Poet Nikolay Nekrasov, Timed to the 200th Anniversary of his Birth (10.12.1821)

Obverse

the mirror field of the disc bears a relief image of the National Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation, over it along the rim there is the semicircular inscription ‘РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ’ (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) framed on both sides by doubled rhombuses, below under the coat of arms there are indications of the precious metal and its fineness on the left and the fine metal content and the mint trade mark on the right, at the bottom in the centre, in three lines, there is an inscription ‘БАНК РОССИИ’ (BANK OF RUSSIA), the denomination of the coin ‘2 РУБЛЯ’ (2 RUBLES), and the year of issue ‘2021 г.’ (2021).

Reverse

the mirror field of the disc features a relief image of Nikolay Nekrasov sitting on a bench, with a dog nearby, against the background of a landscape laser-treated for matte finishing; the inscription ‘Н.А. НЕКРАСОВ’ (NIKOLAY NEKRASOV) on the right along the upper rim; and the years of the poet’s birth and death ‘1821’ and ‘1878’ in two lines on the right.

Authors

Designers: E.V. Kramskaya (obverse), F.S. Andronov (reverse).
Sculptors: A.A. Dolgopolova (obverse, reverse), F.S. Andronov (reverse).
Mint: Saint Petersburg Mint (СПМД).
Edge: 195 corrugations.

Discover more

Nikolay Nekrasov (1821–1878) is a Russian poet, writer and publisher whose works have become classics of Russian literature. Today’s readers know him as the poet who paid the greatest attention to peasant life – he was the first to raise the issue of serfdom and explore the inner world of Russian peasants.

In 1840, Nekrasov published his first collection of poems Dreams and Sounds, but neither readers nor critics found it a success. Deeply upset by this failure in poetry, Nekrasov decided to try his hand at prose. His first stories and short novels were written in a realistic style: the plots were based on events and developments the author himself observed or took part in. Later, Nekrasov also created a series of satirical works.

Beginning from the middle of the 1840s, Nekrasov was deeply involved in publishing. He was engaged in the publication of the Petersburg Collection anthology which first presented Dostoyevsky’s novel Poor People. At the end of 1846, Nekrasov became the editor of The Contemporary magazine that discovered such talents as Ivan Goncharov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Nekrasov was also one of the permanent authors of the magazine, regularly issuing his poems, prose, literary criticism, and journalistic articles. In 1866, after The Contemporary was closed, Nekrasov started contributing for the Notes of the Fatherland magazine. Simultaneously, the poet was creating one of his major works – the epic poem about peasants Who Lives Well in Russia.

The author’s idea was to demonstrate Russian peasants’ life from various perspectives. In this poem, Nekrasov deliberately used not a high-flown, but common language which is close to folk songs and tales abundant in colloquialisms and proverbs. It took him almost 14 years to complete this poem, but even this period was not sufficient for Nekrasov to fully realise his idea – he fell ill with a serious disease.

After Nekrasov died, thousands of people came to pay tribute to his memory. This was the first time when so many people rendered homage to a Russian writer.

Source: https://www.culture.ru