Nikolay Nekrasov

Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov was a Russian poet, writer, critic, and publisher. His work, marked by deep sympathy for the Russian peasantry, earned him admiration among liberal and radical thinkers of the mid-nineteenth century, especially Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolay Chernyshevsky. He is recognized for bringing ternary meters and the dramatic monologue form into Russian poetry. As the editor of influential literary journals, most notably *Sovremennik*, he achieved considerable success and exerted significant influence.

Nekrasov was born in Nemyriv, in what is now Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. His father, Alexey Sergeyevich Nekrasov, was a Russian army officer from the landed gentry. The identity of his mother is uncertain. Some sources, including an encyclopedia and Nekrasov’s own notes, name her as Alexandra Zakrzewska, a Polish noblewoman. Church records give a different name, Yelena Andreyevna, and later scholars, such as Korney Chukovsky, argued she was the daughter of a Ukrainian official. Another writer, Pyotr Yakubovich, suggested records might have been altered to hide that she was taken from Poland without consent. Literary historian D. S. Mirsky believed Nekrasov invented an idealized image of his mother after her death.

In 1823, Nekrasov’s father retired from the army and moved the family to his estate in Greshnevo, near the Volga River. There, Nikolai grew up with five siblings. His father’s frustration with retirement and his job as a provincial inspector led to drunken rages against peasants and his wife. These experiences traumatized the young Nekrasov and later shaped his major poems about the suffering of peasants and women. His mother, who loved literature, passed this passion to him, and her support helped him endure a childhood marked by social injustice, a parallel noted by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Nekrasov entered the Yaroslavl Gymnasium in 1832 but left early. Possible reasons include conflicts with tutors, his father’s wish for him to join a military academy, or his father’s refusal to pay for schooling. In 1837, his father took him and his brother home, citing health issues. Despite the poor education, Nekrasov developed an interest in poetry, admiring Byron and Pushkin. He then went to Saint Petersburg, against his father’s wishes, who cut off financial support. Nekrasov endured three years of hardship, including a stay in a homeless shelter, before supporting himself through tutoring, writing for a literary supplement, and producing children’s books and vaudevilles under a pseudonym. His first published poem, “Thought,” appeared in 1838. He briefly studied at Saint Petersburg University, attending irregularly. Later critics accused him of being overly mercantile, but others noted his long period of near-starvation and praised his stubborn refusal to reconcile with his father.