Story

Bylina

1. The basis of the work.

Historical event.

Basurman princes surrounded the city of Chernigov.

Meeting of Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor.

2. Heroes of the work.

Russian bogatyrs.

Ilya Muromets

Svyatogor

3.Fabulous signs.

Magic heroic power.

Magic characters.

Magic items.

The strength of Ilya Muromets.

Two strangers.

Healing water.

The power of Svyatogor.

Talking horse.

Clothes of Svyatogor, containing Ilya of Muromets with a horse

4. Construction of the work.

Prose.

Poetry form.

5. The nature of the work.

Narration.

Song.

6.Language.

Archaisms, respectful dialogues, words with diminutive suffixes.

Archaisms, stable expressions.

Story

1. The basis of the work.

1. Historical event.
2. Fiction.

2. Heroes of the work.

1. Ilya Muromets

2. Svyatogor

3.Fabulous signs.

Magic heroic power.

Magic characters.

Magic items.

4. Construction of the work.

1. In prose.

2. In poetic form

5. The nature of the work.

1. song

2. narrative

6. What is in the work?

1. repetitions

2. obsolete words

3. words with diminutives

Suffixes

4. Double vowel

Literary reading lesson “Healing of Ilya Muromets. Bylina. Comparison of an epic with a fairy tale text "

Lesson type: lesson in literature.

Didactic goal: organize joint search work of students in order to analyze the work of oral folk art-epic and compare it with a fairy tale.

Tasks

Subject: to acquaint students with the text of the epic "Healing of Ilya Muromets"; enrich children's knowledge of epics; to teach expressively to read them, to understand the historical text; work on the content of the epic; to teach to find analogies with real historical events.

Metasubject

Cognitive: develop the ability to analyze different types of texts, compare them, highlight the main idea; find the necessary information to complete tasks, consciously perceive and evaluate the content and specifics of the epic text, the acquisition of reading experience.

Communicative: develop the ability to listen and engage in dialogue; to formulate own opinion and position; participate in a group discussion; work in a group and collaborate with classmates.

Regulatory: formulating the learning task of the lesson based on the analysis of the textbook material in joint activities to study the topic of the lesson, evaluating one's work in the lesson.

Personal: fostering a sense of pride in their homeland, its history, people.

Teaching methods

By the nature of educational and cognitive activity: problematic - search engines.

According to the method of organization and implementation of cognitive activity: verbal, visual, practical.

According to the degree of pedagogical management by the teacher: methods of mediated management of educational and cognitive activity of students with the help of information sources.

Forms of organization of educational activities: frontal, group, individual.

Means of education

Klimanova L.F. Literary reading. Textbook for grade 4. In 2 hours. H, 1.-M. : Enlightenment.-2013.- 160s.

Handout: cards with elements of epics and fairy tales, tables to fill out.

Planned results

Subject: the student will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the text of the epic "Healing of Ilya Muromets"; enrich knowledge about epics; learn to expressively read them, understand the historical text; will get the opportunity to work on the content of the epic; learn to find analogies with real historical events.

Metasubject

Cognitive: the student will have the opportunity to develop the ability to analyze different types of texts, compare them, highlight the main idea; find the necessary information to complete tasks, consciously perceive and evaluate the content and specifics of the epic text, the acquisition of reading experience.

Communicative: the student will have the opportunity to listen and engage in dialogue; to formulate own opinion and position; participate in a group discussion; work in a group and collaborate with classmates.

Regulatory: the student will have the opportunity to learn to accept the learning objectives of the lesson based on the analysis of the textbook material in the joint activity of studying the topic of the lesson, evaluating their work in the lesson.

Personal: the student will have the opportunity to experience a sense of pride in their homeland, its history, people.

Lvova Tatyana Vasilievna,

teacher of Russian language and literature

MBOU "Secondary School No. 24", Bratsk

Subject: literature

UMK: Albetkova R.I. "Russian Literature. From word to literature. 6th grade"

Equipment: computer, multimedia installation.

Lesson topic: “Epics. Artistic features of epics. Epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber".

Objectives: the formation of the ability to distinguish the epic from other genres of literature; creation of conditions for the development of competencies: cultural - respect for the culture of the Russian nation; informational - the ability to receive information from different sources (printed text, living word); communicative - the ability to enter into communication; development of creative abilities of students; formation of an idea of ​​the role of artistic visual and expressive means in a work; development of literary text analysis skills; formation of UUD.

Stages of the lesson

Topic message.

Setting the goals of the lesson by the students.

Theoretical part.

Working on new material.

Familiarize yourself with the records on the information sheet (see Appendix No. 1).
Listen to the teacher's message on the topic “Epics. Artistic features of epics” (see Appendix No. 2), accompanied by a presentation.
Match the message with the entries in the information sheet.

Complete the entries with the necessary missing information.

Summarize all the information received

Practical part:

consider the genre features of the epic on the example of the text "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" (the text was read at home).

Group work. (See Appendix #3)

1 group. The plot and composition of the epic.

2 group. The main characters of the epic. The idea of ​​the work.

Find artistic features characteristic of the epic.

4 group. Generalization and conclusions.

5 group. Creative task.

Fizkultminutka. (See Appendix #4)

Summing up the results of the work of the groups.

Reflection.

Were the intended objectives of the lesson achieved?

Self-esteem.

Application No. 1.

Information sheet.

Get acquainted with the theoretical materials in your information card. Listen to the teacher's message. Complete the card with the information you need.

Bylina is a work of oral folk art, glorifying …………………

The epic consists of the following parts:

1) sing-along (introduces the reader into the world of folk art);

2) beginning (the place of action, the name of the protagonist are indicated);

3) start (important event);

4) culmination (central event);

5) denouement (victory of the positive hero);

6) ending (glory to the hero).

Artistic features of the epic:

1) repetitions of words, expressions, episodes;

2) appeals;

3) trinity (the number three or multiples of three is often found).

An epic verse is a special verse based on an equal number of stresses in the lines (more often in line 3 stresses) and the same arrangement of stressed syllables at the end of each line (more often the stress is the 3rd syllable from the end of the line).

Application №2

Epics. Artistic features of epics.

Oral folk poetry arose many centuries ago, when people could neither read nor write. (Slide 2 ends here)

Rich and varied folk art. In fairy tales and songs, people talked about important historical events, about their work, about their worries and sorrows, dreamed of a happy, just life. (Slide 3 ends here)

Folk wisdom, observation, accuracy and expressiveness of folk speech are embodied in proverbs, sayings, riddles. (Slide 4 ends here)

Of exceptional interest among the works of folk art are epics - artistic and historical songs about heroes, folk heroes. (Slide 5 ends here)

The main cycles of epics: Novgorod and Kyiv (Slide 6 ends here)

The action in most epics is timed to Kyiv. Some epics tell about the life, events and people of another largest city of ancient Russia - Novgorod (epics about Sadko, about Vasily Buslaev). (Slide 7 ends here)

Kyiv epics are heroic (or heroic) epics. Heroic epics tell about the courageous defense of the homeland, about the heroes, their struggle against the nomadic enemies who attacked the country. (Slide 8 ends here)

Epics are built according to a certain plan.

Most epics begin with a beginning. It usually talks about the place of action or where and from where the hero went (Slide 9 ends here)

Whether from that city from Murom,
From that village and Karacharova
A remote, burly, kind fellow was leaving.
He stood at matins in Murom,
And he wanted to be in time for lunch in the capital city of Kyiv.

Yes, and he drove up to the glorious city of Chernigov,
Is it near the city of Chernihiv
Caught up with something black-black,
And black-black, like a black crow. (Slide 10 ends here)

Events in epics are presented in a strict order, sequentially. The story is told slowly, slowly. (Slide 11 ends here) Since epics lived in oral transmission, their performer said to focus the attention of listeners on places that were especially important, in his opinion. For this, repetitions are widely used in epics, usually three times. So, in the epic about Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber, the description of the power of the Nightingale the Robber is repeated three times. (Slide 12 ends here)

In order to give melodiousness to the epic, to make its presentation more expressive, musical, individual words are often repeated in the epics.

The straight road is jammed,

The path was choked up, muddied.

In the capital city in Kyiv,

At the affectionate prince at Vladimir. (Slide 13 ends here)

Repetitions are found not only in the text of the same epic. Similar actions and phenomena are described in different epics in the same way, for example, saddling a heroic horse, a feast at Prince Vladimir, enemy strength, the battle of heroes with enemies, etc. Such similar descriptions found in different epics (and in fairy tales) are called common places. (Slide 14 ends here)

Sometimes epics end with a special ending - a conclusion from the entire content of the epics:

Either old, or deed,

that is, it was so in the old days, this is a true story. (Slide 15 ends here)

The main character of the epics is a Russian hero. To more clearly represent the strength of the hero, the technique of hyperbole (exaggeration) is used. For example, this is how the battle of the hero with the enemy force is described. If the hero waves his right hand, a street is formed among the enemy camp, and an alley is formed with his left. The club (sword) of the hero weighs forty or even ninety pounds. (Slide 16 ends here)

If the hero falls asleep, then "a heroic dream for twelve days" (days). To match the hero and his horse: "the first lope of the horse - for many miles, and the second lope - and you can not find it." To emphasize the strength of the Russian hero, his enemy is depicted hyperbolically. The innumerable forces of the enemy "a gray wolf ... can't jump a day, a black crow can't fly around a day." (Slide 17 ends here)

In epics, as well as in the works of oral folk poetry in general, every word is precise and expressive. For centuries, folk singers and poets have improved the language of their poetic works, achieving the most accurate and vivid, expressive disclosure through the word of the most essential qualities of heroes and their actions. So, epithets are very rich and varied in oral poetry - colorful definitions that indicate the most significant feature of people, objects, phenomena of life. (Slide 18 ends here)

Often the same epithets constantly characterize certain heroes, objects, phenomena of life, nature, etc. Therefore, they are called permanent epithets. In epics, for example, there are such constant epithets: a burly good fellow, great strength, glorious capital Kyiv-grad, a tight bow, a silk string, red-hot arrows. (Slide 19 ends here)

Comparisons are often used in epics:

Caught up with something black-black,

Black-black, like a black crow.

Pike-fish walk Volga in the blue seas,

Volga fly like a falcon under the shells,

Scour the open fields like a wolf. (Slide 20 ends here)

Negative comparisons are used:

Not a damp oak bends to the ground,

Not paper leaves spread out,

The son bows before the priest ... (Slide 21 ends here)

Wishing to emphasize any shade of the meaning of the word, which, according to the folk singer, is important for understanding the narrative, the narrators of epics widely use synonyms: “Volga began to grow and mother”; "And to yell and plow and peasant,"; “Here Ilya felt offended, for great annoyance it seemed ...” (Slide 22 ends here)

An important role in the language of epics is played by nouns with diminutive and endearing suffixes. They express the people's assessment of the heroes of epics. Bogatyrs are often called affectionate names: Ilyushenka, Dobrynushka Nikitich, Mikulushka Selyaninovich, etc. (Slide 23 ends here) Affectionate suffixes are also used in words denoting objects belonging to the hero. He has “hot arrows”, “saddle”, “bridles”, “felt”, “sweatshirts”, etc. (Slide 24 ends here)

The epic is pronounced in a singsong voice. Obeying the tune, the narrator puts stresses on certain words, while other words, without stresses, seem to merge into one word (“mother earth”, “field-clean”). In this regard, sometimes the word has different stresses in the same epic (“Nightingale-Nightingale”, “young”, “young”, “young”). (Slide 25 ends here)

In ancient oral folk poetry there are epics telling about the peaceful, working life of the Russian people. These are household epics. The most important of them is the epic about Volga and Mikul. It glorifies people's work. In Ilya Muromets, the people sang the peasant-warrior, the hero - the defender of the motherland. In the image of Mikula, he glorified the peasant farmer, the hero - the breadwinner of the country.

Application No. 3.

Group. The plot and composition of the epic.

Make a plan of the epic, reflecting only the main events.
Find in the text the compositional parts characteristic of the epic: the beginning, the plot, the climax, the denouement and the ending.

How do you understand the meaning of this ending?

What is fantastic and what is real in the epic? (Compare the beginning in the epic and the traditional fairy-tale beginning "In a certain kingdom, in a certain state ...".

Find real historical characters, city names, echoes of a historical era).

Group. The main characters of the epic. The idea of ​​the work.

Give a description of the main characters of the epic: Ilya Muromets (analyze the episodes of the battle near Chernigov, meetings with the inhabitants of Chernigov, the battle with the Nightingale and arrival in Kyiv) and the Nightingale the Robber. Prove that both images are hyperbolized. Why was hyperbole used to create the image of the Nightingale the Robber? Ilya Muromets?
Explain the popularity of the image of Ilya Muromets. What is the idea behind the piece?

3rd group. Artistic features of the epic.

Find artistic features characteristic of the epic

4 group. Generalization and conclusions.

Based on the results of the work of all 3 groups, prepare a presentation on the topic: “Is the work “Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber” an epic?”

5 group. Creative task.

Write a short text about what an epic is, what are its features, based on the information contained in the information sheet (condition: the text must be written in epic verse, i.e. it will be an imitative text).

Application No. 4

Physical education "Bogatyrs"

Worked guys.

Now it's all about charging.

We got up together: one, two, three,

We are now rich! (get up)

We are powerful and tall, (stand on tiptoe, raise your hands up, stretch)

We have broad shoulders, (spread arms to the sides, stretch)

We put on chain mail, (imitate movement)

We saddle war horses,

We all leave on patrol, (jump)

To cast a glance at the earth:

Didn't the evil Tartar attack,

Like a wasp dark swarm?

Here we stand at the outpost,

Let's spread our legs wide. (Stand up with legs apart)

Let's see from under the palm

Right-left (imitate movement), tilt the torso:

Are there any traces of the enemy, (lean down)

Is the three-headed flying (look up, arching the back)

To offend Russian people?

Everything is quiet? You can sleep!

Related educational materials:

Epics are an amazing part of folklore. Tales about heroes, about Mother Russia, about true friendship and honor sometimes turn out to be much more interesting than the intricate legends and myths of Western Europe. And everyone knows the names of the defenders of the Russian land: Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets - they are the first to be remembered when it comes to heroes. Each of the trinity has its own functions, but together they are invincible, just as Russia is invincible under the protection of its knights.

To reveal the image of the characters more fully allow not only their actions, but also words. And often it is individual phrases that make it possible to understand the hero much better. What are the features of the speech of Ilya Muromets, the eldest of the heroes? How do the words he uttered characterize him? Let's try to find out.

Biography

First you need to figure out who Ilya Muromets is. As they say in the epics, he was partially paralyzed, lay on the stove for thirty years, and then was healed by the Kalik elders passing through his native village of Karacharovo. They also endowed the man with heroic strength, told how to properly raise a horse that will withstand any test, and assured Ilya that he was not in danger of dying in battle.

The newly-made knight went to Kyiv, where he became the head of all the Russian heroes. Since then, Ilya Muromets stood guard over the borders of Russia and faithfully served Prince Vladimir, despite all the intrigues of the latter.

It is curious that many researchers consider the epic hero to be the incarnation of St. Ilya of the Caves, whose relics rest in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. In all the legends, he is an authority not only among the heroes, he allows himself to object even to the prince (here the emphasis is on the fact that Ilya can disobey Vladimir only because of the contradiction of the order to his Christian principles). The constant confrontation between the hero and the prince - this is where the features of the speech of Ilya Muromets stand out especially brightly. Not a single person in all of Russia could say a word against the will of Vladimir, but the eldest of the knights not only disputes the orders, but also allows himself to insult the Baptist of Russia: in the epic about Ilya Muromets and Kalin Tsar, he says that "for a dog - then, Prince Vladimir, let me not get out of the cellar! As another feature of the speech of Ilya Muromets, one can note the constant teaching of others, but not aggressive, but rather friendly: the hero sincerely wants to help others. Undoubtedly, Ilya Muromets can be called the most peaceful, but at the same time the implacable defender of the Russian land.

Healing

In the first part of the legends about Ilya Muromets, the future hero appears before the reader as a sick man who has not been able to take a single step for thirty years. He is healed by the passing old pilgrims, who transfer to the protagonist a huge power and give parting words regarding the service to the prince.

What are the features of the speech of Ilya Muromets in this epic? He uses repetitions in order to better convey his thoughts (“I’m sitting down”), and also diminutive suffixes (“great silushka”) are a feature of all positive heroes of epics. And even despite the fact that he is higher than the elders, he treats them with respect and warmly thanks them for healing.

Even from a couple of remarks uttered by the hero in this legend, one can understand that the speech of Ilya Muromets in epics is extremely courteous, he respects those who are weaker than him, and knows how to be grateful.

Nightingale the Robber

The second most famous legend tells of the battle of Elijah with the Nightingale the Robber. The epic begins with the already noted feature of the speech of Ilya Muromets - courtesy (his dialogue with the peasants from Chernigov). But then, at an even indirect meeting with the Nightingale, when the horse, having heard the whistle of the villain, stopped and refused to go earlier, the hero uses both scolding ("grass bag", "wolf's fullness"), and an orderly tone. You can also note a large number of repetitions (for example, when describing his path to Kyiv, the hero says the preposition “past” several times, listing all the famous places through which he happened to pass).

Kalin-king

At the very beginning of the epic about the battle with Kalin Tsar, the words of the hero sharply diverge from his original image. The speech of Ilya Muromets, when he wants to get food and water in a tavern for free, does not at all look like a request, even with an explanation, it looks more like an order. True, in the monologue of the knight before the heroes, a reference to his Christian prototype again appears: Ilya insists that they must protect not so much Prince Vladimir from the threat as stand up for the temples and for the faith. In addition, in this legend, he acts as a real peacemaker, forbidding his associates to kill the captured enemy. Of the additional features, one can note the abundance of prepositions and diminutive suffixes (when meeting with other knights, he emphasizes his good attitude in this way).

Conclusion

So, what are the features of the speech of Ilya Muromets? He uses a large number of repetitions and diminutive suffixes in his speech, which is typical for all epic heroes. At the same time, his words are filled with wisdom and peacefulness. This hero is one of the brightest images of Russian literature.

The question of the epic as a collective creation of the people is closely connected with the question of the language of epics as a means of artistic representation. This issue has been repeatedly considered, but the aesthetic value of the folk language in epics is not sufficiently understood and appreciated.

The language of folk poetry, like the language of any other literary and artistic works, serves not only as a means of communication, but as a means of artistic expression of the worldview of their creators.

The poetic language of epics is so rich and varied that only the most general and important features of it can be indicated here, while their development should be the subject of special works. In this case, the poetic language of epics will be considered in the form in which it is known to the Russian reader from collections of epics, starting with the collection of Kirsha Danilov and ending with modern records. The study of earlier periods in the development of the epic language is a special, very difficult task that requires special research, since we do not have any direct materials relating to the period before the second half of the 18th century. Earlier materials are monuments not of oral, but of book speech. Before solving the problem of studying the development of poetic language by reconstructing an earlier composition from a later one, it is necessary to consider what this later material is in its complete, established form, richly represented by materials.

Based on the above, it is necessary first of all to establish the specific differences between the poetic language of the epic and the language of other types of folk poetry.

The poetic system of the epic is fundamentally different from the poetic system of folk lyrics. One of the main methods of artistic expressiveness of folk lyrics (including all types of it, including wedding and funeral lamentations) is metaphor. "Metaphor" is usually understood as "the transfer of features from one object to another." It is possible that such a definition of metaphor will be fruitful for proper linguistic research; for the purposes of studying the artistic language, it is unsuitable. The creative act of creating an artistic image does not consist in the transfer of features. Such a definition comes not from the analysis of the creative act of the artistic image, but from the etymology of the term inherited from Aristotle, which means "transfer". There is no way to revisit this issue here. For the study of folk poetry, the concept of "transfer of signs" turns out to be fruitless. It will be more fruitful to define the metaphorical nature of folk poetry as a certain kind of allegories as substitution of one visual image for another. Thus, the image of a crying girl may be poetic in itself, but it may not be. But if the image of a weeping girl is replaced by the image of a birch tree lowering its branches to the water, it will be perceived poetically. In this sense, Russian folk lyrics are metaphorical in the highest degree, and most of the images are drawn from the nature surrounding the singers.

If we approach the poetic language of epics from this point of view, it turns out that the language of the epic is almost completely devoid of metaphor. This does not mean that the singer does not know the art of allegory. The absence of metaphors in the epic is not a shortcoming, but an indicator of a different system. There are metaphors and comparisons in the epic, but they are very rare and do not constitute the main artistic principle of the epic.

Indeed, you can listen to or watch several dozen songs without finding a single metaphorical phrase. Such expressions as Mother Earth, Mother Volga, Clear Falcons, and others belong to popular, and not only heroic, poetry, but even these phrases are rare. Only in the epic Vladimir is called the red sun. In the same place where the narrative is interspersed with places lyrical character, metaphors also appear. In the epic about the Lithuanian raid, there is a lyrical lamentation of the hero about his old age, which is expressed in the following beautiful verses using allegories:

Oh, you, youth, you are valiant!
My youth flew away into the open field,
In a clean field and a clear falcon;
Old age flew to me from a clean field,
From a clean field and a black crow,
And she sat on the shoulders and heroic ones!

But old age cannot break a hero. The hero goes against the Lithuanians, despite his old age, and the singer (T. G. Ryabinin) remarks that "his heart does not rust." In the epic about Ilya, Yermak and Tsar Kalin, it is told how the young Yermak is the first to rush into battle, without comrades. The rest of the heroes arrive in time later and turn to Yermak with the following words: “You, Yermak, had breakfast, leave us to dine,” calling the beginning of the battle breakfast, and dinner at its height. In this case, the metaphorical turnover is perceived as a joke.

All these examples are separate places against the backdrop of a huge number of lines, completely devoid of such turns. Metaphor in epic is a rare occurrence.

The most striking use of metaphors is observed in cases where sharp indignation is expressed. So, advancing on Kyiv, Kalin is called a dog. Ilya Muromets scolds his horse when he refuses to jump over the ditch - "wolf's satiety, grass bag." Vasily Buslaevich scolds his godfather with such words as “dashing basket”, “junk harness” and others.

The Poganoe idol is depicted in the following very vivid images:

His head is a strong beer cauldron,
If only he had his strength as a royal dish,
If only his eyes were strong cups,
If his hands were like a plunder,
If only his knives were strong kichinishcha.

Thus, the metaphor in the epic has a limited circulation, it is used mainly in lyrical places, or to express anger, indignation, condemnation, or it is of a comic nature, but in these cases it is rarely used.

How can one explain such a limited use of metaphor in the epic, while lyric poetry is thoroughly permeated with metaphor?

The subject of the lyrics are the phenomena of everyday life, most often personal life. The individual experiences of individuals in themselves, although they may arouse deep sympathy, are of only limited general interest. Interest is largely determined by the form of their expression. So, love, separation, death of a loved one primarily affects those whom they directly concern. Such feelings can acquire a broader universal interest only if they are given a generalizing character by the power of poetry; allegorical, metaphoric as one of the ways of poeticization gives the events of a personal order a universal meaning, gives them a deep interest, causes sympathy.

With epic, things are different. Those objects, those phenomena of life that are glorified in it, the heroes created by him and the events depicted by him are so high, perfect and beautiful, they themselves have such a wide public interest that they do not need any metaphor. They do not require any substitution, replacement, their correlation with images from other areas of life, for example, from nature. On the contrary, as will be seen, the entire poetic system of the epic is aimed at isolating and defining what is needed from the entire surrounding world with perfect clarity and accuracy, so that the image created by the poetic imagination appears before the listener in all its visual concreteness. If in a lyrical song the listener sees a birch tree lowering its branches to the water instead of a weeping girl, then in an epic this kind of replacement is impossible and unnecessary.

Somewhat more widespread than a metaphor, has comparison. The comparison is very close to a metaphor. In metaphor, one image is replaced by another; in comparison, the original image is preserved, but approaches the other in similarity. Ilya "sits on a horse like a hundred-year-old oak." Such a comparison, although very colorful, is not at all in the spirit of the epic. It is an individual creation of the singer, there are no options for it. The image of an oak obscures the image of Elijah, but the people know and love the image of Elijah as it is. Comparison is not a phenomenon specific to the epic, although a number of excellent comparisons can be found in it. Through comparison, for example, the abstract turns into the concrete, or rather, it acquires visibility. Singers know the means to visualize, for example, the passage of time.

Again, day after day - as if the rain is raining,
Week after week as the grass grows
And year after year - like a river runs.

Comparison is used when describing female beauty:

Face as white as white snow
Cheeks, like a poppy color,
Her gait is peacock,
Her speech is swan-like.

Her eyes are compared with the eyes of a falcon, her eyebrows with black sables, her walk is that of a white fallow deer, etc. In this case, the comparison does not reach the same degree of artistic perfection as when comparing time with rain or a river. It is unlikely that the eyes of a Russian beauty can be compared with the eyes of a falcon, or even more so her voice with the voice of a swan, which the singer probably did not even hear. It is more successful to use the image of a falcon for such comparisons as "All the ships fly like falcons", or: "His horse runs like a falcon". The falcon is one of the favorite images to denote youth, courage, mobility, beauty and independence, although this image is more developed in lyrics than in epic.

The relatively secondary position that comparison occupies in the poetics of the bylina is explained by the fact that the entire system of poetic expressiveness of the epic is directed, as will be seen, not towards convergence by similarity, but by differentiation by difference.

If this observation is correct, it explains one of the characteristic devices of the epic, known in other types of folk poetry, one of its poetic achievements, namely the negative comparison.

Negative comparison contains convergence, but at the same time introduces differentiation. The army of the Tatars is compared to a formidable cloud, with an approaching dark cloud, but at the same time it is not a cloud or a cloud - these are real Tatars.

Negative comparison meets all the most stringent requirements of folk aesthetics. It contains allegorical figurativeness, but at the same time remains true to reality. Perhaps that is why it is one of the favorite devices of folklore, and in particular the epic, and is used in the most critical, dramatic places in the story. Thus, the departure of the hero from the house is described as follows:

Not a white dawn was engaged,
The sun did not roll out red,
A good fellow went out here,
Good fellow Ilya Muromets
On his heroic horse.

The gray beard of Ilya Muromets is compared with snow:

Not white snowballs turned white,
The old gray beard turned white.

The son, leaving for the field and asking his parents for blessings, is compared to a young oak that leans to the ground; but this is not an oak, this is a good fellow.

Negative comparison belongs to the most characteristic and typical poetic devices of the Russian heroic epic. It combines figurativeness with the highest degree of realistic description in one technique. To depict life in such a way, with such accuracy and vitality, that the imaginary appears as real, that it can be seen, that it is possible to follow the unfolding events as if they were playing out before one's eyes - this is the main aspiration of the singer.

With such an attitude to the depicted, the word acquires a very special meaning. The word is a means of chasing the image, and the singer cherishes it to the highest degree. This striving for accuracy corresponds to another method of artistic representation, namely epithet. We can say that the epithet is one of the main pictorial means of the epic. While metaphorical turns are a rare phenomenon, artistic speech of absolutely all singers is abundantly sprinkled with epithets.

Here again, a terminological clarification needs to be made. The opinion that a poetic epithet serves to "decorate" speech cannot be accepted by a Soviet researcher. The widespread doctrine of epithets boils down to the fact that there are basically two main types of epithets. One is the so-called decorating epithets; they are recognized as actually poetic. These epithets do not establish a new attribute for the object being defined, but fix the attribute that is included in the concept of the object (blue sky, fast running, dark forest, etc.). Another kind - defining or necessary, reporting something about the subject that is not included in its concept (young apple tree, straight road, etc.). A number of intermediate species are recognized, but in general this division underlies even modern theoretical manuals.

It can be argued that such a division is thoroughly erroneous; it essentially leads us to Kant's doctrine of synthetic and analytic judgments, with the only difference being that what Kant says about the predicate is applied here to the attribute. Such a division does not recognize cognitive goals and functions for art, leaving behind "purely aesthetic" functions. The term "decorative" does not stand up to scrutiny and should be finally abandoned.

The study of the epithets of folk poetry leads to the conclusion that the epithet in all cases there is a means of clarification, although the objects and goals of clarification can be quite different. The epithet gives the noun a precise visual or other definiteness, forcing the listener or reader to see or perceive the subject as the singer wants it, as it is necessary for this narrative.

Epithets are characteristic not only of one heroic epic. As A.P. Evgenyeva showed, funeral lamentations are extremely rich in them. But the choice of epithets, the worldview or emotions expressed by them for each of the genres will be completely different. Most of the epithets of lamentations are completely impossible in the epic and vice versa.

Evil, unbearable longing unquenchable
Everything will top up my unfortunate womb.

(Barsov. Lamentations
Northern Territory, I, 1872, p. 61)

The epithets "evil", "unbearable", "unfortunate", etc. are completely impossible in the heroic epic, especially when applied to such nouns as "longing" or "womb". Thus, although epithets are not a distinctive feature of the epic, their content differs from the epithets of other genres.

From a logical point of view, an epithet is a definition. One of the purposes of a definition is to distinguish an object from its like. So, the word "yard" can have dozens of different meanings, depending on the defining epithet. But when it says "embassy court", the court is singled out from all possible courts and in this case is indicated from the side of its destination. epithets, defining things relative to other things of the same kind or kind, are extremely common not only in poetic works, but also in prose, everyday business or scientific speech. The epic is extremely rich in them: spare clothes, travel clothes, road shalyga, letter of messenger, letter of guilt, Streltsy street, straight road, circuitous road, beer glass, etc. The omission of such epithets in other cases could lead to misunderstanding or even to nonsense. These epithets are based on designation by some electoral act. A change in epithet would mean a different subject. The straight road and the roundabout are different roads, not the same.

Although epithets of this kind are not a feature of poetic speech, they perform a certain artistic function in the epic, the function of precise designation.

Characteristic, for example, is the stability with which the epithet "right" is used in the epic. “He stepped with his right foot and into the glorious Gridnya of the prince”; Dobrynya unfastens the bow “from the right from the damask stirrup”; Ilya ties the Nightingale the Robber "to the right damask stirrup"; on reconnaissance, the hero "fell to the ground and with his right ear"; offended at the feast, he "hung his wild head and on that one on the right side." Although one could do without such a precise designation, the singer cannot do without it; he so clearly, so accurately and distinctly sees the events depicted by him and the people depicted by him that he not only sees the fact of Ilya tying the Nightingale the Robber to the stirrup, but sees as he does it, sees that he is tying it to the right, and not to the left stirrup, and thus conveys the event.

Epithets based not on the electoral act (in response to the question “which”) are presented even more widely in the epic, but on definition of quality("which"). If the epithet were changed, the same object would appear in a different form. This type of epithet performs a wide variety of functions.

Many of these epithets are intended to turn an indefinite, amorphous representation into a definite visual image. When they say: stone, sky, flowers, beast, raven, face, curls, braid, chambers, chair, etc., then these are general ideas. If we give them, for example, coloration, they turn into vivid visual images: a blue stone, a clear sky, azure flowers, a black raven, a ruddy face, yellow curls, a blond braid, white chambers, a golden chair. The world of things came to life and became bright and colorful. It's one thing to say "I drove for a day", another -

And he rode from day to evening,
And from dark night to white light.

We not only find out how long the hero was on the road, but also see the darkness of the night and the light of the morning.

Another way to achieve the same goals is to indicate material, from which the item is made: damask dagger, silk lash, marten coat, sable cap; tables are always oak, stoves are brick, sails are linen, etc. Sometimes words are created that immediately designate both material and color: white-oak tables, white-stone chambers, a white-linen (Russian) or black-velvet (Tatar) tent, etc.

Epithets define an object not only from the side of its color and material, but from the side of any other bright distinguishing features, the reduction of which contributes to the instantaneous sensory perception of the object: mother earth, clear field, open field, arable land, spring backwaters, near birch at a sloppy (that is, sloping), higher than a spherical tree (that is, wide at the top), a dark forest, a damp oak, a roaring wolf, a flying clear falcon, an rolling mountain, loose sand, shallow rivers, swamps, bogs, a walking cloud, a spring long day and etc.

Similar epithets applied to natural phenomena show how subtly the singer feels nature. There are no descriptions of nature in the Russian epic. But it is enough for the singer to say two or three words, and we, as if alive, see Russian nature in front of us with its endless expanses, winding rivers, dark forests, soft hills, arable lands.

Similar well-aimed epithets characterize not only nature, but everything that surrounds the singer: people, buildings, the whole environment of life, down to such details as benches, windows, castles, towels, etc. Enumeration of such epithets would take entire pages. Lists of epithets and a formal classification of epithets exist, but such lists provide little for understanding their artistic significance, which consists, as the young Dobrolyubov put it in one of his earliest articles, in "the desire for pictoriality and liveliness of impression."

But the epithet not only makes you see the object in all its brightness. The artistic epithet makes it possible to express, for example, the feelings of the characters, their attitude towards each other and thus characterize them. So, for example, in the Russian epic, family members always express their tender feelings towards each other; the son will say, addressing his mother: “you are the light, dear mother”, parents say “children are relatives” about their children, the husband will say “beloved family” about his wife, the wife about her husband - “beloved sovereign”; respectively: “my beloved nephew”, “my dear uncle”, etc.

The epithet expresses outlook people, their attitude to the world, their assessment of the environment. People either love or hate. There are no average feelings in his poetry.

Accordingly, the epic knows only either brightly positive heroes who embody the highest ideals of the people, their courage, steadfastness, love for the motherland, truthfulness, restraint, cheerfulness, or brightly negative heroes - enemies of the motherland, invaders, rapists, enslavers; negative types also include enemies of the social order, such as princes, boyars, priests, merchants. Accordingly, there is truth and untruth or falsehood, in the broadest sense of the word. There is no middle ground between truth and falsehood. The people love their heroes with enthusiastic love and respect them, they hate their enemies with active hatred and are always ready to enter into a decisive struggle with them not for life, but for death. The struggle in the epic always leads to victory or reveals the correctness of some and the moral failure of others. This is one of the expressions of the vitality of the people, their faith in the indispensable victory of the just, people's cause.

Accordingly, everything that the singer loves and accepts in life is portrayed as excellent and best; the corresponding group of epithets, which can be called evaluative epithets, is extremely rich. The singer designates his homeland, Russia, only as a saint. Its heroes are the mighty Holy Russian heroes. The hero has great strength, physical and moral; it is said about his heart that he has a heart of a hero, invincible; He has a "zealous heart". He moves his mighty shoulders, jumps up on frisky legs, he has a violent little head. The epithet "kind" attached to the word "well done" is characteristic, which means not kindness, but the totality of all those qualities that a true hero should possess. Such combinations as “remote, burly, kind fellow”, “kind, good-natured squad”, clearly show what is meant by the word “kind”.

Accordingly, the hero always has the best weapons: he has a Cherkasy saddle, a forged saddle, and saddling is usually described in great detail: all accessories of the highest and most refined quality, but not for "beauty-basy", but for a fortress. The hero always has a sharp saber, a tight, bursting bow with a silk string and red-hot arrows; he has strong armor, a heroic horse, which he feeds with “beloyar millet”. However, in accordance with the whole aesthetics of the Russian epic, according to which it is not the external, ostentatious side that is important, the horse does not differ in size or beauty. Ilya has a small, shaggy burushka. External nondescriptness contrasts with high qualities invisible to the eye. Mikula Selyaninovich has a nightingale filly, an ordinary peasant horse, which, however, overtakes the horse of Prince Volga. According to the opposite principle, Mikula's plow is sometimes described: the horns of a fish tooth on it, red gold cups, etc.

All the best is always reported about the things and people sung in the epic. Objects and people are drawn as they should ideally be. A girl is always a beauty, a fair maiden; there are no others in the epic. The dress is always colored, and not some kind of colorless, the berries are sweet, the drinks are standing, the gifts are rich, the words are reasonable, the speech is touching, etc. If the hero washes, then always only with clean, cold, spring water, and wipes only clean and not some taken away towel.

In this regard, the epithet "glorious" is characteristic. This epithet denotes the totality of those qualities of the social order that entail national recognition, glory. Hence the frequent end of the songs - "glory is sung." Glorious heroes are called all in general and each separately; this word denotes an outpost (“on a glorious, on Moscow, on an outpost”); this word can be used to name Russian rivers (“near a nice river near Smorodina”), or individual cities, like Murom, the birthplace of Ilya Muromets, or the capital of Russia - Kyiv (“in a glorious city in Kyiv”).

Immeasurably poorer is the selection of epithets that designate phenomena of a negative order. The singer does not like to dwell on them for a long time. There is only one unchanging and constant word, with which the singer designates both the enemies of his homeland and his attitude towards them. That word is "bad". Tatars are endowed with only this one permanent epithet. Lithuania is also designated by him when she is planning a campaign against Russia (in other cases she is “good-natured”). "Bad" is also called Idolishche. You can find some other epithets in some cases, but in general, the attitude towards all kinds of enemies of the hero and the people is expressed not so much by epithets as by metaphorical designations of abusive order, examples of which are given above.

Enemies of the social order are similarly characterized by epithets that are both evaluative and characterizing at the same time. So, when the boyars are called "fat-bellied", the listener not only sees the figure of such a boyar before his eyes, but also shares the feelings of hatred and ridicule that the singers put into this word.

The question of the so-called "permanent", as well as "petrified" epithets, should be especially highlighted. Both of these terms must be recognized as unfortunate. They inspire the idea that the stock of epithets has been created once and for all and that the people use them without any special analysis or sense.

Vsev especially valued these epithets. Miller, since at first glance confirm his theory of the creative impotence of singers. He writes: "Obviously, the epithet has already lost its original freshness, imagery, and goes around in the school of singers like a walking coin, sometimes spent by the way, sometimes in vain, mechanically." All in. Miller considers it absurd that the faces in the epic do not change with age. Ilya Muromets is constantly called old, even when he leaves home after being healed. Dobrynya is always young, even after serving in Kyiv for 12 years. He then returns to his young wife, who does not age.

"These examples are sufficient to show the mechanical use of constant epithets found both in our own and in other epics."

In reality, the situation is different. The fact that faces in epic and fairy tales do not age is due to the special concept of time in folklore, which is out of the question here. The girl in the epic will always be called the “red maiden”, and the well done - “good fellow”, not because the epithet has frozen, but because, according to folk aesthetics, no good fellow, except for the good one, can be sung. A constant epithet is used for signs that the people consider constant and necessary and which they repeat not because of creative impotence, but because outside this sign a subject for epic poetry is impossible. Where there is no such requirement, as we have seen, a wide variety of epithets are possible.

The situation is somewhat different with the so-called petrified epithets, which are used where their use, from the point of view of modern literary requirements, would be inappropriate. Such irrelevance is again not a sign of "petrification" or creative impotence. The people consider all the signs they define not by their subjective opinions or impressions, but by signs that are objectively inherent in the defined objects, persons and phenomena. So, the honest widow Amelfa Timofeevna objectively, that is, in all cases of life and always, there is an honest widow, and she cannot be any other. The singer does not allow and cannot imagine any other attitude towards her or any other image of her, since he does not allow any violations of the truth. Therefore, Dobrynya calls her mother not only "dear mother", but also "honest widow Amelfa Timofeevna." On the other hand, Tatars can only be filthy and no others in any case. It is absolutely impossible for a Russian singer to take the Tatar point of view. Therefore, it is quite natural for the singer that the Tatar tsar Kalin addressed his subordinates with the words:

Oh, you, my Tatars,
Hey you, my bastards.

For the same reasons, Marinka, in a conversation with Dobrynya, calls herself a whore and a poisoner.

Undoubtedly, this reflects a certain limited horizon, which is characteristic of the peasants in general, but by no means creative impotence. This kind of use of epithets stems from the inability of the people to any kind of compromise in their opinions and in their assessment.

The above materials and observations show how rich and varied the use of epithets in the Russian epic. An epithet distinguishes an object from similar ones and defines it by that. The epithet contributes to precise and clear designation. It creates vivid visual images by highlighting distinctive qualities. The epithet corresponds to one of the main aspirations of the linguistic art of the epic, which is to give the words the proper weight and sound, so that the words and the images expressed by them cut into, imprinted. Finally, the epithet expresses the attitude of the people to the world around them, expresses the people's opinion, its judgment and assessment.

It is easy to see that these same goals can be achieved by other means, not only by epithets. Thus, the Russian language provides ample opportunities to express one's attitude - positive or negative - by using diminutive, affectionate or, conversely, pejorative forms.

The abundance of caresses expresses the extraordinary kindness of the people in relation to everything that is worthy of love, recognition, affection. Probably, no other language in the world has such a richness and such flexibility and expressiveness of affectionate or diminutive forms as the Russian language. In the epic, this is extremely pronounced. People call affectionate names of all the main positive characters: Aleshenka, Dobrynushka, less often - Ileyushka or Ilyushenka, Dunayushka, Vasenka Buslaevich, Ivanushka Godinovich. The hero has a brave little head, he thinks a strong or great soul, he gets up early, dresses quickly, washes his face white.

Kunya threw a fur coat over one shoulder,
A sable hat on one ear,
I grabbed a damask stick under the bosom.

Here in three lines (from T. G. Ryabinin) there are five diminutives. Going on a journey, Dobrynya asks her mother for a blessing; he puts a sweatshirt under his saddle, takes red-hot arrows, etc. At the outpost, Ilya Muromets puts on his boots and takes a telescope.

The abundance of pets and diminutives is one of the manifestations of folk humanism, the ability to have soft and kind feelings towards those who deserve these feelings.

Accordingly, the anger of the people, their disapproval, hatred and mockery express pejorative forms, the possibilities of which in the Russian language are also quite rich and colorful.

Vasenka Buslaevich is opposed to his godfather, the old pilgrimage, Ugryumishche, Andronishche or Ignatishe. Batu is called Tsarishche Batuishte, Tugarin is called Ugarishche filthy, Vladimir's insidious adviser is called Vaska Torokashko. The Idol has hands like rakes and ears like dishes.

The study of the epithet showed that each word is given certainty and weight. The desire to increase the proportion of each word can explain one of the features of the poetic language of epics, which at first glance seems to have no artistic significance, but which in fact is found only in artistic poetic speech, mainly in the epic. This feature consists in the use of prepositions, which is different from the prose language. In the epic, a preposition can stand not only in front of the entire group of words to which it belongs, but is often repeated before each word separately. The Danube "on all three, on four sides worships." Such combinations are constantly used as: “to the glory of the city to Kyiv, to the affectionate to the prince to Vladimir”; “on many princes, on boyars, on mighty Russian heroes” (a feast is convened); "in a glorious city in Murom, in the village of Karacharovo"; “Who would tell us about the old, about the old, about the experienced, about that Ilya about Muromets?”

These are not individual cases characteristic of individual singers or localities, this is a general law of the epic style. The preposition in these cases ceases to play the role of only a preposition. As a preposition, it would be needed only once, and the same singer in prose will not repeat prepositions so stubbornly and systematically as he does in verse. Peering closer into these cases, it can be established that the prepositions here perform a dividing function. The preposition separates the definition from the defined, separates two or three definitions from one another, and so on. In short, the repetition of prepositions separates words from each other. This achieves a certain spacing of words and thereby increases the specific weight of each of the words separately.

An explanation has been put forward that the repeated use of prepositions seems to be dictated by the desire for slow speech, but such an explanation is doubtful. Why is slow speech more artistic than normal or fast speech? Tempo in itself is not a sign of artistry; this technique is found only in artistic speech.

The book of M.P. Shtokmar says the following about the repetition of prepositions: “Various repetitions of function words and particles that do not carry independent stress play a very noticeable role in folk poetic speech, as a result of which such repetitions turn out to be one of the factors of the complexity of the folk language. Among them, first of all, it is necessary to note the repetition of prepositions. That an extra number of prepositions increases the number of syllables is indisputable, just as it is indisputable that this increase affects the rhythm. But that still doesn't explain anything.

When it is said: “I took him by the hands for white, for his rings for gold”, then in such a combination the whiteness of pampered hands with gold rings appears more sharply and in relief than with a simple setting in prose: she took him by the white hands with gold rings . To state a fact, one pretext is enough, to highlight colorful, vivid details, they are separated from one another, due to which they appear in all their meaning. In the lines “who would tell us about the old, about the experienced”, etc., the division of words emphasizes that it will not be about anyone, but about Ilya Muromets; that everything that will be sung about really happened; that it was not now, but in ancient times. The separating function of the preposition corresponds to how the singer sees, separates and emphasizes, highlights the phenomena of the world.

All of the above leads to the observation that the proportion of the word in the epic is extremely large, that the singers weigh the words and value them. From this point of view, we can consider the methods by which the epic introduces direct speech. "Hotinushka said these are the words." This is a permanent form of introducing direct speech. These words not only introduce direct speech; they contain the idea that every word of this speech will have a meaning. “He began to pronounce verbatim.” But not only the protagonists of the song speak “verbatimally,” the singer himself says so, and this is one of the foundations of the aesthetics of the epic. The word is like a chisel, with which the sculptor forces every detail of the depicted to come out, turning the amorphous and undivided into a well-formed and worked out.

One way to emphasize the meaning of a word is to have the desired word or group of them repeated. Singers widely use this technique: "the old Cossack leaves here, the old-old Cossack Ilya Muromets." Ilya's old age, which is very important for the appearance of the hero and a characteristic feature for him, is highlighted and emphasized here by the fact that the word "old" is repeated three times. Another example: the triumph of Marinka, burning the earth from under Dobrynya's footprint, in order to bewitch him with her love charms, is expressed by the line: "the oak firewood caught fire, lit up."

This technique, once developed, can sometimes be used where it is essentially not needed: "because of the forest, the dark forest." The forest, precisely as a forest, has no special significance in the course of action; but repetition is a characteristic device of the epic style, and its use does not violate artistry even where, strictly speaking, one could do without it.

The literal repetition of the same word (tautology) is relatively rare. Different words are formed from the same root, and singers use this technique with great skill. When Ilya observes the approach of the Tatars from the city wall or from the hill, he sees that they are "black as black as a crow." Here the designation of blackness is given in three different forms, the repetition emphasizes the myriad of approaching Tatars. This also includes such combinations as firmly-firmly, tightly-tightly, soon-hurriedly, forever and ever.

The horse stands naubel-white,
The tail-mane is scientifically black.

Repetition enhances the meaning and weight of the word, sharpens the quality or property indicated through repetition. "Tightly" means the complete inviolability of the given word under all circumstances of life without any exceptions; “forever and ever” sounds stronger than “forever” or “forever”, meaning that there will never be an end.

Repetition takes on special power when repeated words or groups of them are separated into different lines. The end of a line creates a natural pause, and thus a slight pause is created between repeated words or word combinations. Repeating combinations can be at the end of one line and the beginning of the next (the so-called palology), or both repeated elements are at the beginning of the line (anaphora). Repetition at the end of lines (epiphora) as an artistic device is unknown to the Russian epic.

Don't hit me on the white face
On a white face, on a ruddy one.

The division into two lines enhances the sharpness of the cry: the inadmissibility of beating in the face in a heroic battle.

He had one child
One child and one.

The repetition of the words "one child" in two lines emphasizes the full significance of the fact that the son was the only one.

Yes, I have a new saber,
Yes, a new saber, not chiseled,
Not a chiseled saber, not bloody.

Our Vladimir-prince grieved,
Saddened, twisted.

In this case, repeated elements are at the beginning of lines. This type of repetition in its artistic value does not differ from the repetition at the end of one and the beginning of the next line. In this case, this technique emphasizes the strength of Vladimir's despair.

There is a special case of repetition when the attribute is given once in its positive form, and the other time through the negation of its opposite. In prose speech, the affirmation through the negation of the opposite (litotes) can serve both to weaken the affirmation and to strengthen it: “I made a small mistake” is perceived as a weakened form of “big mistake”. On the contrary: “made a big mistake” is an intensified form of “small mistake”, meaning that the mistake was essentially made a big one.

In folk speech, this technique is used only for amplification. When it is said “for a great annoyance, not for a small one,” the negation “not for a small one” emphasizes the meaning of the word “great”, strengthens the assertion. Even sharper:

Just saw a great wonder
What a great miracle.

The negation of the opposite strengthens the assertion:

He poured a glass of green wine.
A considerable charm, one and a half buckets.

Not for beauty, for pleasing, -
For the sake of the heroic fortress.

All this shows with what art the people master the methods of isolation and characterization, how great is the variety of artistic means.

In cases where it is not about an object or quality, but about a separate actor, it is not the name that is repeated, but the pronoun that replaces it:

He, Dunayushka, was in the ambassadors,
He, the Danube, knew many lands.

The double repetition of the word "he" in the name of the Danube should emphasize that it is the Danube, and not anyone else, that can be sent to foreign lands for a bride for Vladimir.

A pronoun can take an abbreviated form, and then it is essentially an article. "How Ugarin-ot sits, looks at him." “Ugarin-ot” is an abbreviation for “Ugarin that” or “this one”, that is, the one mentioned, indicated. This is an underdeveloped definite article, uncommon in modern literary prose, but performing in the epic the artistic function of highlighting, emphasizing when mentioned again; such an increase in emphasis meets one of the main aesthetic requirements of the epic, which consists in the accuracy of the designation of distinguished objects. Examples are extremely numerous: “Well done, from that and grasping”, “Feast is about a half-feast”, “Like day-to-evening”.

I came to woo Annushka,
As on the same one on Annushka Putyatichnaya.

In the last example, the full form of the pronoun emphasizes the accuracy of designation and emphasis more sharply (Annushka Putyatichna, and not some other) than the shortened form of its “from”.

Combinations and combinations of words close in meaning or even ascending to the same root, but having a different purpose, should be distinguished from repetitions aimed at strengthening the specific weight of a word.

One of the varieties of such combinations is that an addition of the same root is added to the verb: to think, to spend the winter, to serve, to joke, to make a testament, to bargain, to trade, etc. The purpose of such combinations is not to reinforce the meaning of the word, but to give it precision. “Think”, “joking”, “serve”, “hibernate” and similar verbs for folk poetics are not specific enough and chased, inexpressive and vague. "Thinking" is not the same as "thinking". Through the complement, the verb receives definiteness. An epithet is often added to the addition, and then that fullness and clarity of expression is achieved, which are so characteristic of the language of the epic: to think a strong little thought, to do a considerable service, to joke stupid jokes.

Another type of this kind of combinations is that another word is added to the word, which is very close to it in meaning: at that time, a little time, he twisted and mourned, from that grief from the twist, without shame, without litter, I know, I know, it goes by way and way, and others. Such combinations are very characteristic of the epic and are very numerous and varied.

It is usually believed that such combinations are caused by the desire for slowness of speech. They were also explained by the requirements of the rhythm of the verse. Both of these explanations must be recognized as incorrect. There is no deliberate desire for slow speech. All observations on the poetry of epics speak, on the contrary, of the extreme economy of linguistic means, of conciseness, laconicism, and clarity. In the same way, the action always develops quickly, energetically, full of passionate tension and merciless struggle. "Epic calmness" exists only in unsuccessful theories. It is also impossible to admit that these turns are dictated by the requirements of rhythm: the system of musical and poetic rhythm are in such a relationship that they do not interfere with one another, but are in harmonious combination. In cases where the musical rhythm requires a measure, a syllable, but the text does not provide it, the singer stretches the vowels, as music notation with precise subtext shows. In those cases when the vowel sound cannot be stretched along the course or character of the musical phrase, words with a weakened semantic function are inserted into the text, but maintaining the rhythm, such as “a”, “a i”, “ay”, “yes”, “that”, “same”, “whether”, “because”, “everything”. Such words are called enclitics. It is as unlikely that a folk poet could use words with a certain pronounced meaning as enclitics to fill the rhythm, as in literary poems the use of words for the sake of rhyme, and not for the sake of meaning. If there are such cases, they testify to the low giftedness of the poet or singer, to the decline of poetry, but they cannot be defined as a system characteristic of the epic.

In science, such combinations are usually referred to as synonymous. The theory of A.P. Evgenyeva is based on this. Without exception, she considers all such combinations to be synonymous and in her conclusions she says: “Synonymy serves to enhance the meaning, accentuation of individual words, syntagmas, verses, on which the main semantic load falls.” Thus, synonymy is considered as a kind of tautology, which should also emphasize the meaning, weight of the highlighted words.

This point of view cannot be considered correct. In the folk speech of the same locality, absolute synonyms, as a rule, do not exist at all; they are possible only as a rare case; what the observer at first glance seems to be synonyms, in fact, expresses a very subtle, but for the singer-poet a very significant and tangible difference. The point is precisely that such turns of phrase and combinations are not exactly synonymous. It's time and time, way and road, to grieve and grieve, shame and disgrace, etc. from the point of view of the singer and in fact are different concepts. They complement one another. They are not caused by the slowness of speech and not by the desire to increase the meaning, but, like epithets, they testify to the desire for the greatest accuracy of expression, for the finest differentiation in the meaning attached to words. So, the word "shame" expresses a feeling in relation to the speaker (shame - to be ashamed), shame - in relation to the environment (shame - to be ashamed). "Way" means the fact of movement in general, regardless of the forms of its implementation, "road" means specifically those places on the ground, the line along which the moving person follows. You can go to places where there is no road, you can pave the way and build roads. Similar differences can be established in all cases of such combinations.

In cases where not only words, but synonymous ones are repeated at the end of lines word groups, we already have not only the phenomenon of semantic order, but the order of organization of poetic speech. The rhythm and metrics of the epic verse cannot be studied here. They form the subject of a special discipline. But some individual phenomena associated with the rhythmic use of words still need to be briefly considered.

Belinsky drew attention to the repetition of verbal groups at the end of lines and gave them a different and more correct interpretation than was later done in the works of some scientists (“psychological parallelism” by Veselovsky), Belinsky extremely boldly and convincingly attributed them to the field rhymes and interpreted them as semantic rhymes. He writes: “In Russian folk poetry, the rhyme of not words, but of meaning, plays an important role: a Russian person does not chase after rhyme - he puts it not in consonance, but in cadence, and, as it were, he prefers semi-rich rhymes to rich ones; but its real rhyme is the rhyme of sense: by this word we mean the duality of verses, of which the second rhymes with the first in thought. Hence these frequent and apparently unnecessary repetitions of words, expressions, and whole verses; hence these negative similitudes, which, so to speak, emphasizes the real subject of speech».

The last words show that Belinsky considered the phenomena of versification in connection with the semantic aspect of verse. Here are some examples:

How clear the falcon flew out,
As if the white gyrfalcon flew out.

There was a feast, an honorable feast,
There was a canteen, an honorary table.

All of you in Kyiv are married,
Only I, Prince Vladimir, go single,
And I go single, I walk unmarried.

Rhyme is not a phenomenon associated only with sound. Rhyme clearly indicates the end of the stanza and, together with rhythm, introduces into speech the principle of some organization of it, creates a certain verbal pattern. A couple of rhymes create some symmetry. The same and more perfect and complete symmetry is created by the above parallelisms, which Belinsky called semantic rhyme; the law of symmetry is one of the laws of folk art. Symmetry is permeated with folk art, such as embroideries, lace, platbands, etc .; peasant buildings, both civil and church, are symmetrical. We can talk about the symmetry of speech as one of the artistic devices of folk verse.

All the above examples and observations speak of one thing: the presence of very specific and very strict requirements, the presence of a pronounced folk aesthetics. One of the main requirements of this aesthetics is such a choice of a word or a combination of words that would give the most clear and distinct visual image. Everything here requires the greatest, finest finishing. In the epic one can see the importance given to details in folk art. Outside of these details, the singer does not imagine his art.

The main features of the poetic language of epics relate to the field of vocabulary. This is understandable, since it is the word that is the building material from which both human speech and a work of art are created.

But not only the phenomena of vocabulary, but also some phenomena of morphology and syntax have artistic significance in the epic.

So, for example, the freedom with which singers treat verb types and tenses attracts attention.

It can be noted that in the epic the imperfect form is preferred, and it is used where in general Russian speech or in prose the perfect form would be required. The imperfect aspect expresses not only the incompleteness of the action, but also its repetition, as well as its duration. However, completeness or incompleteness, one-time or repetition do not have the same decisive significance in the epic as the duration, length (duration) of the action. The imperfect aspect is used for clearly one-time and completed actions, unless the action is depicted as a long one.

Nalagal he is a red-hot arrow,
pulled silk string.

In the modern literary language, such a use of species would be impossible. It would be necessary in both cases to apply the same type, moreover, perfect: put an arrow, pulled the bowstring. But the singer orders differently: “imposed” denotes a certain duration of the action, “stretched” - its instantaneousness.

Such cases show that species are not used from the point of view of the completion or incompleteness of the action; it can be observed that the imperfect form is preferred. It is constantly said: “he himself said these words” (instead of “said”), “went to get married” (instead of “went”), “Vasilisa Mikulichna sat on a good horse” (instead of “sat down”), “what will you take with you” (instead of “you will take”), etc.

The imperfect aspect is preferred because it fits the whole aesthetic of epic poetry better than the perfect. "Said," "entered," "sat down," "put down," etc., are mere statements of fact; on the contrary: "said", "entered", "sat down", "imposed" not only establishes a fact, but draw his. Depicted as a long action, the action is better presented to the imagination than a short, broken, single, finished one. Such verses as "and wrote the label, soon wrote" fully betray the artistic aspirations of the singer. Merely establishing the action by using the elephant "wrote" does not yet satisfy artistic requirements. The singer sees the writer before his eyes, and, as an illiterate, he is struck by the speed with which the literate write. Therefore, to the dispassionate statement of the fact "wrote", the picture of this letter is added: "soon wrote."

In the scene of Tugarin's defeat by Alyosha, all moments of the fight are given in an imperfect form, while the fact of his finishing off is in perfect form.

He soon jumped out into the street,
If only I didn’t kill Yugarishcha on the floor,
On the flight it was picked up by none, -
He stepped on one of his legs, tore off his friend.

The imperfect aspect is used even in the present tense with such verbs that usually do not form it: “let Dobrynushka Nikitich young get up”, “they took wine, they serve good fellow here.”

Relative freedom can also be observed in the use of tenses. The singer, of course, understands that the events of the song refer to the past. This is evidenced by the fact that the people call such songs "old times", this is evidenced by such beginnings as "who would tell us about the old, about the experienced", and the predominance of the past tense in the songs. However, this question is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. The art of the epic is to some extent related to the art of drama. When the spectator looks at the stage, he, of course, knows that the events depicted on the stage in the vast majority of cases refer to the past. They are perceived as events occurring before our eyes in the present.

There is something similar in epic poetry. Attributing the sung events to the past, the singer at the same time sees them before his eyes. They are made for him in the present. This can explain that the past tense is interspersed in epics with the present.

He began to ride across the open field,
His heart is on fire
Blood splattered in him.

In the description of the arrival of the ship Nightingale Budimirovich performed by Krivopolenova, we have the following sequence of times: running, runs out thirty nasads (ships); lowered sail; skhozhenki tossing; came Nightingale; beret gifts; came to Kyiv. In the future, the scene of gifting is given in the present tense, the construction of the tower and the exit to the towers of Zapava are told entirely in the past; in the further narrative, tenses are interspersed with the predominance of the past tense.

This shows that the singer does not make a fundamental difference between narration and description. The narrative is treated as a description. Time expresses not only temporal, but also spatial relationships. Through the use of the present tense, events relating to the past are transferred to the space that spreads out before the mind's eye of the listener in the present. Listener sees current events.

This transfer of events from the past to the temporal-spatial present affects not only the application and alternation of times. It can be observed that such words as “nonche”, “today”, “here”, “now”, “here” are introduced into the narrative. All these words denote either the present tense or the presence before the eyes. Certain localities are characterized by separate words (“nonche” is typical for Pechora), but the essence of the matter does not change from this: “here they come and go on a scarlet ship”, “here they say goodbye to four distant directions”, “now she went home at random” , “he said, yes, that’s the word here,” “Avdotya poured green wine here,” “he grabbed the knife by the petiole, he didn’t let the knife in until now.” Singers sometimes even abuse this technique:

They became young tonight encourage
If only they became young none shake none.

An interesting contradiction can be observed in the assignment of an action to the past or the present. Transferring the action to the present contributes to the depiction of fiction as reality. But the singer does not identify the reality of artistic fiction with the reality of his empirically surrounding life. Passing off fiction as reality, the singer at the same time sets certain boundaries for this. This can explain that, for example, in Pechora, the text of songs is sprinkled with the word "kaby", which in these cases serves not as a union, but as an adverb. The examples are extremely numerous.

At the affectionate prince at Vladimir
If only there was feasting and dining.

Usually the word "kaby" is at the beginning of the line.

In the epic about Vasily Ignatievich, on the orders of Vladimir, the tavern keeper returns the pledged weapons without ransom, after which Vasily is equipped for battle.

If they gave everything to Vasenka without money,
If only Vasily began to equip himself,
If only Vasily became worthy,
If only he saddled, bridle the good horse,
How tight-from-de bow yes pulled.

In other localities, “de”, the abbreviated “say”, is preferred, which expresses the nature of the modality of the action: “They ran into the quiet in the harbor, lowered the linen sails”; “He laid down the gangway and ended it on the ground.” The word "le" has the same function: "Le people went out into the street."

The contradiction lies in the fact that words denoting the modality of action (if, whether) are added words denoting its reality (non, here). The combination of these words shows that fiction, while remaining fiction, is at the same time understood as reality: “If only the good fellow wakes up here”; "They took if there was non-green wine."

As in that le it was before the city of Murom,
If only he lived, if there was a non-old Cossack here,
If only he was old, they say, Cossack Ilya Muromets.

The first line says that all this was "before", in the second it happens "non". It happens “if only”, they write about it, but at the same time it happens “here”.

Pushkin perfectly felt the artistic significance of such combinations and, using the folk poetic language, began his song about the prophetic Oleg with the words:

How the prophetic Oleg is going now.

This expresses the unity of fiction (if, how) and reality (now, here), past and present, art and life.