian ...
How many of them! Vanya, do you know?
Chu! terrible exclamations were heard!
Stomp and gnashing of teeth;
A shadow ran over the frosty glass...
What's there? Crowd of the Dead!
They overtake the cast-iron road,
Then the sides run.

Do you hear the singing? .. "On this moonlit night
We love to see our work!

We tore ourselves under the heat, under the cold,
With an eternally bent back,
Lived in dugouts, fought hunger,
Were cold and wet, sick with scurvy.
We were robbed by literate foremen,
The bosses were crushed, the need was crushing ...
We have endured everything, God's warriors,
Peaceful children of labor!

Brothers! You are reaping our fruits!
We are destined to rot in the earth ...
Do you all remember us, the poor, with kindness
Or have you forgotten for a long time? ..“

Yes, I repeat, and it is not superfluous for us to recall what the poet Nekrasov told us about. And when we fly a high-speed Peregrine Falcon along the rails of the road, it would be fair to know that “on the sides, all the bones are Russian ... How many of them!” And I would, if not in every carriage, then at least after one, hang a reproduction of this painting by Savitsky. This is who paid for the comfort and ease of our journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow and back.

*****
And then I thought about this. Involuntarily. Even against my will. But also inevitable. Progress, development of civilization. What is this and how is it achieved? And he was achieved, we study world history, at a great cost, sweat and blood and many deaths. Examples? Yes, as much as you want. Egyptian pyramids, starting with the most famous Cheops, by whom were they built? Slaves. And how many of them there were who put their lives on the construction of this pyramid. 1.6 million blocks Yes, and who remembers them and knows them today. And the pyramids remained as great monuments and evidence of human genius. Built 4,500 years ago, they still surprise and amaze us with their grandeur. Here's how me for example. And I was there, and with a trembling hand touched the rough surface of the heavy block at the base of the pyramid, laid with all care by the hands of slaves.

And who created the first water pipe in Europe? Well, of course, everyone knows, thanks, if not strange, to the proletarian poet Mayakovsky. “My verse with labor will break through the vastness of years and appear weighty, rude, visible, as in our days the water pipe, worked by the slaves of Rome, has entered.” Yes, and not one plumbing, but eleven. And today these cyclopean structures stand and amaze our imagination. For example, one of these aqueducts, or an aqueduct, crosses the valley of the river Gar, almost 50 meters high and 275 meters long. And then, too, there was no other tool, except for slave hands, a shovel and a wheelbarrow.

*****
Working on large cruise ships, I have walked along the Moscow-Volga canal more than once. Very comfortable ships. I lectured to French audiences on Russian history. And he could not help but talk about the history of the canal, along the picturesque banks of which a cruise ship was sailing. And the story is not very funny.

The canal had to be built. History itself motivated us to implement this project. Even Peter the Great thought about it. And in the thirties, this channel became simply an urgent need. Moscow is a shallow river. Already in the Kremlin area, it could be crossed into a ford. That is, on foot. The growing, expanding capital required a lot of water. And how to be here, if without water there is neither here nor there. So they started building. And the working conditions were not much different from those that we see in Savitsky's picture. Although there was already equipment and more than 200 excavators. And the labor force itself, this is not a secret for a long time, they were all prisoners of Dmitlag, specially created for the great construction.

Only here one should not think that all these were inmates under the 58th article. That is, all saboteurs, spies, saboteurs and counter-revolutionaries. Although there were some. No, there were criminals of all stripes, thieves, swindlers, bandits and murderers. The canal was built over four years. Record time. And not only the canal itself, but also the entire infrastructure with dams and locks. Length 128 km. And their life and work did not differ much from the work and life of the serfs who built the railway. Moscow - Petersburg. And there were also not a few of those who laid down their lives in the name of this construction site of the century. And here were Russian bones.

At the same time, we must not forget what time it was. It was the serfs who often did not understand the importance of what they were doing. But those who built the canal understood this very well. The whole country was in a furious abyss of history. A breakthrough that required a huge effort, a huge effort, without which we simply could not survive. Therefore, the victims were not considered, as they are not considered the victims during the war. Because in the war the rate was then more than life. There is only one stake in war - victory. And the war for us did not start in 1941. Much earlier.

Over the years, the deeds of centuries have been done. Thanks to this, they gained the upper hand in the confrontation with the evil enemy, who intended to wipe us off the face of the Earth altogether, and who, to tell the truth, was followed by all of Europe.

*****
But we have not forgotten the victims of this construction site. At the entrance to Dmitrov from the south on the western bank of the canal in the year of the 60th anniversary of the construction, on the initiative of local historians and the administration of the city of Dmitrov, a 13-meter steel memorial cross was erected in memory of the prisoners who died during the construction of the canal. It is clearly visible to those who are now comfortably sailing on white river liners along the canal. And those who transport building materials, timber, grain, vegetables, oil and much more on barges. That is, providing life and development of a large city. The cross reminds of the "Russian bones" buried along the banks. But why the cross? Among the unfortunate were both Muslims and Jews, and many who did not believe at all.

And here one historical parallel arises. Literally shortly before the Moscow-Volga canal, another canal was built and much more famous in the world. Panama Canal. It was built by Europeans. Mostly by the French, who at that time had no idea what the Gulag was. This channel was much shorter than ours. Only 82 km. It connects the Panama Bay of the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea.

Do you know how many French bones and not only laid along the banks of this canal. Because the working and living conditions were just awful. Malaria and yellow fever mowed down the builders by the hundreds and thousands. It is said that the workers who crossed the ocean, who ventured to this unusual event, brought their own coffins with them, so that the "bones" were not simply thrown into roadside pits.

Yes, and that's not all. After all, at some point, the whole event turned out to be such a grandiose scam, a disgusting fraud associated with large-scale corruption. And this led to the ruin of hundreds of thousands of small investors - owners of shares. The scandal is huge. And the unfortunate were not robbed by "literate - foremen." There were literate and much more literate. And among the accused was, do not be surprised, the famous creator of the Eiffel Tower, Alexander Gustave Eiffel.

Panama will say today. What do we know about Panama? Well, yes, there is such a state. And there is also such a not very serious summer headdress that saves from the sun's rays. I remember in kindergarten we all wore this panama. Signed with the name of the owner. But in France, this word evokes completely different memories. "Panama" has become a household name for a major bribery scam. The word "Panama" has become synonymous with a scam, a fraud on a grand scale.

*****
How often a person's desires are far ahead of the possibilities for the realization of these desires. And not only desires, but pressing needs. Sometimes historical. For example, there was a need to build a railway. And there is no way to do without it. And they were already built in Europe and the USA. And what are we to do? But in order for this poem by the poet Nekrasov not to appear, it would probably be necessary to wait for the appearance of bulldozers, graders and cranes. Only further it would be according to the proverb “until the grass grows, the horse will die of hunger.” So they built it as best they could, using the labor of serfs, that is, the same slaves. And then there was no other labor force. Well, where there are serfs, there are literate foremen. As without them. Or the same literate swindlers-corrupters in distant Panama.

But we cannot wait. The march of civilization requires sacrifice. Here they are in Savitsky's painting. But let's not grieve too much, paying tribute to the sacrificial feat of these people. We just need to remember them with pain and gratitude in our hearts. And to put memorial crosses not only along the banks of the Moscow-Volga canal, as if in reproach to that difficult time.

And here I want to express an idea that will seem paradoxical, and not everyone will like it. In my opinion, this monument-cross is hypocritical. Moralists have already tensed up after reading this. How is that possible!? Why? Yes, obviously. Because I am convinced that this cross-monument was created not so much to commemorate the unfortunate with a mournful word, but to blame the time. All this era created by the Bolsheviks.

Okay, so be it. But let's go on the same cruise ship from Moscow to St. Petersburg. We sailed to the northern capital, and why don't we then remember all the victims of the Petrine era? Shouldn't we remember that the beautiful city was built, as they say, on bones? Russian bones, as Nekrasov put it.

In those days, still Peter the Great, the transformation of the army and the construction of the fleet played a stimulating role. It really opened up the market for manufactories and various construction projects. And the vast majority of the population then were peasants. Fortified peasants. At first, Peter I proceeded from the fact that the manufacture would use hired labor, as was the case in Western Europe, with which the tsar took an example. While there were few manufactories, there were enough “hunters” to go to work. But the contingent recruited from the lower strata of the city was soon exhausted. Prisoners of war and soldiers were sent to manufactories, and then they had to provide industry with serfs.

The turning point was the famous decree of 1721 on the permission "... for the reproduction of plants, it is not forbidden to buy villages to those plants", i.e. buy serfs to turn them into serf laborers. The state set for them the volume of production, production standards, wages. How it "established" - we learned this from Nekrasov's poem and Savitsky's painting. And it was a time when serfdom was already coming to an end. What happened in the time of Peter, who himself could arbitrarily cut off the heads of his opponents with a sword?

Production relations in the period of serf manufactory were basically capitalist, but were clothed in a feudal-serf form. The serf worker sold his labor not voluntarily, but forcibly, and could not change his master. The entrepreneur-capitalist was at the same time a landowner, he owned not only the enterprise, but land and workers. It was serfdom that served as an instrument that made it possible to adapt capitalist manufacture to the feudal system.

On Russian bones, the entire civilized breakthrough was made in the time of Peter the Great. And this breakthrough could not have been made in any other way. If you like, it was historically conditioned. Without him, Russia might not exist. Russia paid a heavy price. It is said that the population of the country decreased by a quarter after the reign of Peter. Yes, the price was high. But there was also a breakthrough. Let's remember Pushkin. Textbook.

Show off, city of Petrov, and stop
Unshakable as Russia,
May he make peace with you
And the defeated element;
Enmity and old captivity
Let Finnish waves forget
And vain malice will not be
Disturb the eternal sleep of Peter.
And here is another less well-known one:
It was that troubled time
When Russia is young
Straining strength in the struggles,
Husband with the genius of Peter.

That is, Pushkin's attitude to the historical role of Peter the Great in the creation of a new Russia is more than understandable. It is positive. There was a cult due to his tribal position, but there was also a personality. The same was said about Stalin, who made an even more impressive breakthrough. Although here the shoemaker's son had no pedigree. And so paradoxically, there are no monuments to him. But Peter cannot count them.

And in this regard, the famous monument - the creation of the Frenchman Falcone at the behest of the German Catherine II, I personally see it in a completely different symbolic form. Do not be surprised, but to me the huge rock on which this imperishable creation is erected seems to be a tombstone-stele, above all the “Russian bones”, from the height of which the monarch authoritatively points to the place of Russia in world history.

Who stood still
In the darkness with a copper head,
Togo, whose fateful will
The city was founded under the sea...
He is terrible in the surrounding darkness!
What a thought!
What power is hidden in it!
And what a fire in this horse!
Where are you galloping, proud horse,
And where will you lower your hooves?
O mighty lord of fate!
Are you not so above the abyss
At a height, an iron bridle
Raised Russia on its hind legs?

Obviously, sometimes, especially in fatal years, an iron bridle is needed to lift up a country for the sake of its own salvation. At this point, Pushkin essentially repeats the words of Ivan IV: "A state without a thunderstorm is like a horse without a bridle."

And if he strained, then, as a result, suffering, sweat and blood, and going through torment. Inevitably. And that means groans and complaints. And the desire to regret. And this is at best. And in the worst case, among the complainers there is a whole host of hypocritical soul-lovers. Making on their moaning about straining their name and fame. And should we not know them, especially in our day. For example, here is how Eugene from the same poem put it on this occasion. The unfortunate one, who was almost carried away by the turbulent historical stream. He angrily looks into the proud and imperious face of the idol. True, his complaint sounds more like a threat.

The blood boiled up. He became gloomy
Before the proud idol
And, clenching his teeth, clenching his fingers,
As if possessed by black power,
“Good, miraculous builder!
- he whispered, trembling angrily,
You already!...
Our recent history is full of such Evgenievs. They will enjoy the fruits of our efforts, like those same cruise ship travelers silently gliding along the waters of the Moscow-Volga canal, or passengers of the ultra-modern Sapsan high-speed train flying along the rails of the Petersburg-Moscow railway, and will think at the same time how everything would be the same, and comfort and speed, but without tension, without suffering and tears of our ancestors.

Nekrasov expressed himself much more wisely about this at the end of the poem.

Do not be shy for the dear homeland.
The Russian people carried enough
Carried out this railroad -
Will endure whatever the Lord sends!
Will endure everything - and wide, clear
He will pave the way for himself with his chest.
The only pity is to live in this beautiful time
You won't have to - neither me nor you.

P.S. A few words about the artist. Konstantin Appolonovich Savitsky was born in 1844. He was born in the same city as Chekhov and Emperor Alexander II died. He was born in Taganrog. Not to say that his name is very well known. But he was an academician, a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, a teacher, the first director of the Penza Art School.

The poet made the fate of the worker, the fate of the Russian people, the main theme of his work. His poems are imbued with deep sympathy for the simple peasant, the man of labor. Today we will get acquainted with another poem by Nekrasov "Railway", written in 1862.

This is a very serious and "adult" work dedicated to children. Why?

S.Ya. Marshak wrote about the poem by N.A. Nekrasov's "Railway": "... Not in order to scare or pity the reader, Nekrasov's "Railway" was written. These poems are harsh and sober. Dedicated to children, they call growing people to action, to activity. They talk about the future, when the people who “endured even this iron road” will endure everything - and “will pave a wide, clear chest road for themselves” ...

Let's turn to the poem.

Today's lesson is devoted to the analysis of the poem by Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (Fig. 1) "Railway".

Rice. 1. N.A. Nekrasov, Russian poet, writer and publicist ()

On November 1, 1851, the official opening of traffic on the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway (later it became known as the Nikolaevskaya railway) took place, it is about the construction of this road that N.A. Nekrasov "Railway". It took eight long years to build, starting in 1843.

Let's look at the epigraph:

Vanya (in a coachman's coat):

Dad! Who built this road?

Dad (in a coat with a red lining)

Count Pyotr Andreevich Kleinmichel, my dear!

(conversation in the car).

EPIGRAPH- a short saying (proverb, quote) that the author places before the work to help the reader understand the main idea.

As a rule, quotes or proverbs are used as an epigraph, here is an excerpt from a conversation between a father and son in a carriage, which is built like a scene from a play: there are designated characters, remarks are preceded by stage directions. According to the remarks, we can judge the participants in the conversation: Vanya is in an Armenian coachman's coat. Armenianak is folk clothes. But the boy is the son of a general, since dad is “in a coat with a red lining,” that is, in a general’s overcoat. Thus, the coachman's little Armenian is just a masquerade, a fake for the nationality. The builder of the railway is called Count Peter Andreevich Kleinmikhel, the construction manager known for his cruelty.

The epigraph plays the role of a reason for writing a poem. The poem itself is like an answer to the question of who should be called the true builder of the railway: is it really Kleinmichel? Checking the validity of this opinion becomes the main poetic task of the poem.

The truth is shown through the fabulous and fantastic image of the famine-king. Nekrasov calls hunger the king, since it is hunger that makes people do difficult, sometimes overwhelming work, “he leads armies; rules the ships at sea; in the artel she drives people, walks behind the plow, stands behind the shoulders of the masons, weavers. To get rid of hunger, people must earn money, grow bread, engage in crafts, and trade.

Sometimes hunger kills people, but it is hunger that makes people create something new in the struggle for life:

Many are in a terrible struggle,

Calling to life these barren wilds,

The coffin was found here.

In these lines, Nekrasov expresses the idea of ​​what hard work, what exertion of all forces is required for creation. People need to give their lives in order to breathe life into these "barren wilds".

The intonations of a Russian folk song are heard in the following stanza:

Straight path: the mounds are narrow,

Poles, rails, bridges.

And on the sides, all the bones are Russian ...

How many of them! Vanya, do you know?

The truth, told by moonlight, takes on a fantastic appearance. The impressionable boy and the lyrical hero are presented with terrible pictures and visions:

A shadow ran over the frosty glass...

What's there? Crowd of the Dead!

Ghosts surround the heroes with wild singing, scare the boy, what he hears from their lips are real, terrible pictures of the forced labor of ordinary people, who are now "destined to decay" in the earth.

We tore ourselves under the heat, under the cold,

With an eternally bent back,

Lived in dugouts, fought hunger,

Were cold and wet, sick with scurvy.

We were robbed by literate foremen,

The bosses were crushed, the need was crushing ...

It sounds like a rhetorical question:

Do all of us, the poor, remember kindly

Or has it been forgotten?...

RHETORICAL QUESTION- expressive means of language: a statement in the form of a question that does not require an answer.

Forgotten, of course! And Count Kleinmichel was declared the builder of the road. No one even remembers the true, real builders, “peaceful children of labor” (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Reproduction of a painting by K.A. Savitsky "Repair work on the railway" ()

The words “God's warriors”, “peaceful children of labor” mean: God is still on the side of those who work peacefully and honestly.

In the crowd of ghosts of men, the image of a Belarusian stands out:

Ulcers on skinny arms

The legs are swollen; tangle in hair;

I am pitting my chest, which is diligently on the spade

From day to day leaned all century ...

You look at him, Vasya, carefully:

It was difficult for a man to get his bread!

Didn't straighten his hunchbacked back

He is still: stupidly silent

And mechanically rusty shovel

Frozen ground hammering!

From the song, we learn about the difficult conditions in which the railroad builders worked, about the oppression and cruelty of the authorities, that many people died before others could ride the trains, that is, "reap the fruits."

This song of the dead evokes a feeling of longing and indignation at injustice: the suffering of people could be much less if the authorities treated the workers like brothers, with respect for their work.

Do not be horrified by their wild singing!

From Volkhov, from mother Volga, from Oka,

From different parts of the great state -

These are all your brothers - men!

In this stanza, it is important to assert that there are no special people, that contempt for the common people, which was brought up in noble families, is a class prejudice. All people on Earth are brothers: both generals' children and a child born in the family of a serf. Only the habit of working is noble, and living at the expense of others is a violation of higher justice.

This noble habit of work

We would not be bad to adopt with you ...

Bless the work of the people

And learn to respect the man.

The ideal of the lyrical hero is labor, "the noble habit of labor." The hero directly calls to work those who shamelessly enjoy the fruits of people's labor. The habit of work, people's patience, endurance - these are the qualities that allow Nekrasov to believe in a better future for the people.

Do not be shy for the dear homeland ...

The Russian people carried enough

Carried out this railroad -

Will endure whatever the Lord sends!

Will endure everything - and wide, clear

He will pave the way for himself with his chest.

The only pity is to live in this beautiful time

You won't have to, neither me nor you.

Nekrasov speaks of the future with hope and regret that he probably will not have to live in this wonderful time.

In the description of the visions of the moonlit night are the features of the ballad.

BALLAD- a poetic work on a historical or legendary theme, in which the real is combined with the fantastic.

The theme of the construction of the railway, which claimed lives, is a historical basis.

In the description of ghosts, real and fantastic features appear. As in fairy tales ghosts disappear at the first cock crow, so in Nekrasov's poem visions disappear at the whistle of a steam locomotive.

Vanya, an attentive and impressionable boy, seemed to see the pictures that his fellow traveler painted for him, but his rich imagination completed the terrible impressions:

At this moment the whistle is deafening

He squealed - the crowd of the dead disappeared!

"I saw, dad, I'm an amazing dream, -

Vanya said - five thousand men,

Russian tribes and breeds representatives

Suddenly they appeared - and he said to me:

“Here they are, the builders of our road!..

The general, in response to Vanya's story about an amazing dream, laughed: for him, everything that the lyrical hero says is nonsense, he argues with him about the role of the people in history. From the point of view of the general, the people are barbarians, a wild crowd of drunkards who "do not create, destroy the master."

The third part ends with the words of the general:

Would you show the child now

Light side...

The general is outraged by the terrible picture that the hero painted for the boy, and calls to show the "bright side" of life, which the lyrical hero shows in the fourth part.

The so-called "bright side" is a description of the end of the railroad:

Listen, my dear: fatal works

It's over - the German is already laying the rails.

The dead are buried in the ground; sick

Hidden in dugouts...

The phrase “the German is already laying the rails” means that the most difficult part of the work, which does not require high qualifications, has ended. It was usually performed by the Russians. The Germans (as they called all foreigners) performed highly skilled work.

Rice. 3. Illustration by I. Glazunov to the poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Railway" ()

... working people

Gathered in a close crowd at the office ...

They scratched their heads hard:

Each contractor must remain,

Truant days have become a penny!

Everything was entered by ten's men in a book -

Did he take a bath, was the patient lying:

“Maybe there is now a surplus here,

Yes, come on! .. ”They waved their hands ...

After the construction was completed, the workers owed the contractor (Fig. 3).

How could this happen?

It's all about the current system of fines at that time. For example, a person who did not go to work due to illness could be fined. The workers did not have their own money, so for some needs they had to borrow money from the contractor, all this was subsequently deducted from wages.

The construction of railways was mainly worked by peasants, who were almost all illiterate, they could not check the correctness of the tenants’ records and “waved their hand” realizing that they were being deceived, but nothing could be done about it.

The dots and intonation of phrases show that the workers do not trust those who lead them, they are desperate to find the truth.

The next scene is the appearance of a venerable meadowsweet, that is, a merchant, a merchant. The very description of this character is opposed to the working people.

Compare with the description of the Belarusian:

Lips bloodless, eyelids fallen,

Ulcers on skinny arms

Forever knee-deep in water

The legs are swollen; tangle in hair...

and description of the meadowsweet:

In a blue caftan - a venerable meadowsweet,

Fat, crotchety, red as copper...

The phrase deserves special attention:

Sweat is wiped off the merchant's face ...

Workers wipe sweat from hard work. What kind of sweat does the merchant wipe? Not hard to guess…

The next stanza, with its absurdity, evokes a feeling of horror:

I expose a barrel of wine to workers

And - I give arrears! ..

It seemed that this statement of the contractor should have caused indignation among the workers, but they shouted "Hurrah" and harnessed instead of horses to the merchant's wagon.

Unharnessed the people of the horses - and the merchant

With a cry of "Hurrah!" sped along the road...

Seems hard to cheer up the picture

Draw, General?

There is bitter irony in these lines, exactly the irony that, according to Aristotle, is "a statement containing a mockery of those who really think so."

IRONY(from other Greek εἰρωνεία - “pretense”) - a trope in which the true meaning is hidden or opposed to the explicit meaning. Irony creates the feeling that the subject matter is not what it seems.

The brightest picture in the work turned out to be the most ugly.

Despite its gloominess, the poem is dedicated to children, because it is they who have the opportunity to correct what is unfair in this world.

Bibliography

1. Lib.Ru/Classic: Nekrasov Nikolai Alekseevich: Collected works [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ( Source).
2. Internet library of Alexey Komarov. Nekrasov Nikolay Alekseevich [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().
3. Nikolay Alekseevich Nekrasov [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().

Homework

Learn by heart and prepare an expressive reading of the first part of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Railway".

Read the passage.

Glorious autumn! Healthy, vigorous

The air invigorates tired forces;

The ice is fragile on the icy river

As if melting sugar lies;

Near the forest, as in a soft bed,

You can sleep - peace and space!

The leaves have not faded yet,

Yellow and fresh lie like a carpet.

Glorious autumn! frosty nights,

Clear, quiet days...

There is no ugliness in nature! And kochi

And moss swamps, and stumps -

All is well under the moonlight

Everywhere I recognize my dear Russia ...

I quickly fly along cast-iron rails,

I think my mind...

Answer questions and complete assignments.

1. What is the first part of the poem.

   LANDSCAPE- compositional means: the image in the work of pictures of nature.

What is the mood of the story? What language is used to create this mood?

Vocabulary

• Find and write down the epithets:
• Find and write metaphors:
• Find and write personifications:
• Find and write comparisons:
• Find and write repeat:
• Find and write inversion:
• Find and write exclamations:

Poetic size

What is the size of the poem? What allows you to convey this poetic size?

Lyrical hero

How does the lyrical hero of the poem appear before the reader? (Write at least two characteristics).

Intonation

2. How does the mood change in the last stanza of the first part? How will the tone change?

   What does the expression "think to think" mean? Why does the author of the poem use this expression?

   What role does the first part play in understanding the main meaning of N.A. Nekrasov "Railway"

   illustration

   If you need a visual representation of the depicted N.A. Nekrasov pictures of nature, illustrate the first part of the poem (oral verbal drawing or ordinary drawing - to choose from).

Description of the painting by the artist K. Savitsky "Repair work on the railway". Independent work in grade 8 on the topic: Separation of secondary members of the proposal. Can be used to prepare for exams.

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Preview:

Painting by artist K. Savitsky "Repair work on the railway"

(Assignment: insert isolated members of the sentence, suitable in meaning, using words for reference.)

The painting depicts a hot summer day. Grass……….. High telegraph poles go into the distance………

Hard work is going on at the iron embankment. On the right…… diggers are lifting layers of earth with shovels……… loading them into wheelbarrows and transporting them along a wooden deck……..

Tanned faces and hands…………, shirts…………, - everything indicates that people work from dawn to dusk. Wheelbarrows………. They testify that misfortune happened to their owners.

Children, old people, young people…… with difficulty moving wheelbarrows………

The bent backs hurt, the muscles of the arms are tense, the sweat floods the face, but it is impossible to straighten up: away ....... , there is a red-bearded foreman …………

The images of peasants are vital and truthful. In the foreground is a mighty hero ……………..

…………., he is driving his car………… But the old man, his face………….. gloomy, concentrated. Beside…. A boy with a face………, eyes……….

Savitsky's painting and N. Nekrasov's poem "Railway", works of ……….

They evoke a feeling of indignation against the oppressors of the people.

Words for reference: definitions (huge, heavy; tanned, blackened from dust and sun; laden with earth; pale, emaciated; silent, deep in his thoughts; faded from heat and dust; faded, patched, not washed for a long time; holding a stick in his hand ; covered with hair; depicting the hard labor of the builders of the railway; tired, exhausted; turned upside down); circumstances (; exhausted from the heat; not looking at anyone; on the left; straining with all his might, trying to maintain balance; on a mountain; on a hillock;); applications (possessor of enormous physical strength)

Answer:

The painting depicts a hot summer day. Grass faded from heat and dust. High telegraph poles go into the distance, disappearing into a misty haze.

Hard work is going on at the iron embankment. To the right, on the mountain, the diggers are lifting huge, heavy layers of earth with shovels, loading them into wheelbarrows and driving them along a wooden deck, straining with all their might, trying to maintain balance.

Faces and hands are tanned, tanned, blackened from dust and sun, shirts, faded, patched, not washed for a long time - everything indicates that people work from dawn to dusk. Wheelbarrows turned upside down indicate that misfortune happened to their owners.

Children, old people, young people, exhausted from the heat, hardly move wheelbarrows loaded with earth. The bent backs hurt, the muscles of the arms tense, the sweat floods the face, but it is impossible to straighten up: far away, on a hillock, stands a red-bearded foreman, holding a stick in his hand.

The images of peasants are vital and truthful. In the foreground is a mighty hero, the owner of enormous physical strength, he, silent, deep in his thoughts, is driving his wheelbarrow, not looking at anyone. But the old man, his face, covered with hair, is sullen, concentrated. Nearby, on the left, a boy with a face, pale, emaciated, eyes, tired, exhausted

Savitsky's painting and N. Nekrasov's poem "Railway", works depicting the hard labor of the builders of the railway, evoke a feeling of indignation against the oppressors of the people.

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

“Pictures of forced labor in the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Railway”

“Pictures of forced labor in the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Railway” (Extracurricular reading lesson. Grade 6.) The purpose of the lesson: To acquaint students with the pages of the life and work of N.A. Nekrasov, Help students ...

The lesson summary is a binary lesson on literature and history in grade 7. The purpose of the lesson: to introduce students to the historical basis of the poem, to show the conditions of forced labor of workers. ...

The painting "Repair work on the railway" was painted in the same year as "Barge haulers" by I.E. Repin: both paintings are close in ideological direction. Consider carefully the picture of K.A.Savitsky in order to understand the artist’s intention.

A significant part of the picture is occupied by a huge depression in which a large group of workers is moving in different directions. They carry sand in wheelbarrows. Most of them move from below to the viewer, which allows you to see the ultimate stress of the workers. In the foreground, this is emphasized by a pile of broken wheelbarrows that could not withstand the weight of the load. In the center of the foreground of the picture - a heroically built worker in a strong jerk rolls his wheelbarrow forward. Figures are given to the right and left of him, showing that the strength of the diggers is running out: an elderly worker, harnessed to a strap, cannot pull out a wheelbarrow, although his comrade pushes it by the handles. Behind a pile of broken wheelbarrows, we see the same extreme tension in a young man, with some desperation carrying a wheelbarrow; nearby, a thin, emaciated worker hung helplessly in a strap. On both sides rise embankments of the railroad tracks, as if closing the exit for workers from this hell.
The scorching sun and brown-yellow sand everywhere where people work. It’s good only in the distance, in the center of the upper part of the picture: there you can see a copse, green grass and the sky turns blue. But the exit in that direction is blocked by a sharply outlined figure of a foreman with a stick in his hand.
Despite the fact that the foreman is given a small shot, his figure stands out: the pose is motionless and calm. He stands pointedly straight, staring indifferently at the bent backs of the workers. His clothes (red shirt, caftan, boots, pulled down cap) are neat, which contrasts with the clothes of workers, somehow dressed in tatters.
The color of the picture evokes the same impression in the viewer as the overall composition, and enhances the ideological orientation of the picture.
Undoubtedly, this picture brings to mind the famous poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Railway", written a whole decade earlier:

We tore ourselves under the heat, under the cold,
With an eternally bent back,
Lived in dugouts, fought hunger,
Were cold and wet, sick with scurvy.

We were robbed by literate foremen,
The bosses were crushed, the need was crushing ...

But what is the difference between the main idea of ​​the poem and the idea of ​​the picture? Unpoetic at first glance, pictures of nature ("kochi, and moss swamps, and stumps") become beautiful under the magical "moonlight", these are parts of the vast "dear Russia". There are many things in nature that seem ugly, but this is our Motherland. And it depends only on the person himself how he will see his homeland: through the eyes of a loving son or the critical gaze of a connoisseur of beauty. There are also many terrible and ugly things in the life of the people, but, according to Nekrasov, this should not obscure the main thing: the creative role of a simple worker. It is after the terrible scenes of forced labor that the narrator invites Vanya to take a closer look at the builders of the railway and learn to "respect the peasant."
The poet says that this work is not at all a pleasure, it is hard, disfigures a person, but such work is worthy of respect, since it is necessary. Awareness of the creative power of labor gives Nekrasov faith in the future.