The article presents the analysis of the ballad by D.N. Sadovnikov "Iz-za ostrova na strezhen (Stenka Razin Song) ..." (1883). The aim of the study is to identify the features of the interpretation of the famous plot about Stenka Razin, which characterize the ballad, and to establish the reasons for the demand for this work at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The study uses comparative and systematic methods, methods of plotmotive, contextual, and transtextual analysis. The author proves that the storyline of Sadovnikov‘s ballad was based on the story by J. Struys about the capture and murder of the "Persian princess", set out in the monograph by N.I. Kostomarov "Riot of Stenka Razin" (1858). The image of the "merry and intoxicated" ataman Stenka Razin, who drowned his beloved prisoner in the Volga in order to strengthen his influence on the "Cossack fraternity", turned out to be consonant with the ideals of the "criminal underworld" that had penetrated the general Russian culture in the late XIX - early XX centuries and underpinned by the "spirit of revolutionism". As a result, the ballad of Sadovnikov, set to music, started being perceived as a folk song, and was later adapted for pop, theater, and cinema, became the basis of V. Kamensky‘s poem "Folk Heart - Stenka Razin". A.S. Pushkin in the lyric cycle "Songs about Stenka Razin" (1826) interprets the same plot differently: the poet developed the philosophical motive of the sacrifice made by the protagonist after a long reflection. However, the work of Pushkin did not enjoy such a massive reader response. The author concludes that the mass popularity of the ballad by D.N. Sadovnikov was due to its correspondence to the "banditesque" public sentiments of the beginning of the 20th century, while the lyrical cycle of A.S. Pushkin, due to his proximity to genuine folklore poetics and philosophical depth, turned out to be too complicated for the readers.
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