The poem “Troika” by Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (1821-1878) was written in 1846 in the genre of “civil lyricism”, close to the poet. It was a difficult time for the author; in the same year, he and his friend, the writer Panaev, fought for the right to head the Sovremennik magazine, founded by A. S. Pushkin, where it was later published.
The main theme of the poem “Troika” is the difficult and joyless life of Russian women at that time. In Russia, serfdom was still fully widespread (abolished in 1961), which allowed owners to treat their peasants as slaves. Women, who were also burdened with housework, had a very difficult time.
According to the author, the poem is divided into two equal parts. The first depicts an imaginary reality that arose in the dreams of a girl who saw a troika on the road with a young cornet passing in it. Since the girl is young and beautiful, perhaps the young man will fall in love with her, marry her, and her life will pass happily and carefree: “Life will be both full and easy...”.
But the marriage of a master with a serf peasant woman was impossible at that time, and in the second part of the poem the poet lowers the heroine “from heaven to earth”: “But that’s not what befell you…”. In reality, the young beauty awaits a rude husband, a cruel mother-in-law, illnesses from excessive physical exertion and an early death.
The poem was written by N. A. Nekrasov in the second person, he seems to be addressing a young peasant woman, talking with her. Almost the entire work used cross rhymes, and only in the last stanza the author switched to adjacent rhymes, summing up and emphasizing the futility of the heroine’s dreams: “You won’t catch up with the crazy three...”.
In terms of rhythm and rhyme, the form of the work is a trimeter anapest - a smooth, song-like meter, which often attracts composers. Subsequently, music was written for it, and this is how the romance “Why are you greedily looking at the road” appeared, which is still known today.
Even as a child, N.A. Nekrasov more than once had to observe the life of the peasants, and the fate of his mother was not easy. “Troika” is far from the only work of the poet dedicated to the difficult lot of women in Tsarist Russia (“Village suffering is in full swing,” “Frost, Red Nose,” etc.), but one of the first and therefore the most vivid and memorable.
Analysis of the poem Troika Nekrasov briefly
Nikolai Nekrasov is a man who can be considered, by all rights, a singer of the female part. After all, it was he who in his works often described the very difficult lot of women. That is why critics gave him such a nickname. In his works there are often stories that describe a Russian woman who has always been, to some extent, both beautiful and smart, and even not a bad housewife, but simply an excellent one, but at the same time with a difficult fate.
The work entitled “Troika” was written by the poet in 1846. Serfdom had not yet been abolished, since there were still fifteen years left until 1861. This is important, since Russian women were in their families, and not only - as slaves, because they had to work simply like convicts. They had no rights, and did not even have the opportunity to be proud. That is why Nekrasov in this work describes the difficult lot of women.
The trio of rushing horses always aroused genuine interest among peasant girls. After all, it could be the same young gentleman who would take one of them with him. But Nekrasov predicts most of the girls’ fates will be sad, since there won’t be enough such princes for all of them. He also sadly calls out to them, asking - why are you running there? For what? After all, peasant girls will have a husband, some kind, who will beat them, saying that he loves them.
5th grade. 9th, 10th grade.
Analysis of the poem Troika according to plan
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The poem “Troika” was written by N. Nekrasov in 1846 and published in the Sovremennik magazine in 1847.
In the poet’s work, a large place is occupied by the description of the fate of peasant women who are in serfdom, similar to slavery. For any Russian peasant woman, her fate has long been predetermined from above, and no amount of beauty can change it. His poems about the fate of women in general and peasant women in particular resonate with piercing pain in the heart.
His lyrical poems dedicated to a Russian woman, sister, and mother emanate soulfulness. Throughout his life, the poet retained this reverent and warm feeling for the unfortunate woman, silently suffering, hiding her tears.
Creative history (choice of genre, poetic tradition, censorship). Reviews from critics.
The genre of the poem is elegy. It refers to civil lyrics, characteristic of all the works of N. Nekrasov. The poet is upset by the situation and the unrealistic hopes of the peasant girls. He admits that their dreams are the only bright ray in life, but they should not completely surrender to them, since subsequent life will seem even more terrible and merciless.
Main theme.
The theme of the poem is the plight of the Russian peasant woman. The female image in the poem “Troika” was a generalization of the “share” of a peasant woman.
Poetics of the name.
Three is a symbol of life rushing by, over which a person has no control. He is powerless to deceive fate and does not notice that death is already at the doorstep.
Lyrical plot and its movement.
The lyrical plot is based on a story about a girl whose life is already predetermined. This is a story in verse. The first two stanzas tell how a girl waits for a troika on the road and then runs after her. Three is a symbol of a happy life. And then the lyrical hero, watching her, describes the typical fate of a peasant woman: her slutty husband will beat her, her mother-in-law will force her to do menial and difficult work, the woman will lose her beauty and health. But this is not the worst thing: she will lose her girlish vivacity, lose interest in life, which will be like an eternal sleep, a mechanical repetition of events.
Composition of the work.
The poem is divided into two parts: the present (waiting for happiness) and the future (unhappy life) of the heroine. The poem has a ring composition: it is framed by the poetic image of a rushing troika with a young cornet. This is a symbolic image of a girl’s dream of happiness.
Main mood, tone.
Despite the fact that the first part is optimistic, the second part dispels the illusion. The lyrical hero, an outside observer, believes that the heroine’s hopes are useless, they will not bring happiness, but will only add to her suffering.
Leading leitmotifs of the work. Supporting words that convey them.
The leading leitmotif of this work is the motif of the path. The heroine's life path will not be easy. This is evidenced by the following lines: “you will go through your difficult path,” “don’t look at the road with longing,” “you won’t catch up with the mad troika,” “and to the other / The young cornet rushes like a whirlwind.”
The lyrical hero, his originality, ways of self-disclosure and transmission of experiences.
The lyrical hero is a subject who has an abstract and generalized view of the world. It seems that the lyrical hero is observing the situation that he talks about in the poem. He addresses the girl as “you,” thereby adjusting the tone of the work in a friendly manner. There is not a shadow of superiority or arrogance in the words of the lyrical hero. One can feel his closeness to the peasant environment. The lines are permeated with sincere interest in the fate of the peasant woman, the lyrical hero notes the extraordinary beauty of the girl. So gradually a surprisingly vivid image of a young peasant woman, whose fate is so tragic, is built before us. The lyrical hero breaks the illusions and hopes of the beauty, he is transported to the bleak future prepared for the peasant woman by fate.
Lyrical characters, their experiences and destinies.
In addition to the lyrical hero and the main character (a peasant girl), there are episodic characters: a “young cornet” who will not become the peasant woman’s betrothed, a husband and mother-in-law imagined by the lyrical hero, who will bring misfortune to the girl. But, in addition, the reader sees in this work the long-suffering image of peasant Russia. Her path in life is difficult, but she is distinguished by patience.
The music of the work, its rhythm. Size, rhyme, character of rhymes.
The poem is written in trimeter anapest, song meter. It alternates between feminine and masculine rhymes with constant cross rhyme, which only in the last stanza is confused with an adjacent one, which made it possible to set the words to music, and the poem became a romance.
Vocabulary. Visual and expressive means (tropes).
In the poem “Troika” Nekrasov uses various means of artistic expression. Describing the appearance of a village beauty, he uses such epithets as “dark cheek”, “sly little eye”, “black-browed savage”, as well as the comparison “hair black as night”. In the second part of the poem, the sad tone of the epithets predominates: “dumb patience”, “senseless fear”, “damp grave”, “dreary anxiety”. Metaphors: “menial work”, “mad three” give a pessimistic mood.
Syntax. Visual and expressive means (stylistic figures).
The poem begins with a problematic question, to which the lyrical hero gives an answer, reflecting on the fate of the girl. The main stylistic figure of this poem is inversion, which demonstrates the girl’s confusion and the lyrical hero’s anxiety about her fate.
Phonetic coloring of the verse. Sound writing techniques (alliteration, assonance)
The poem quite often repeats the sound [o] (assonance), which is associated with a groan: the fate of the peasant woman and peasant Russia is tragic. In the second part, which depicts the heroine’s unhappy future, alliteration is observed: hissing sounds are repeated, which give a rather ominous sound to the poems.
The idea of the work.
The idea of the work “Troika” is that slavery, which existed in Russia at that time in the form of serfdom, unfairly humiliates the ordinary Russian person, artificially reducing enslaved people to the position of dumb creatures who do not have the ability to control their destiny.
The sound of the work today.
On the one hand, the work is not entirely relevant in our time, since there is no serfdom and, accordingly, such social inequality as in those days does not exist. But, on the other hand, we can still observe elements of inequality. People who have money have much more opportunities than those who don't. The author discusses her fate as a woman and at the end of the work sadly asserts that there cannot be any other fate (to look after the household, clean the house, endure beatings from her husband). Some women in the modern world have a similar fate.
To download material or!In the 19th century, poets wrote about the beauty of Russian nature, praised the heroism of the military who defended their native land, and grumbled about the injustice and cruelty of the authorities, callousness, and indifference to the social life of the nobility. But also the niche dedicated to the life of ordinary peasants did not remain aside. canceled only in 1861, and even then only formally. The peasants lived as slaves; from birth their fate was predetermined; from childhood they were accustomed to hard work. It was especially difficult for women. Nekrasov’s poem “Troika” is dedicated to the difficult fate of women.
Nekrasov - singer of the female part
Nikolai Alekseevich dedicated many of his lyrical works to the fate of women. His poems, the main character of which is a Russian woman, mother, sister, exudes warmth and sympathy for their unfortunate lot. Nekrasov was especially sorry for the young peasant women, whose fate was predetermined from birth. The girls never had time to fully blossom before they withered and turned into old women. The life of a woman in Rus' was short, joyless, full of humiliation and torment. Every peasant woman dreamed of a fairy tale, but Nekrasov was a realist, he understood perfectly well that this was someone’s property and she was not entitled to happiness.
Folklore as the basis of a poem
An analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Troika” shows that the poet was one of the first to create a generalized image of a peasant woman. The work entered folklore and became a Russian song, which emphasizes its direct relationship to the nationality. The verse corresponds to folklore canons only in plot and compositional terms, where the author contrasts life as a girl and after marriage. Oral folk poetry includes the phraseological cliché “damp grave” and such ethnographic detail as “scarlet ribbon in the hair.”
In plot and compositional terms, folklore origins are emphasized with the help of images of “cheerful friends”, from whom the main character moves away, being in a dream world about a happy future. Then the poet writes into his work an evil mother-in-law, an unloved, rude husband. Troikas, coachmen, the road - this topic already seemed exhausted and stereotypical, but nevertheless Nekrasov chose it to show the renewal of the social theme, the opportunity to beautifully and clearly describe a reality that previously could not be poetized.
Interweaving folk lyrics and romance
An analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Troika” allows us to classify the work as a song-romance style, although romantic motifs here are intertwined with folk lyrics. The first part of the verse can be called a romance, in which there is a portrait description of the heroine, her meeting with the troika, as well as the heartfelt anxiety caused by a passing cornet. “Troika” is written in the form of a monologue, so all the romantic elements are put into the author’s mouth.
The second part of the work belongs to naturalistic poetics, and therefore contrasts sharply with the first storyline. First, the author shows the dreams of a young girl, her hopes for a happy future. But Nekrasov remains a realist in any situation, so he lowers the reader from heaven to earth, drawing the real prospects of a poor peasant woman. Nikolai Alekseevich does not set himself the goal of condemning people's life, he simply describes the reality that one has to put up with regardless of whether someone likes it or not.
Bright image of a beautiful peasant woman
In describing the image of the main character, the poet adhered to the late romantic orientation, choosing an ideal beauty of the oriental type, as indicated by the analysis of the verse “Troika”. Nekrasov depicted a girl with black eyebrows, long black hair with a scarlet ribbon woven into it, and a dark face. He agrees that it is difficult not to fall in love with such a beauty; she will find a response in the hearts of both the gray-bearded old man and the young master. But, unfortunately, the main thing is not beauty, but origin. The girl’s parents are serfs, which means she is someone’s property.
Bleak prospects for future life
An analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Troika” shows that the poet wanted to warn gullible girls not to dream of fairy-tale princes, but to immediately accept their fate. The author understands perfectly well that the main character will have to marry an unloved, sloppy husband who is not indifferent to drinking, who is not averse to teaching his wife sense with his fists. The girl will move to live in her husband’s house, where she will have to serve his entire family. Of particular concern is the angry and picky mother-in-law, who is ready to squeeze all the juice out of her daughter-in-law, bend her to death, and load all the housework onto her fragile shoulders.
An analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Troika” leads to the idea that, sad as it may be for him, the author advises the poor things to come to terms with their fate. Very soon the black-haired beauty will turn into a decrepit old woman, in whose eyes fear and dull patience will freeze. Women in Rus' do not live long, because chores around the house, working in the fields, and giving birth to children exhaust them and lead to incurable diseases. This is how peasant women, having not known love and happiness, end up in a damp grave.
Summing up
“Troika” by Nekrasov is a warning verse to all girls who, due to their youth and inexperience, dream of a happy life with their beloved man. The poet understands that the heroine is rushing after the troika in the hope of pleasing the cornet, who would take her with him. The author crushes all the hopes of the unfortunate woman, saying that the young master is in a hurry to see another. The nobles belong to another world, in which there is no hard work, hunger, cold, and they do not care about the peasants who want to live at least a little comfortable and quiet life.
What else did Nekrasov want to say with the poem “Troika”? The theme of the work pushes the reader to the idea that life is short, and a person does not have time to do everything he has planned, to somehow realize himself. The girl is in a hurry after the troika, but she has no chance of catching up with her, and there is no need to do this. Dreams of wealth are the only hobby of young people that makes them happy, albeit for a short time. Nekrasov advises to throw empty dreams out of your head, because they further darken the already difficult life of a peasant woman.
Nekrasov's poem Troika evokes sympathy in every reader. The author describes the life story of a peasant girl.
Nekrasov talks about one peasant woman. She dreams of happiness, forgetting that she is not free, but shackled by the bonds of serfdom. The author says that no amount of beauty can change anything.
The troika plays a very important role in this work.
The author compares a person's life to a troika. He emphasizes that our life flies as quickly and imperceptibly as a troika rushes by. Behind this, a person cannot realize what is happening around him, understand who he is, not to mention change something.
The theme of the poem is the plight of a peasant woman. Genre: civil poetry. The poetic meter is a three-foot anapest. The rhyme alternates. The rhyme is cross, and only at the very end it changes to adjacent.
Three is a symbol of the transience of life. A person is not able to change anything at this pace of life. Also, three means loss of opportunity.
This poem is very touching and very sad.
After all, living and dreaming of happiness, realizing that it will never come, is very difficult.
Updated: 2017-08-19
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Useful material on the topic
History of creation
The poem “Troika” was written by Nekrasov in 1848 and published in the Sovremennik magazine.
Literary direction, genre
The poem is dedicated to the fate of a Russian woman. Nekrasov, in the spirit of realism, describes the ordinary life of a peasant woman endowed with a sensitive heart. The genre of the poem “Troika” is civil poetry.
Theme, main idea and composition
The theme of the poem is the plight of the Russian peasant woman. The poem “Troika” has a ring composition. It begins and ends with the lyrical hero’s address to a peasant girl. In the first stanza it is a question: “Why are you looking greedily at the road?” In the penultimate and last stanza there is a warning from the lyrical hero, foreseeing the fate of the heroine: “Don’t look longingly at the road.” If we discard the last two stanzas of the conclusion, the poem is divided into two equal parts: the heroine’s happy and unhappy life. The second part, an unhappy life, is given as a more likely possibility: “But this is not what befell you...” The girl the hero is addressing does not notice that he is watching her. Her entire present and future life flashes before his mind’s eye, just as a troika flashes before the eyes of a girl. The first two stanzas describe how the girl waits on the road for the troika and then runs after her. Three is a symbol of a happy life. The next three stanzas are a portrait of a peasant girl. The sixth stanza is divided into two parts by ellipses. The first part is a happy prophecy: “Life will be both full and easy.” Probably, peasants also had such a life, but not often. After the ellipsis, Nekrasov describes the typical fate of a peasant woman. The next four stanzas tell about her life: her slutty husband will beat her, her mother-in-law will force her to do menial and difficult work, the woman will lose her beauty and health. But this is not the worst thing: she will lose her girlish vivacity, lose interest in life, which will be like an eternal sleep, a mechanical repetition of events: “You will nurse, work and eat.” Internal personality changes will be reflected in facial expression. In the useless life of the poor thing, no hopes will be fulfilled.
The last two stanzas are a call to come to terms with fate, because the peasant woman cannot be happy. This is the main idea of the poem.
Meter and rhyme
The poem was written in three-foot anapest, song meter, which made it possible to set the words to music, and the poem became a romance. The song contains only the first three stanzas of the poem and the last two, that is, a genre scene of a meeting between a beauty and a cornet who rushes to the other. The main idea of the work changes and narrows down to the proverb: “Don’t be born beautiful, but be born happy.”
The poem alternates between female and male rhymes with constant cross rhyme, which only in the last stanza-conclusion is confused with the adjacent one.
Paths and images
The entire poem is based on the contrast between an imaginary happy life and a more likely unhappy life. The paths depicting this life are also contrasting. The beauty and youth of the girl is described by epithets: scarlet ribbon, black hair, blush of a dark cheek, light fluff, semicircular eyebrow, sly eye. The ribbon curls in the hair (metaphor), the hair is black as night (comparison), the gaze is full of blood-igniting charms (metaphor), life is full and easy (metaphor). The beauty herself is called the black-browed savage. In the poem, verbs are very important, reflecting the impetuosity and liveliness of the girl: flared up, running, curling, breaking through, living, celebrating.
Completely different images in the second part of the poem. An unhappy life is described by epithets: menial and difficult work, uninterrupted sleep, an expression of dull patience, senseless, eternal fear, a damp grave, a difficult journey, dreary anxiety. Verbs match the epithets, some of them are metaphors: you will drag, beat, bend to death (phraseologism); you will fade before you have time to bloom (metaphor); you will fall asleep (metaphor); you will nurse, work and eat; will be buried; extinguished power (metaphor); an unwarmed chest (metaphor); don’t look, don’t rush, drown it out, don’t catch up.
The image of the troika is central in the poem. This is a symbol of life rushing by, over which a person has no control. He is powerless to deceive fate and does not notice that death is already at the threshold. Another three is a symbol of a missed opportunity.
Poem "Troika"
Why are you looking greedily at the road?
Away from cheerful friends?
You know, my heart sounded alarmed -
Your whole face suddenly flushed.
And why are you running hastily?
Following the rushing troika?..
At you, beautifully akimbo,
A passing cornet looked up.
It's no wonder to look at you,
Anyone wouldn't mind loving you:
The scarlet ribbon curls playfully
In your hair, black as night;
Through the blush of your dark cheek
Light fluff breaks through,
From under your semicircular eyebrow
The sly little eye looks smartly.
One glance of a black-browed savage,
Full of spells that set the blood on fire,
The old man will be ruined for gifts,
Love will rush into the young man's heart.
You will live and celebrate to your heart's content,
Life will be full and easy...
But that’s not what befell you:
You'll marry a man for a slob.
Having tied an apron under the arms,
You will tighten your ugly breasts,
Your picky husband will beat you
And my mother-in-law will die to death.
From work both menial and difficult
You will fade before you have time to bloom,
You will fall into a deep sleep,
You will babysit, work and eat.
And in your face, full of movement,
Full of life - will suddenly appear
An expression of dull patience
And senseless, eternal fear.
And they will bury you in a damp grave,
How will you go through your difficult path,
Uselessly extinguished strength
And an unwarmed chest.
Don't look longingly at the road
And don’t rush after the troika,
And sad anxiety in my heart
Hurry up and shut it down forever!
You won't be able to catch up with the crazy three:
The horses are strong and well-fed and lively, -
And the coachman was drunk, and to the other
A young cornet rushes like a whirlwind...
