What is epics?
epics- these are ancient Russian epic songs-tales, singing the exploits of the heroes reflecting the historical events of the 11th - 16th centuries.
Russian epics are one of the most original phenomena in world folklore both in terms of content and form. The spirit of the independent, powerful, hardworking, stern and good-natured Russian people was reflected in them with amazing force, and their main signs were innate patriotism and inexhaustible cheerfulness. Epics reflected many historical events, primarily related to the struggle of the ancient Russian state against the nomads. At the same time, the storytellers did not seek to convey the chronicle sequence of historical events, but with the help of fiction they tried to convey to the audience the most important moments dedicated to the glorious history of Kievan Rus. It was the epics that brought us the names of real-life people: Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, Vladimir Monomakh, Dobrynya, Alyosha Popovich, Ilya Muromets, Sadko, the Polovtsian and Tatar khans Tugorkan and Batu.
Science knows about a hundred plots of epics, which remained scattered, but according to the place of action (Kyiv, Veliky Novgorod) and the heroes (Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, Vasily Buslaev), one can speak of peculiar epic cycles.
The poetic language of epics is subordinated to the task of depicting something significant, even grandiose. Epics were performed without musical accompaniment, in recitative, although in ancient times they were probably performed to the accompaniment of the harp.
In Russia for a long time there was a tradition of handwritten collections of epics. In the middle of the 18th century, in the Urals or in Western Siberia, a collection of Kirsha Danilov, which later gained worldwide fame, was formed, which was first published in Moscow in 1804 under the title Ancient Russian Poems, and subsequently reprinted many times. To date, there are dozens of scientific publications of the Russian epic, created on the basis of collecting activities and painstaking research work by prominent Russian folklorists.
It is no coincidence that the plots and images of epics are displayed in Russian classical literature (Ruslan and Lyudmila A.S. Pushkina, Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsman and daring merchant Kalashnikov M.Yu. Lermontov, Who in Russia should live well N.A. Nekrasov, Someone else's grief, Serpent Tugarin, A. K. Tolstoy's stream-bogatyr, Magus, Alexander Nevsky, Song about the boyar Evpaty Kolovrat L. A. Mey, folk stories of L. N. Tolstoy), and also were a source of inspiration for a number of artists, composers , filmmakers.
Epics about heroes and daring fellows of the good old days, antiquity or “old times”, as the storytellers themselves call them, are still sung to this day in the remote corners of Russia. There they are performed, losing little by little their strict epic character, breaking up into smaller plots. Previously, when the folk environment that kept the epics lived an isolated life, it was easy to keep old songs, it was not difficult to memorize them and say them in a special singing manner.
While the life of a peasant was closed in a leisurely circle of improvised peasant work - fishing, hunting and arable land, epics really kept, like historical songs, the most distant echoes of hoary antiquity. For younger generations, they have become a real educational historical material.
The history of the appearance of the epic
Once the "oldies" were an ordinary phenomenon in any northern village. There used to be many good storytellers; collectors zealously wrote down epic texts from them.
Each nation is anxious about its homeland, studying its past. We need historical lessons, without knowing the traditions of the past it is difficult to build the future. The Russian people have created many outstanding works, their "cultural" pantry is full of zest. One of them is epics - a unique type of ancient folk epic songs.
Scientists have always been concerned about the question: when, at what time and in what territories did epics develop? Epics appeared in the ancient period of our history. It seems impossible to say which of them became the first in the galaxy of our epics. But one thing is true: epics are not an artificial epic, they are a lively and sensitive response to everything that happens in the state, political, everyday life of the Russian people, their liberation struggle.
Epics, these amazing songs-tales about the exploits of heroes, about the life of Ancient Russia, owe their birth to the 9th-13th centuries. The proof that the epics were formed precisely during this period are the documents of antiquity, the initial chronicle. They formed, most likely, in Kievan Rus. This can be gleaned from their content: the events are timed to Kyiv and are associated with the name of Vladimir.
The study of epics
People of science have always studied epics from a wide variety of points of view - artistic, historical, cultural and everyday. At first, some experts saw in the epics evidence of a bright spiritual power, which served as a prototype of the Russian national type. However, further research showed that epics and heroic characters are far from being phenomena characteristic only of Russian or even Slavic national genius. The peoples of the West and the East, the northerners and the highlanders had plots that were in many respects similar to the plots of our epics. A historical and comparative study of parallels in plots and images began. And this study deprived the epic of the halo of national exclusivity. It introduced them into the conditions of epic songwriting common with other peoples, in which the role of individual processing for each people was reduced to adapting the plot to its musical and poetic needs and tastes, in accordance with the spirit of the language and the artistic level of the environment.
Our epics in their original form give us the concept of heroic ethics, they reflect the complex and diverse world of Russian life, taken at various moments - either the retinue-princely way of life, or everyday life, or festive.
Storage of epics
The city, where they knew how to appreciate the memory of the cradle of Russian cities and about the combatants, who stood for the Russian land, where they loved to gather and listen to the feasts of overseas singers, visiting buffoons and their home-grown "merry people", gudtsov and guselniks, was the glorious ancient city of Veliky Novgorod .
The study of epics in terms of plot, ways of artistic processing and language led to the conclusion that epics did not take shape in the places where they were later recorded and stored. The epics were well preserved by the harsh nature of the North, with endless lakes, forests, stony arable land, as if protecting the secrecy of patriarchal life from an unkind look.
Narrators of epics
For a long time there are no storytellers of epics by profession. Who are the "storytellers"? Epics are sung by a special kind of singers, who are called "narrators", the name comes from the fact that the singing of epics is something between singing and storytelling.
Epics say who is better, who is worse, and old and young in distant rural settlements. Those present listen to the singing with deep attention, experiencing both the content and the mood of the song. Only occasionally will they say a remark expressing surprise or sympathy for what is being sung in the song. Like an ancient Greek choir, the listeners respond at the moments of the greatest drama of the story, as if with the intentional purpose of supporting the singer with an expression of sympathy for the mood that finds its most inspired, most sensitive form in the song. The song has become a household chore, not elevating the singer to the degree of a professional artist.
The report on epics will briefly tell you a lot of useful information about the epic songs of the Russian people about courageous heroes. Also, based on our article, you can prepare a message about epics grade 7 in literature.
Message about epic
What are epics?
Epics are epic, Russian folk songs that tell about the heroic deeds of courageous heroes. Often they describe heroic events and exploits in which the people took part. The word "epic" means "old", that is, what happened far in the past. Bylina as a literary genre is not subject to reliable accuracy. The events described in them are often exaggerated to emphasize the exceptional courage of the heroic heroes.
They play a very important role in the literary national process, as they represent the Russian epic and pass on to all generations knowledge about traditions, beliefs and the life of their ancestors.
When were epics created?
It is known that epics are based on events that took place in the 10th-12th centuries. Therefore, they began to take shape in writing in the XIV century. Moreover, each generation added something different to the plot. Until that time, epics existed in oral form and were passed down from generation to generation.
Epic classification
There is no consensus on the classification of epics in modern literary criticism. Traditionally, they are divided into 2 groups: the Kyiv and Novgorod cycles. The epics of the Kyiv cycle describe the events taking place during the reign of Grand Duke Vladimir. We all know the heroes of these works: Mikhailo Potyk, Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, Churilo Plenkovich. Bogatyrs are divided into senior and junior. Senior heroes (Volga, Mikula Selyanovich and Svyatogor) play the role of wise mentors of young heroes. They represent courage, strength and courage. Scientists have conducted research and proved that the heroes are real people who lived many centuries ago.
When was the first collection of epics released?
For the first time, a collection of Russian epics was released in Moscow in 1804. The publication enjoyed great popularity in society. After the end of World War II, this Russian epic became an integral part of the heritage of the literary genre. Today there are 80 Russian epics, which, unfortunately, have disappeared from the life of modern man. They exist only in the form of literary works.
Epics interesting facts
- Epics were written in tonic verse with two or four accents.
- The term "epics" was introduced by Ivan Sakharov in his collection "Songs of the Russian people" in 1839. He proposed it based on such an expression in the "Word of Igor's Campaign" as "according to epics", which meant "according to the facts."
- The word "hero" of Turkic origin, where it exists in different forms: bakhadir, bagatur, bagadur, bator, batur, batyr, baatar. It means "valiant warrior", "hero".
- It is authentically known that Ilya Muromets, in his old age, decided to finish the last days of his life as a monk. He was tonsured at the Feodosievsky Monastery (modern Kiev-Pechersk Lavra). Here he was buried and then canonized. After examining the relics, scientists found that the growth of the hero was 180 cm, and his spine was deformed.
- In Russian folklore, there are about 30 heroes.
We hope that the message about epics in literature helped you. And you can add a short story about epics through the comment form below.
Epics (antiquity) - Russian heroic-patriotic songs-tales, telling about the exploits of heroes and reflecting the life of Ancient Russia in the 9th-13th centuries [ ] ; a kind of oral folk art, which is characterized by a song-epic way of reflecting reality. The main plot of the epic is some heroic event, or a remarkable episode in the history of Kievan Rus (hence the popular name of the epic - “old man”, “old woman”, implying that the action in question took place in the past).
Epics, as a rule, are written in tonic verse with two to four stresses.
For the first time the term "epic" was introduced by Ivan Sakharov in the collection "Songs of the Russian people" in 1839. Ivan Sakharov proposed it based on the expression " according to epics" in " The Word about Igor's regiment", which meant " according to the facts».
Encyclopedic YouTube
1 / 5
Russian Epic Songs from Origins to Today - 1.avi
Russian folk song-epic "Ilya Muromets"
WHEN WE WERE AT WAR (COSSACK)
Bylina about Ilya Muromets
Subtitles
historicism
In the center of many Russian epics stands the figure of the Kyiv prince Vladimir, who is sometimes identified with Vladimir Svyatoslavich. Ilya Muromets is mentioned in the 13th century in the Norwegian “Tidrek Saga” and the German poem “Ortnit”, and in 1594 the German traveler Erich Lassota saw his tomb in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. Alyosha Popovich served with the Rostov princes, then moved to Kyiv and died in the battle on the river Kalka. The Novgorod chronicle tells how Stavr Godinovich incurred the wrath of Vladimir Monomakh, and he was drowned because he had robbed two citizens of Novgorod; in another version of the same chronicle, it is said that he was exiled. Dunay Ivanovich is often mentioned in the annals of the 13th century as one of the servants of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich, and Sukhman Dolmantievich (Odikhmantievich) was identified with the Pskov prince Domant (Dovmont). In the versions of the epic "Bogatyr Word" ("The Legend of the Walking of the Kyiv Bogatyrs to Constantinople"), published in 1860 by F. I. Buslaev and in 1881 by E. V. Barsov, the action of the epic takes place not in Kyiv, but in Constantinople, with the reign of Tsar Constantine, who incited the Tatars Idol Skoropeevich and Tugarin Zmeevich to attack Vladimir Vseslavievich in Kyiv.
Origin of epics
There are several theories to explain the origin and composition of epics:
- The mythological theory sees in epics stories about natural phenomena, and in heroes - the personification of these phenomena and their identification with the gods of the ancient Slavs (Orest Miller, Afanasiev).
- The historical theory explains epics as a trace of historical events, sometimes confused in people's memory (Leonid Maikov, Kvashnin-Samarin).
- The theory of borrowing points to the literary origin of epics (Teodor Benfei, Vladimir Stasov, Veselovsky, Ignaty Yagich), and some tend to see borrowing through the influence of the East (Stasov, Vsevolod Miller), others - the West (Veselovsky, Sozonovich).
As a result, one-sided theories gave way to a mixed one, allowing for the presence in the epics of elements of folk life, history, literature, Eastern and Western borrowings. Initially, it was assumed that the epics, which are grouped according to the place of action into cycles - Kyiv and Novgorod, mainly - are of South Russian origin and only later transferred to the north; later, the opinion was expressed that epics were a local phenomenon (Khalansky). Over the centuries, epics underwent various changes, and were constantly subjected to book influence and borrowed a lot from medieval Russian literature, as well as oral stories of the West and East. Adherents of the mythological theory divided the heroes of the Russian epic into older and younger, until Khalansky proposed a division into epochs: pre-Tatar, Tatar times and post-Tatar.
Reading epics
Epics are written in tonic verse, which may have a different number of syllables, but approximately the same number of stresses. Some stressed syllables are pronounced with the stress removed. At the same time, it is not necessary that in all verses of one epic an equal number of stresses be preserved: in one group there may be four, in another - three, in the third - two. In an epic verse, the first stress, as a rule, falls on the third syllable from the beginning, and the last stress on the third syllable from the end.
How Ilya galloped and from the good horse,
He fell down to his mother damp earth:
How mother earth is knocking
Yes, under the same eastern side.
Epics are one of the most remarkable phenomena of Russian folk literature - in terms of epic calmness, richness of details, liveliness of color, distinctness of the characters of the depicted persons, a variety of mythical, historical and everyday elements, they are not inferior to the German heroic epic and epic folk works of other peoples.
Epics are epic songs about Russian heroes: it is here that we find a reproduction of their common, typical properties and the history of their lives, their exploits and aspirations, feelings and thoughts. Each of these songs speaks mainly about one episode in the life of one hero. Thus, a number of songs of a fragmentary nature are obtained, grouped around the main representatives of Russian heroes. The number of songs also increases due to the fact that there are several versions, more or less different, of the same epic. All epics, except for the unity of the described subject, are also characterized by the unity of presentation: they are imbued with elements of the miraculous, a sense of freedom and (according to Orest Miller) the spirit of the community. Miller has no doubt that the independent spirit of the epic Russian epic is a reflection of the old veche freedom preserved by free Cossacks and free Olonets peasants who were not under the rule of serfdom. According to the same scientist, the spirit of the community, embodied in epics, is an internal link that connects the Russian epic and the history of the Russian people.
Stylistics
In addition to the internal, the external unity of epics is also noticed, in verse, syllable and language: the verse of the epic consists either of choreas with a dactylic ending, or of mixed sizes - combinations of trochaic with dactyl, or, finally, of anapaests. There are no rhymes at all and everything is based on the consonances and musicality of the verse. The fact that the epics are composed of verses differs from the "visits", in which the verse has long been decomposed into a prose story. The syllable in epics is distinguished by the richness of poetic turns: it is replete with epithets, parallelisms, comparisons, examples and other poetic figures, without losing at the same time its clarity and naturalness of presentation. Epics retain a fairly large number of archaisms, especially in typical parts. Hilferding divided each epic into two parts: one - changing according to the will " storyteller»; the other is typical, which the narrator must always convey as accurately as possible, without changing a single word. The typical part contains everything essential that is said about the hero; the rest is presented only as a background for the main drawing.
Formulas
Epics are composed on the basis of formulas, built either with the use of a stable epithet, or as narrative clichés of several lines. The latter are used in almost every situation. Examples of some formulas:
He quickly jumped as if on frisky legs,
Kunya threw a fur coat over one shoulder,
A sable cap on one ear.He shot geese, swans,
Shot small migratory ducks.He began to trample on the horse,
He began to trample on a horse, prick with a spear,
He began to beat that great powerhouse.
And he beats the force - as if mowing the grass.Oh, you, wolf's satiety, grass bag!
You don't want to go or you can't carry?He comes to a wide yard,
Puts the horse in the middle of the yard
Yes, he goes to the white-stone chambers.Another day after day after all, like the rain will rain,
And week after week, as the grass grows,
And year after year, like a river runs.Everyone around the table fell silent.
The lesser is buried for the greater.
The greater is buried for the lesser,
And from the smaller the answer lives.
Number of epics
To give an idea of the number of epics, we note their statistics given in Galakhov's History of Russian Literature. Some epics of the Kyiv cycle were collected: in the Moscow province - 3, in Nizhny Novgorod - 6, in Saratov - 10, in Simbirsk - 22, in Siberia - 29, in Arkhangelsk - 34, in Olonets - up to 300. All together about 400, not counting epics of the Novgorod cycle and later ones (Moscow and others). All known epics are usually divided according to their place of origin: into Kyiv, Novgorod and all-Russian (later).
Chronologically, in the first place, according to Orest Miller, are epics telling about the heroes of the matchmakers. Then come those that are called Kyiv and Novgorod: apparently, they arose before the XIV century. Then come quite historical epics, relating to the Muscovite period of the Russian state. And, finally, epics related to the events of later times.
The last two categories of epics are not of particular interest and do not require extensive explanations. Therefore, they have so far been little dealt with. But the epics of the so-called Novgorod and, in particular, the Kyiv cycle are of great importance. Although one cannot look at these epics as stories about events that really took place at one time in the form in which they are presented in songs: this is contrary to the miraculous element. If the epics do not represent a reliable history of people who really once lived on Russian soil, then their content must certainly be explained differently.
The study of epics
The scholarly researchers of the folk epos resorted to two methods: historical and comparative. Strictly speaking, both of these methods in most studies are reduced to one comparative method, and it is hardly correct to refer here to the historical method. In fact, the historical method consists in the fact that for a known, for example, linguistic, phenomenon, through archival searches or the theoretical selection of later elements, we look for an increasingly ancient form and thus arrive at the original, simplest form. The “historical” method was not applied to the study of epics in the same way. Here it was impossible to compare new editions with older ones, since we do not have these latter at all; on the other hand, literary criticism noted in the most general terms only the nature of the changes that epics underwent over time, without touching on very individual particulars. The so-called historical method in the study of epics, in fact, consisted in comparing the plots of epics with chronicles; and since the comparative method was the one in which the plots of epics were compared with the plots of other folk (mostly mythical) or foreign works, it turns out that the difference here is not at all in the method itself, but simply in the material of comparisons. So, in essence, it is only on the comparative method that the four main theories of the origin of epics are substantiated: historical and everyday, mythological, the theory of borrowings, and, finally, the mixed theory, which now enjoys the greatest credit.
Epic stories
Before proceeding to a general outline of the theories themselves, a few words should be said about the meaning of epic stories. Any literary work can be decomposed into several main moments of the described action; The combination of these moments makes up the plot of this work. Thus, the plots are more or less complex. Several literary works can be based on the same plot, which even, due to the variety of secondary changing features, for example, motives of action, background, accompanying circumstances, etc., may seem completely dissimilar at first glance. One might even go further and say that every subject, without exception, always forms the basis of a greater or lesser number of literary works, and that very often there are fashionable subjects that are worked out at almost the same time in all parts of the globe. If now in two or more literary works we find a common plot, then three explanations are allowed here: either in these several localities the plots developed independently, independently of each other and thus constitute a reflection of real life or natural phenomena; either these plots were inherited by both peoples from common ancestors; or, finally, one people borrowed the plot from another. Already a priori it can be said that cases of independent coincidence of plots should be very rare, and the more complex the plot, the more independent it should be. This is mainly based on the historical-everyday theory, which completely loses sight of the similarity of the plots of Russian epics with the works of other peoples or considers it to be an accidental phenomenon. According to this theory, the heroes are representatives of different classes of the Russian people, while epics are poetic and symbolic stories of historical incidents or pictures of the phenomena of folk life. The mythological theory is based on the first and second assumptions, according to which similar plots in the works of the Indo-European peoples are inherited from common pra-Aryan ancestors; the similarity between the plots of heterogeneous peoples is explained by the fact that in different countries the same natural phenomenon, which served as material for similar plots, was looked at by people in the same way and interpreted in the same way. Finally, the borrowing theory is based on the 3rd explanation, according to which the plots of Russian epics were transferred to Russia from the East and West.
All the above theories were distinguished by their extremeness; so, for example, on the one hand, Orest Miller in his "Experience" argued that the comparative method serves to ensure that in compared works belonging to different peoples, the sharper, the more definite differences appear; on the other hand, Stasov directly expressed the opinion that the epics were borrowed from the East. In the end, however, scientists came to the conclusion that epics are a very complex phenomenon, in which heterogeneous elements are mixed: historical, everyday, mythical and borrowed. A. N. Veselovsky gave some instructions that can guide the researcher and protect him from the arbitrariness of the theory of borrowings; namely, in the CCXXIII issue of the “Journal of the Ministry of Public Education,” the learned professor writes: “In order to raise the question of the transfer of narrative plots, it is necessary to stock up on sufficient criteria. It is necessary to take into account the actual possibility of influence and its external traces in one's own names and in the remains of alien life and in the aggregate of similar signs, because each individually can be deceptive. Halansky joined this opinion, and now the study of epics has been put on the correct point of view. At present, the main aspiration of scholarly researchers of epics is directed towards subjecting these works to the most thorough, if possible, analysis, which should finally indicate what exactly in epics is the indisputable property of the Russian people, as a symbolic picture of a natural, historical or everyday phenomenon. , and what is borrowed from other peoples.
The time of folding epics
Regarding the time of origin of the epics, Leonid Maikov expressed himself most definitely, writing: “Although there are those between the plots of the epics that can be traced back to the era of prehistoric affinity of Indo-European traditions, nevertheless, the entire content of the epics, including these ancient legends, is presented in such a redaction , which can only be confined to a positive historical period. The content of epics was developed during and XII centuries, and was established in the second half of the specific-veche period in the XIII and XIV centuries. To this we can add the words of Khalansky: “In the 14th century, border fortresses, prisons were set up, border guards were established, and at that time the image of heroes standing at the outpost, protecting the borders of the Svyatorusskaya land, was formed.” Finally, according to Orest Miller, the great antiquity of the epics is proved by the fact that they depict a policy that is still defensive, not offensive.
Place of occurrence of epics
As for the place where the epics originated, opinions are divided: the most common theory suggests that the epics are of South Russian origin, that their original basis is South Russian. Only over time, due to the mass migration of people from South Russia to the Russian North, epics were transferred there, and then they were forgotten in their original homeland, due to the influence of other circumstances that caused Cossack thoughts. Khalansky opposed this theory, condemning at the same time the theory of the original all-Russian epic. He says: “The all-Russian ancient epic is the same fiction as the ancient all-Russian language. Each tribe had its own epic - Novgorod, Slovenian, Kyiv, Polyansky, Rostov (cf. the indications of the Tver Chronicle), Chernigov (tales in the Nikon Chronicle). Everyone knew about Vladimir, as a reformer of all ancient Russian life, and everyone sang about him, and there was an exchange of poetic material between individual tribes. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Moscow became a collector of the Russian epic, which at the same time was more and more concentrated in the Kievan cycle, since the Kievan epics had an assimilating influence on the rest, due to the song tradition, religious relations, etc.; thus, at the end of the 16th century, the unification of epics into the Kyiv circle was completed (although, however, not all epics joined it: the entire Novgorod cycle and some individual epics belong to these, for example, about Surovets Suzdalets and about Saul Lavanidovich). Then, from the Muscovite kingdom, epics spread to all sides of Russia by means of an ordinary transfer, and not emigration to the north, which did not exist. Such, in general terms, are Khalansky's views on this subject. Maikov says that the activity of the squad, expressed in the exploits of its representatives, heroes, is the subject of epics. Just as the squad adjoined the prince, so the actions of the heroes are always connected with one main person. According to the same author, buffoons and buffoons sang epics, playing on the sonorous harp harp or whistle, but they were mostly listened to by the boyars, the retinue.
How far the study of epics is still imperfect and what contradictory results it has led some scientists to can be judged by at least one of the following facts: Orest Miller, an enemy of the theory of borrowings, who tried to find a purely folk Russian character everywhere in epics, says: “If reflected some oriental influence on Russian epics, so only on those that, in their entire household warehouse, differ from the Old Slavic warehouse; these include epics about Nightingale Budimirovich and Churil Plenkovich. And another Russian scientist, Khalansky, proves that the epic about Nightingale Budimirovich is in the closest connection with Great Russian wedding songs. What Orest Miller considered completely alien to the Russian people - that is, the self-marriage of a girl - according to Khalansky, still exists in some places in southern Russia.
Let us present here, however, at least in general terms, more or less reliable research results obtained by Russian scientists. That the epics have undergone many and, moreover, strong changes, there is no doubt; but it is extremely difficult at the present time to specify exactly what these changes were. Based on the fact that the heroic or heroic nature itself is everywhere distinguished by the same qualities - an excess of physical strength and rudeness inseparable from such an excess, Orest Miller argued that the Russian epic at the beginning of its existence should have been distinguished by the same rudeness; but since, along with the softening of folk customs, the same softening is also reflected in the folk epic, therefore, in his opinion, this softening process must certainly be allowed in the history of Russian epics. According to the same scientist, epics and fairy tales developed from the same foundation. If the essential property of epics is historical timing, then the less noticeable it is in the epics, the closer it comes to a fairy tale. Thus, the second process in the development of epics is clarified: timing. But, according to Miller, there are also such epics in which there is still no historical timing at all, and, however, he does not explain to us why he does not consider such works to be fairy tales (“Experience”). Then, according to Miller, the difference between a fairy tale and an epic lies in the fact that in the first the mythical meaning was forgotten earlier and it is confined to the earth in general; in the second, the mythical meaning has undergone changes, but not oblivion.
On the other hand, Maikov notices in epics the desire to smooth out the miraculous. The miraculous element in fairy tales plays a different role than in epics: there, wonderful performances form the main plot of the plot, and in epics they only supplement the content taken from real life; their purpose is to give a more ideal character to the heroes. According to Volner, the content of epics is now mythical, and the form is historical, especially all typical places: names, names of localities, etc.; epithets correspond to the historical, and not the epic character of the persons to whom they refer. But initially the content of the epics was completely different, namely, really historical. This happened by transferring epics from the South to the North by Russian colonists: gradually these colonists began to forget the ancient content; they were carried away by new stories, which were more to their liking. Typical places remained inviolable, and everything else changed over time.
According to Yagich, the entire Russian folk epic is permeated through and through with Christian mythological tales, of an apocryphal and non-apocryphal nature; much in content and motives is borrowed from this source. New borrowings relegated ancient material to the background, and epics can therefore be divided into three categories:
- to songs with obviously borrowed biblical content;
- to songs with originally borrowed content, which, however, is processed more independently
- on songs quite folk, but containing episodes, appeals, phrases, names borrowed from the Christian world.
Orest Miller does not quite agree with this, arguing that the Christian element in the epic concerns only appearance. In general, however, one can agree with Maikov that the epics were subjected to constant processing, according to new circumstances, as well as the influence of the singer's personal views.
Veselovsky says the same thing, arguing that epics are presented as material subjected not only to historical and everyday use, but also to all the accidents of oral retelling (“South Russian epics”).
Volner in the epic about Sukhman even sees the influence of the latest sentimental literature of the 18th century, and Veselovsky about the epic “How the heroes were transferred to Russia” says this: “The two halves of the epic are connected by a common place of a very suspicious nature, showing, as if, that touched by an aesthetically correcting hand. Finally, in the content of individual epics, it is easy to notice layers at different times (the type of Alyosha Popovich), the mixing of several originally independent epics into one (Volga Svyatoslavich or Volkh Vseslavich), that is, the unification of two plots, borrowing one epics from another (according to Volner, the beginning of epics about Dobryn taken from epics about Volga, and the end from epics about Ivan Godinovich), extensions (epic about Nightingale Budimirovich from Kirsha), greater or lesser damage to the epic (Rybnikov’s common epic about Berin’s son, according to Veselovsky), etc.
It remains to be said about one side of the epics, namely, their present episodic, fragmentary nature. Orest Miller speaks about this in more detail than others, who believed that initially the epics were a number of independent songs, but over time, folk singers began to link these songs into large cycles: in a word, the same process took place that in Greece, India, Iran and Germany led to the creation of whole epics, for which individual folk songs served only as material. Miller recognizes the existence of a united, integral circle of Vladimirov, kept in the memory of the singers, who at one time formed, in all likelihood, closely united brotherhoods. Now there are no such brotherhoods, the singers are separated, and in the absence of reciprocity, no one between them is able to store in his memory all the links of the epic chain without exception. All this is very doubtful and not based on historical data; thanks to careful analysis, one can only assume, together with Veselovsky, that “some epics, for example Hilferding 27 and 127, are, firstly, the product of the separation of epics from the Kyiv connection and a secondary attempt to bring them into this connection after development on the side” (“ South Russian epics).
Ed. 3rd. - L .:, “The Origin of Russian Epics” (“Bulletin of Europe”, 1868; moreover, compare the criticism of Hilferding, Buslaev, V. Miller in “Conversations of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature”, book 3; Veselovsky, Kotlyarevsky and Rozov in “Proceedings Kyiv Theological Academy", 1871; finally, Stasov's answer: "Criticism of my critics");
Bylina is folklore epic song about a heroic event or a remarkable episode of ancient Russian history. In its original form, epics arose in Kievan Rus, having developed on the basis of an archaic epic tradition and inherited many mythological features from it; however, fantasy turned out to be subordinated to the historicism of vision and reflection of reality. From the point of view of the people the meaning of the epic was to preserve historical memory, so their validity was not questioned. Epics are close to fairy tales about heroes. They artistically summarized the historical reality of the 11th-16th centuries and existed until the middle of the 20th century, corresponding to the epic creativity of many peoples of Europe and Asia. The people called them "old men", i.e. songs about real events of the distant past. The term "epic" (scientific) was introduced in the 1840s on the basis of the "epics of this time" mentioned in the Tale of Igor's Campaign.
In the middle of the 18th century, a handwritten collection of epics and historical songs was created in the Urals, later called "Ancient Russian Poems Collected by Kirshe Danilov". In the 1830s and 1840s, P.V. Kireevsky headed the collection of Russian songs; later, as part of the multi-volume edition “Songs collected by P.V. Kireevsky”, the so-called “old series” was published, which included epics and historical songs. In the middle of the 19th century, P.N. Rybnikov discovered an actively living epic tradition in the Olonets region (“Songs collected by P.N. Rybnikov”. M., 1861-67). The performers of epics and other epic songs were called "narrators". In the second half of the 19th and in the 20th century, a lot of work was carried out in the Russian North to identify and record epics, as a result of which a number of scientific publications appeared: A.F. Gilferding, A. Markov, A.D. Grigoriev, N. Onuchkov, A. M. Astakhova and others.
Epics and realities
Epics reflected many historical realities. Northern singers conveyed the geography and landscape of Kievan Rus, which they were not familiar with (“open field”), depicted the struggle of the ancient Russian state against the nomadic steppes. Separate details of the military princely retinue life were preserved with amazing accuracy. The storytellers did not seek to convey the chronicle sequence of history, but depicted its most important moments, which were embodied in the central episodes of epics. Researchers note their multi-layeredness: they reported the names of real-life persons: Vladimir Svyatoslavovich and Vladimir Monomakh, Dobrynya, Sadko, Alexander (Alyosha) Popovich, Ilya Muromets, Polovtsian and Tatar khans (Tushrkan, Batu). However, fiction made it possible to attribute the epics to an earlier or later historical time, and allowed the combination of names. In the people's memory there was a distortion of geographical distances, names of countries and cities. The idea of the Tatars as the main enemy of Russia supplanted the references to the Polovtsy and Pechenegs.
The heyday of epics
The heyday of epics of the earliest Vladimirov cycle took place in Kyiv in the 11th-12th centuries, and after the weakening of Kyiv (from the second half of the 12th century), they moved west and north, to the Novgorod region. The folk epic that has come down to us allows us to judge only the content of the ancient songs of Kievan Rus, but not their form. The epic was assimilated by buffoons, who had a significant influence on him: in the epics, a number of scenes represent buffoons-singers at the feasts of Prince Vladimir, there are actually buffoons bylinas ("Vavilo and buffoons"). In the 16-17 centuries, the content of the epics reflected the life of the upper classes of Moscow Russia, as well as the Cossacks (Ilya Muromets is called the "old Cossack").
Science knows about 100 plots of epics (in total, more than 3,000 texts have been recorded with variants and versions, a significant part of which has been published). Due to objective historical reasons, the Russian epic did not develop into an epic: the struggle against the nomads ended at a time when living conditions could no longer contribute to the creation of an integral epic. The plots of the epics remained scattered, but they tend to cycle through the scene (Kyiv, Novgorod) and heroes (for example, the epic about Ilya Muromets). Representatives of the mythological school singled out epics about older heroes, in the images of which mythological elements were reflected (Volkh, Svyatogor, Sukhmanty, Danube, Potyk), and about younger heroes, in whose images mythological traces are insignificant, but historical features are expressed (Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, Vasily Buslaev). The head of the historical school, V.F. Miller, divided epics into two types:
- Heroic
- novelistic
For the first, he considered the heroic struggle of the heroes and its state goals to be characteristic, for the second - internal clashes, social or domestic. Modern science, introducing epics into the international context of epic creativity, groups them into the following plot-thematic sections:
- About senior heroes
- About fighting monsters
- On the fight against foreign enemies
- About meetings and saving relatives
- About the epic matchmaking and the struggle of the hero for his wife
- About epic competitions.
- A special group is made up of epics-parodies.
Poetic language of epics
The poetic language of epics is subordinated to the task of depicting the grandiose and significant. They were performed without musical accompaniment, recitative. Their melodies are solemn, but monotonous (each narrator knew no more than two or three melodies and diversified them due to the vibration of his voice). It is assumed that in ancient times epics were sung to the accompaniment of the psaltery. The verse of epics is associated with melody and refers to tonic versification, (see). The compositional basis of the plots of many epics is made up of antithesis and tripling. In the repertoire of buffoons, stylistic formulas for the external ornamentation of the plot arose: verses and outcomes (independent small works not related to the main content of epics). The tradition of epic storytelling developed formulas for the usual image - loci communes (lat. "common places"), which were used when repeating situations of the same type: a feast at Prince Vladimir, saddling a horse, a heroic ride on a horse, a hero's massacre of enemies, etc. Narration in epics was conducted leisurely, majestic. In the development of the plot, there were necessarily numerous repetitions. Slowness of action (retardation) was achieved by tripling episodes, repeating common places, the speech of the hero. The poetic style was created by repetitions of words that could be tautological (“black-black”, “many-many”) or synonymous (“villain-robber”, “fight-to fight”).
One of the methods of connecting lines is palology (repetition of the last words of the previous line at the beginning of the next one). It was not uncommon for adjacent lines to use syntactic parallelism. In epics, monophony (anaphora) could appear, and at the ends of lines sometimes there were consonances of homogeneous words, reminiscent of rhyme. There were alliterations and assonances. The broad typification of the characters of the epics did not exclude elements of individualization, which Hilferding noted back in 1871: Prince Vladimir is a complacent and personally completely powerless ruler; Ilya Muromets - a calm and self-confident force; Dobrynya is the personification of politeness and graceful nobility; Vasily Ignatievich is a drunkard who sobers up in a moment of trouble and becomes a hero. One of the principles of epic typification is the synecdoche: epics depicted not the entire ancient Russian squad, but individual warriors-heroes defeating hordes of enemies; the enemy force could also be depicted in single images (Tugarin Zmeevich, Idolishche). The main artistic device is hyperbole. The collectors testified that the singers perceived hyperbole as a reliable representation of real qualities in their maximum manifestation.
Plots, images, poetics of epics were reflected in Russian literature (“Ruslan and Lyudmila”, 1820, A.S. Pushkin, “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich ...”, 1838, M.Yu. “Lermontova”, “Who should live in Russia good”, 1863-77, N.A. Nekrasova, “folk stories” by L.N. Tolstoy). Epics were a source of inspiration for artists, composers, filmmakers.
