In the great monument of ancient Russian literature, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” there is an undoubted connection with folk traditions. The very idea of the work is popular; nationality is manifested in the description of events, and in the language, and in the artistic style of the author, as well as in the images that he creates. One of these folk images appears in the poem as Igor’s young wife, Yaroslavna.
Yaroslavna is a typical Russian woman. This image occupies a very important place in the ideological concept of the poem. He is covered with thoughts of peace, family, home, imbued with tenderness and affection, bright popular beginning. The image of Yaroslavna and other women expresses the sadness and care of the homeland and people for their soldiers. They contain the idea of creation, which opposes troubles and Destruction, the idea of contrasting war and peace. The wives of Russian soldiers mourn their husbands who died on the battlefield. And their crying, full of tenderness and sadness, has a deeply folk character.
The character of the heroine is most clearly revealed in the famous cry of Yaroslavna. The author seems to quote the cry of a Russian woman pitying not only her husband, but also his soldiers:
Oh wind, sail!..
Why are you rushing Khin's arrows?
on their porches
on my dear warriors?..
Bright and thrice bright sun!..
Why, lord, did you spread your hot rays
on the warriors of my fret?
In a waterless field thirst twisted their bows,
Have they filled their quivers with grief?
She also recalls the glorious campaign of Svyatoslav against the Polovtsians, of which the Russian people can rightfully be proud. Folk tunes can be heard in her cries and sentences. It was not by chance that the author chose this style of presentation - the style of folk lyrical songs. He most accurately reveals the image of the heroine as a representative of her people. It is precisely the words and expressions that fill lament that were used in oral folk art - in songs, laments, and parables. The appeals and images that the author uses are present in all folk works of that time. From the very beginning, the lament is built exclusively on folklore images - Yaroslavna, for example, strives, like the heroines of folk tales, to “fly like a cuckoo along the Danube.” Such transformation into birds or animals was very typical for ancient parables and songs.
Yaroslavna turns to nature: to the wind blowing under the clouds, nurturing ships on the blue sea; to the Dnieper, which broke through stone mountains and cherished Svyatoslav’s plantings; to the sun, which is beautiful for everyone, but in the steppe the Russian soldiers were overcome with waterless thirst and languor. All these images contain characteristics of the great and vast Rus'. These appeals clearly reflect the inextricable connection of the heroine with the entire Russian people. It is at native nature she is looking for sympathy and help:
About Dnepr Slovutych!
Come, sir, to my dear one,
so that I don’t send him tears
early at sea.
The peculiarity of Yaroslavna’s monologue also lies in the fact that it reveals Yaroslavna’s inner world. She stands on equal terms with the powerful forces of nature. She shows courage, wanting to be close to her husband in danger, as well as mercy: with her presence she wants to ease the suffering of the wounded Igor.
In Yaroslavna’s voice one can hear not only suffering and sadness. Every word of her cry is filled with tenderness and love. Her tender lyrical words bring reconciliation to feelings, soften the bitterness of loss and defeat. She deeply grieves for the army, but her grief is bright, full of hope. Together with her, all Russian women, the entire Russian people hope and believe in a happy outcome of events. And these hopes come true - Igor escapes from captivity. He is helped by the same nature to which the heroine turned with a prayer.
Thus, in Yaroslavna the author embodied the typical features of the people; he created the type of Russian woman, devoted to her husband and home country. And, besides, this image became the embodiment of the sorrows and joys of the Russian people, their hopes. Through him, as through other characters, the poet conveys the main idea of his work - a call for unity in the name of happiness and peace throughout Rus'.
“I’ll fly,” he says, “like a cuckoo along the Danube.”
I’ll soak my silk sleeve in the Kayala River,
I will wipe away the prince’s bloody wounds on his mighty body.
The history of Russian literature has preserved many interesting female images that embodied the ideal of the Russian woman. The most striking of them is the image of Yaroslavna, the wife of Prince Igor, in the ancient Russian story “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
The image of Yaroslavna is built on the best folklore traditions. The monologue of the wife of the courageous Prince Igor occupies only a page and is a cry and lamentation, but its significance for the entire story is great. We see the love, tenderness, and loyalty of the Russian woman who helped brave warriors survive in their feats of arms. After all, the warriors knew that they were eagerly awaited in their homeland and they definitely needed to return.
The author of “The Lay” compares Yaroslavna with a cuckoo, because it was this bird that was popularly a symbol of a lonely, grieving woman. As in many folk works, we can observe the heroine’s appeal to various phenomena
nature: wind, Dnieper, sun. Even during the times of paganism, the Slavs turned with prayers to these natural phenomena, believing in their omnipotence.
An interesting fact is that Yaroslavna is worried not only about the thought of Igor’s injury, but also about the fate of his soldiers. This once again confirms that this woman is a true princess, for whom the fate of the state is important:
Why, my lord, did you spread your hot rays
good for the warriors;
in a waterless field, thirst bent their bows...
Unfortunately, the lot of many wives, mothers, and sisters of that time was to wait a long time for their warriors. But all the warriors returned from campaigns, and sorrowful crying echoed across the Russian land. Perhaps this is why in Russian folklore tragic motifs predominate in the depiction of female images.
Yaroslavna is the ideal of a Russian woman - a devoted, loving wife, a wise ruler.
About eight centuries ago, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was created - a brilliant work of ancient Russian literature.
The passing centuries have not muffled its poetic sound or erased its colors. Interest in the “Word” not only has not diminished, but is becoming more and more broad, deep and comprehensive.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” tells about the campaign against the Polovtsians in one thousand one hundred eighty-five of the brave prince of the small Novgorod-Seversky principality Igor Svyatoslavich.
The campaign took place in the early spring of 1185. In addition to Igor Svyatoslavovich himself, his sons and Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich Rylsky took part in it. Then his brother Vsevolod, Prince Kurbsky, joined. The Russian “watchmen” reported that the Polovtsians were ready for battle. The next day, the Polovtsian regiments began to attack the Russians. Three days later, at dawn in the morning, the shelves shook. Igor is wounded and captured. Soon Igor escaped from captivity. This is how the chronicles tell about Igor Svyatoslavovich’s campaign. The Lay speaks of this campaign as an event well known to the reader. It does not so much talk about him as discuss him, connecting the events of Prince Igor’s campaign with the general situation of Rus' and the Russian people.
IN modern science The problem of authenticity and authorship of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is especially acute. There is extensive literature devoted to this problem.
Many literary scholars, historians, linguists, experts on our antiquity, writers, lovers of Russian history and literature, reading the “Lay”, studying its era and comparing different points of view, tried to reveal the secret of the authorship of the great work. Modern science has established for certain that the author of “The Lay” was endowed with extraordinary creative abilities, and we will never rise to his individual spiritual world, formed in those conditions - we can only approximately judge this person, based primarily on the text of the poem.
There are several approaches to solving this problem. There are three main points of view.
The first approach was implemented in the works of Academician B. A. Rybakov. Having analyzed colossal chronicle material in his two-volume work “The Search for the Author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” he conjectured that this author could be Pyotr Borislavich, a Kiev boyar and, presumably, a chronicler of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Izyaslav Mstislavich and his son Mstislav Izyaslavich.
The second point of view contradicts the first and claims that the author of the Lay was Prince Igor himself. This point of view is shared by the scientist A. N. Maikov in his work “Search for the author of the Lay.” He says that Igor opened in the chronicle an account not only of his defeat, but also of his previous deeds. In addition to describing the course of events, the prince’s repentant speeches were included in the chronicles. They are presented in such a way that there is no doubt that these are the true words of the prince himself.
The third approach is presented in the work of D. S. Likhachev “Reflections on the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and boils down to the fact that the author participated in Igor’s campaign, outlined the history of this campaign in the chronicle, conveying the prince’s cherished thoughts and at the same time, being a singer, created “The Word” and wrote down its text himself. The local interests of the feudal elite were alien to him and the interests of broad sections of the Russian working population were close. This means that the author of “The Lay,” the academician believes, could have been a folk singer.
We join the point of view expressed by D. S. Likhachev, because studies of various critics and scientists indicate that the author of the Lay knew many ancient Russian works, knew about life, about everyday life, about weapons, about the geography of Rus', about paganism , used folklore in his speech. If we take a closer look at the artistic means used by the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” we will be convinced that he mainly draws them from oral folk poetry and from oral Russian speech. And this is far from accidental. He is connected with folk poetry not only by his artistic tastes, but also by his worldview and political views. The author of “The Lay” creates in the forms of folk poetry because he himself is close to the people.
Many scientific works are devoted to the system of images of the “Word”, the peculiarities of the language (A. V. Solovyov “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” - a monument of the 12th century”, V. F. Sobolevsky “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”), etc.
Almost all researchers note the inextricable connection between works of ancient Russian literature and the images and genres of Slavic folklore. It is thanks to folklore, which is close to us in spirit, that readers perceive the complex lyric-epic work “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
It is the emphasis on folk elements, in our opinion, can make studying “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” at school more interesting and accessible.
Since this work is the subject of literature study in the ninth grade (this is one of the first topics according to T. F. Kurdyumova’s program), its study in this aspect will, in our opinion, be especially relevant.
Both “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and works of oral folk art are imbued with a great feeling of love for the Motherland.
The significance of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is especially great for us also because the work in connection with folklore is a living and indisputable evidence of the height of ancient Russian culture, its originality and its nationality.
Based on the foregoing, we can highlight the problem of this work as the relationship of the “Word” with oral folk art.
So, the topic of the essay is Slavic folklore in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” as the ideological and artistic basis of the monument of ancient Russian literature. Thus, we single out the object of the research work “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, and the subject is the features of Slavic folklore in the “Tale”.
The goal of our activity: to establish identical features of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” with traditions, images and works of Slavic folklore. The goal is achieved through the following tasks:
1. Consider the history of the study of the “Word” in different aspects of study;
2. Study the poetics of the “Word”;
3. Identify the genre identity of the “Word” and folklore works;
4. Give information about the system of images of the “Word”;
5. Analyze the system of artistic and visual means of the “Word” and Russian oral folk art;
When writing a research paper, methods of observation, description, and interpretation were used. Thanks to these methods, we received a complete picture of the problem being studied.
The practical significance of the abstract seems to the author to be that the material under study is presented in a certain system, taking into account all the features of this topic.
Chapter 1. Ideological and artistic originality of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
1. 1 “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is the greatest artistic monument of Ancient Rus', its connection with CNT.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is the highest ideological and artistic achievement of ancient Russian literature. It is remarkable not only in itself as a great monument of human genius, created in the 12th century, but also for the role it played in the history of the development of Russian literature.
In the two hundred years since the first publication of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” thousands of works have been written in all languages of the world about the great monument of ancient Russian literature. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” has been analyzed and commented on different angles point of view - historical, paleographic, aesthetic, linguistic, natural history, geographical, military-political.
In modern science, the attention of scientists is especially drawn to the question of searching in living folk speech for dictionary correspondences to the vocabulary of the “Word”, which has not been preserved in modern Russian literary language. The work of researcher V. A. Kozyrev “Vocabulary of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is devoted to this issue. The author puts forward the proposition that of “the verbal pearls found in Bryansk folk dialects, those that are found only in the Lay and are not recorded in any other written source are of particular value.” “Not bologom in the “Word” has a correspondence in today’s popular speech - “Bologom”, good; verezhen – “rigged”, damaged; in advance – “early” early morning. V. A. Kozyrev specifically studied the lexical echoes of the “Word” only in Bryansk folk dialects, using in other cases the already accumulated dialectical material. We can highlight the main result of the work: “correspondences to one hundred and fifty-one lexemes of the monument were discovered; Most of them are parallels to those lexemes that, except for the “Word,” are not noted anywhere else or are rarely used in other monuments.”
Many researchers of the monument also paid attention to the author’s exceptional natural history knowledge. This topic is discussed in the work of the natural scientist N.V. Charlemagne “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” He more expertly studied and examined the animal world in his article. Charlemagne estimates that animals, mostly “wild ones, among which game animals and birds predominate, are mentioned over eighty times in the poem.” The scientist developed almost all cases of mention of animals and birds in the “Tale”, gave his detailed comments to them, clarifying some dark places in the poem and proving that this unique source on local history contains the author’s subtlest observations of the natural world, “fully consistent with reality, those there are conditions of place and time of year.”
A lot has been written about military weapons and military affairs in the Lay. We can highlight the main approach to solving this problem. This approach is implemented in the work of V. A. Chivilikhin “Memory”. From the point of view of a scientist, excellent knowledge of weapons was mandatory for the governor and ordinary warrior of those times. The prince-commander also had to have this knowledge. direct participant internecine and external wars. The princes were mounted on horses in infancy, and in adolescence they already witnessed endless wars and took part in campaigns, gaining combat experience, mastering military skills and gaining courage, preparing for the hour when they themselves would certainly ride with a sword and under a personal banner troops ahead! - towards the enemy. The Lay makes extensive use of military terminology, both literally and figuratively. There are image-symbols: “to break the end of the field with a spear” - to win a victory, “to drink the Don with a helmet” - to defeat the enemy at the Don, “to lay down your head” - to fall in battle, etc.
At the beginning of the forties, a very noticeable stage in the study of the “Word” was represented by the works of M. A. Buslaev. In a number of his works, he set himself the goal of studying the “Word” in connection with ancient Russian mythology and folk beliefs. Guided by the most important tenets of the mythological school, Buslaev brought into the explanation of the “Word” the material of folk poetry - Scandinavian, Germanic and Slavic, explaining the similarities between it and the “Word” by the common mythological fundamental principle. If we ignore the depravity of Buslaev’s initial theoretical premises, his observations must be recognized as having a lot of value for explaining the “Word”.
Many researchers write that the only reliable source of knowledge about the poem is the “Word” itself, but almost all of them now attract new historical, chronicle, comparative literary, mythological, paleographic, dialectological, ethnographic, astronomical, geographical, etc. material , bringing us closer to the truth or moving us further away from it.
In total, there are more than seven hundred works on the “Word” in the research literature. It has been translated into most Western European languages (French, English, German, Dutch, Danish, Italian) and all Slavic languages (Czech, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Serbian). Dear, superbly executed and carefully commented editions of the Lay, published in different countries, they talk about intense interest in him.
The significance of this “fragrant flower” of Russian literature is also immensely great because it stands at the beginning of that complex development of literature, which subsequently, from the 14th century, led to the formation of three fraternal peoples: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. “The Word” is, as it were, marked with the stamp of those very qualities that, over the centuries, have determined the best aspects of the literature of these peoples. At the dawn of ancient Russian literature, it already testifies to the creative abilities of fraternal peoples, to the originality of the origins of their cultures and serves, as it were, as a symbol of their unity.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” requires a more detailed and versatile analysis, but the textual analysis of its composition, style, images, folk poetic motifs should be targeted and ultimately should serve to clarify the high patriotic idea that inspired the author, a brilliant exponent of Russian truly folk ideology . “The meaning of the poem,” wrote K. Marx, “is the call of the Russian princes to unity just before the invasion of the Mongols.” In the minds of the best Russian people, this awareness of the need for national unity in the face of a formidable external danger was born much earlier than in Western Europe.
Based on its content, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is in tune with the Russian heroic epic; The saturation of the Lay with folk poetic motifs is undeniable, but it is difficult to determine the extent of folklore influence on it, since it is not known exactly what the Russian spoken word poetry in the XI-XII centuries.
But reliable evidence of the very fact of the existence and significant development of various genres of folklore (heroic and lyrical songs, ritual poetry, lamentations, spells, proverbs, etc.) in the era of the creation of “The Lay” is primarily the text of this monument.
The author of “The Lay” more than once recalls the singer Boyan, and if he says that he will begin his story “according to the epics of this time, and not according to Boyan’s plans,” then in fact he was inspired by Boyan’s songwriting and followed his style. Just as Boyan “combined” “both sexes of this time,” so the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” “twists” (compares) the events of the campaign of Prince Igor he describes with memories of the Slavic victories of Russian princes in the old days.
It is said about Boyan in the Lay that he “laid” his fingers on living strings. This means that he performed his songs himself, and accompanied himself on a stringed instrument, like other folk singers, whose existence in those days is evidenced by historical documents.
From the characteristics given by the author of the Lay to Boyan’s work, it is clear that his work had much in common with folk epic songs (old times, epics), conveyed in oral transmission until the 19th-20th centuries. This high soaring of the folk singer, the breadth of the flight of his thoughts and imagination can be likened to the beginning of Russian epics, amazing in such a breadth of poetic coverage:
Is it the height, the height of heaven,
Depth, depth of the Okiyan-sea,
Wide expanse throughout the earth,
The Dnieper pools are deep. !
The ending of the epic: “then the old days, then the deeds” - recalls the expression of the author of the “Tale” himself about old times, “old words” to which he turns, beginning to recount the events of Igor’s campaign.
The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” who wrote his work at the end of the 12th century, was separated from Boyan by about a hundred years; For him, Boyan was the “nightingale of the old times,” who glorified with his songs the great Yaroslav, the brave Mstislav, who stabbed Rededya in front of the Masonic regiments, who glorified the “red” Roman Svyatoslavich, Vseslav of Polotsk, and others. He was a contemporary of these princes, whose names are listed in the chronicles of the 11th century .
A man of another era, the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was under the spell of the prophetic Boyan and imitated him. He remembered well and reproduced some of his chants, “choruses,” proverbs, for example: “Even though it’s hard for a head without shoulders, it’s hard for a body without a head.”
Following Boyan, the author of “The Lay” used techniques and stylistic means folk poetry: constant epithets (blue sea, blue eagle, gray wolf, open field, black raven, red-hot arrows, etc.), negative comparisons (“It was not the storm that carried the falcons across the wide fields, Galitsa herds ran to the great Don,” “not ten falcons for a flock of swans is more dense, but there are things of their own on the living strings of the insert”, etc.), tautological expressions “trumpets blow”, “bridges are bridged”, “I neither think to understand, nor think to think”), repetitions (“Yaroslavna cries early in Putivl”, etc.).
Yaroslavna's lament is close to the people's lamentations. The vocabulary and phraseology of the text of the monument contain many purely folk sayings.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” however, is not at all a recording of an oral song. This is, first of all, a literary and artistic work, akin in its spirit to folk poetry, but at the same time close to the monuments of the then Russian written literature. The artistic mastery of “The Lay” organically combines elements of folk poetic speech and literary creativity. The poet-artist draws prophetic, symbolic images (bloody dawns, clouds with thunder and rain of arrows, black fogs from the sea, foreshadowing misfortune). He vividly paints pictures of nature - sometimes gloomy (the cry of birds and animals promises a great massacre), sometimes bright, friendly (the cheerful songs of nightingales replace the screeching of birds of prey, the fogs are warm, the evening dawns are clear); he creates personifications full of mysterious and symbolic meaning (the Virgin of Resentment is depicted emerging from the sea with swan wings; she awakened with her splashing difficult times, widespread sadness spread throughout the Russian land). In personifications, in poetic parallelisms, in the choice of comparisons, the influence of folk poetry is noticeable, but creatively rethought, literary reworked.
The author of “The Lay” did not imitate the external techniques of folk art, but, turning to its various genres, independently and freely used their folk poetic means and images. So, if the heroes of ancient folk songs were often endowed with the properties of “fierce beasts” and animals, then in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” Vsevolod is called a “buoy tur”, Vseslav of Polotsk is a wolf, and Prince Igor is a falcon. But for the author of “The Tale” these names are nothing more than figurative similes, and if the epic prince Volkh Vseslavyevich is depicted as a werewolf who could actually turn into a wolf, then in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” the motive of the werewolf of Vseslav of Polotsk, who prowled at night like a wolf, serves only a means of poetic characterization.
Thanks to this, we can conclude that “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is the greatest and unique complex genre monument of ancient Rus'.
1. 2 Place of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in the poetics of ancient Russian literature.
The category of literary genre is a historical category. Genres appear only at a certain stage in the development of the art of words and then constantly change. The point is not only that some genres come to replace others and no genre is eternal for literature, the point is also that the very principles of identifying individual genres change, the types and nature of genres, their functions in one way or another change. era.
Modern division into genres based on purely literary features, appears relatively late. For Russian literature purely literary principles the distinction of genres came into force mainly in the 17th century. Until this time, literary genres, to one degree or another, carried, in addition to literary functions, extraliterary functions.
We observe similar phenomena in folklore, where extra-folklore features of genres are very important, especially in ancient periods.
Genres in ancient Slavic literature were distinguished according to slightly different characteristics than in modern literature. The main thing was the use of the genre, the “practical purpose” for which the genre was intended. Church genres had certain functions in church life. The newly emerging genres in Russian literature were also associated with certain functions of the country's political life.
Another feature: the abundance and diversity of these genres. This feature lies in an undoubted connection with the first: with the diversity of needs for them and their use in various areas church and state life.
Despite the presence of two complementary systems of genres - literary and folklore, Russian literature of the 11th-13th centuries was in the process of genre formation. In different ways, from different roots, works constantly arise that stand apart from traditional system genres, destroy it, or creatively rework it.
It is even possible that the emergence of new genres occurs orally, and then becomes consolidated in literature.
“The Lay” is one of the book reflections of the early feudal epic. The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” classifies his work as one of the “difficult stories,” that is, stories about military deeds.
“The Lay” combines two folklore genres: “glory” and “crying”. In the “Word” itself, both “weeps” and “glories” are mentioned repeatedly. And in other works of Ancient Rus' we can notice the same combination of “glory” in honor of the princes and “crying” for the dead.
This combination in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” of the genre of “laments” with the genre of “glories” does not contradict the fact that “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” as a “difficult story” is close in genre to “military deeds”. “Difficult stories,” like “military deeds,” belonged to a new genre, which obviously combined two more ancient genres in its formation—“laments” and “glories.” "Difficult Tales" mourned the death of heroes, their defeat and praised their chivalry, their loyalty and their honor.
In “The Lay” there is a closeness to folk “glories” and “laments”, but in its dynamic solution it approaches a fairy tale. This work is exceptional in its artistic merits, but its artistic unity is achieved not by the fact that it follows, as was the case in the usual Middle Ages, a certain tradition, such a refusal to follow any established system of genres, which is determined by the requirements of reality and the strong creative individuality of the author .
The artistic logic of “The Lay,” while not being fundamentally different from ours, nevertheless has a medieval and purely authorial originality. It can go beyond the limits of this medieval artistic logic, characteristic of both “The Lay” and other artistic works of his time, and replace them or supplement them with that figurative system that is characteristic only of our time.
Indeed, aesthetic perception in the Middle Ages in Ancient Rus' was somewhat different than in modern times.
Let us, first of all, pay attention to the anonymity of many works of Ancient Rus'. Anonymity was a manifestation not only of the author's lack of sense of ownership, but also a phenomenon of aesthetics.
“Anonymity” should not be viewed only in terms of the lack of a sense of “authorship”, a reduced personal beginning etc.; anonymity is also a phenomenon of medieval poetics and folklore. A medieval work is written not for self-expression, but in order to respond to the expectations, demands, desires of the reader, listener, viewer. The unknown author is not concerned with himself, but with those for whom he creates his work.
Hence the connection between anonymity and tradition. Traditionality also expresses the collective principle of art. Moving within the framework of tradition, the creator seems to follow well-trodden paths familiar to his listeners, readers and viewers. In art, the moment of recognition is extremely important. This moment of recognition is especially important in ancient Russian art, where it can even prevail over the moment of learning something new. The author of the work is one, but he creates for many, uses what has been done by many before him. If there is “something wrong” in what he created, copyists or performers can always redo it, because they have no sense of differences in the style of the work from traditional styles. There are many of these styles, but they also differ from each other not by authors, but by why and for whom the work is created, by genres.
Anonymity, traditionality and ceremony require repetition. In ancient Russian works, it is not novelty that is aesthetically effective, but etiquette commonality. The artist is looking not for the freshness of impressions, but for the expression of these impressions in the forms they are supposed to have.
From these ideas it was very easy for the ancient Russian scribe to move to the confidence that the work was not written by the author, was not “invented” by him, but was, as it were, dictated by tradition, by something extraneous, standing above the author.
In folklore, the very process of creating folk works is deeply specific. Unlike the work of writers who assigned authorship to themselves and dated their works, folk poetry has always been oral and anonymous. At the same time, the collective principle in folklore was dialectically connected with individual authorship.
Folklore works, of course, were created by the most talented people who mastered the art of words. But their creative work was closely connected with the entire folk collective. The works of individual authors were intended for the entire people, therefore they embodied national ideas and widely used folk poetic traditions, within which the personal artistic skill of their creators was manifested. In addition, without assigning their names to the works, folk singers and storytellers gave them to the distribution of the entire the masses. Thus, in folklore, ultimately, the collective principle prevailed, although the role of an individual talented individual was also great in it.
So, we can highlight such a feature as anonymity, which also indicates to us the closeness of the author of “The Lay” and the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” itself to folklore.
Familiarity with the “Word” is clearly revealed in the entire subsequent development of Old Russian literature.
At the very beginning of the 15th century, “The Lay” served as a literary model for the creation of “Zadonshchina”. “Zadonshchina” is a small poetic work dedicated to the glorification of the victory of Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field “beyond the Don”. “Zadonshchina” leads this glorification, using the images of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” contrasting the sad past with the joy of victory. But the author of “Zadonshchina” did not understand the “Word” everywhere, distorted and weakened many artistic images.
Through “Zadonshchina”, and perhaps directly, “The Lay” also influenced another work about the Battle of the Don - the so-called “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev”.
In the 16th century, the Lay was undoubtedly copied in Pskov or Novgorod.
Apparently, it was the “Word” that was reflected in the Pskov chronicle in the story about the battle of Orsha in 1512.
There is reason to think that the “Lay” was familiar to the author of the “Poetic Tale of the Cossacks’ Siege in Azov,” compiled in the middle of the 17th century.
Thus, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” made itself felt from time to time in various regions of Rus'. They read and rewrote it, looking for inspiration for their own works. Created in the south of Rus', “The Word” “was not lost,” as Academician A. S. Orlov put it, “on the border of a wild field; it went around the entire horizon of Russian territory, crossing its circumference more than once.”
Chapter 2. The relationship of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” with the traditions and images of Slavic folklore.
2. 1 Genre identity of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and works of oral folk art.
Love for the native land is the basis of Russian folk poetry.
The people sang in poetic works most often wars of liberation and condemned wars of aggression and predatory ones. For many centuries, folklore has fostered a sense of love for the homeland, an awareness of responsibility for its fate, united the people in the face of danger, and taught heroism.
The greatest monument of ancient Russian literature - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - is most closely connected with folk poetry.
At the end of the 11th century, feudal internecine wars began, and the weakened Kievan Rus, deprived of unity, became the prey of foreigners.
The main theme of ancient Russian literature is the fate of the Russian state and people. Old Russian literature in its best works is entirely devoted to the Russian land, its history, its social and state transformation. It must be said that ancient Russian works are very often devoted to social disasters and military failures of the Russians.
The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” writes about the fate of the entire Russian land, devastated by the Polovtsians and deprived of the internal unity necessary to resist the enemy. The “Word” teaches, prays, calls for unity, for courageous and united resistance to the enemy, based on the fact of defeat and misfortune.
The unknown author created his work hot on the heels of events. He believed that all historical vicissitudes and details were well known to contemporaries. The author's task was to give political and artistic assessment event, to show their contemporaries what significance the failure of Igor’s campaign had for historical fate the entire Russian land.
The composition “Tales of Igor’s Campaign” at first glance seems very complex and sometimes inconsistent. The author moves from topic to topic, from some characters his narrative to others, constantly changes the scene of action. It should also be noted that the time of action changes quickly - the author turns from the present to the past and from the past to the present and to premonitions of a menacing future.
In the fact of the defeat of the Russian troops on Kayal, the author of the Lay saw a manifestation of the terrible evil of feudal fragmentation, a lack of unity between the princes, and a manifestation of the selfish policy of princes thirsting for personal glory.
The defeat of Igor’s army evokes deep thought among the poet-citizen and patriot about the fate of the Russian land, and the main idea of the “Word” is a passionate appeal of the Russian princes for unity. This idea is clearly embodied in the entire artistic structure of the work and, above all, in its plot and composition, as well as in the system of visual and expressive means.
“The Word” opens with a short introduction. It is not directly related to the course of the story. In it, the author reflects on the artistic principles of presenting the material and, as it were, conducts a dialogue with the reader. The introduction emphasizes the public pathetic triumphant pathos of the work. Next, the author moves on to the narration of the events of the campaign. The exhibition gives a laconic, expressive description of Igor and emphasizes that his campaign against the Polovtsians was undertaken in the name of the Russian land.
The entry of Russian troops into the campaign forms the plot of the “Lay”. The author does not say when and where Igor came from, or what the route of the Russian troops was, but he introduces vivid pictures of nature, filled with deep symbolic meaning. Events are developing rapidly. The author gives a short, emotionally uplifting story about the first clash between the Russians and the Polovtsians and about the rich spoils taken by the Russians. A sharp contrast to this episode is the symbolic landscape on the eve of the second battle. In the description of the battle, the author focuses on the heroic figure of the buoy-tur Vsevolod and limits himself to mentioning Igor, who is trying to return the fleeing Kovuys to the battlefield.
The defeat of the Russian troops constitutes the climax of the plot. The author shows what painful consequences this defeat had for the entire Russian land. He emphasizes that as a result of the defeat of Igor’s troops, the successes of the coalition campaign of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav against the Polovtsians were negated.
The symbol of the united Russian land is Kyiv and the Grand Duke of Kiev. Therefore, the action of “The Lay” is transferred to the capital of the Russian land. A picture of the “muddy dream” that Svyatoslav sees is introduced. This dream is interpreted by the boyars: they report the defeat of Igor. Svyatoslav expresses the feeling of grief caused by the painful news in his “golden word,” mixed with tears. The monologue of the Grand Duke of Kyiv develops into a passionate journalistic appeal from the author of the Lay, addressed to the princes: to stand up “for the Russian land”, to avenge “the wounds of Igor Svyatoslavovich”, to stop centuries-old internecine strife.
The author's journalistic appeal to the princes is replaced by the lyrical cry of Igor's wife Yaroslavna, which is an important link in the further development of the plot; and anticipates the denouement - Igor’s escape from captivity. Igor returns to Kyiv and thereby, as it were, admits his guilt - violation of obligations to the Russian land. The “Word” ends with the proclamation of “glory” in honor of the princes - Igor, Vsevolod, Vladimir, Igor and their squad.
Thus, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” does not give a consistent account of the campaign and even deviates from a number of historical facts. The author takes only the most significant episodes, which allow him to more clearly express his attitude to events and convey the main idea to his listeners. It is the civil patriotic idea that firmly connects all parts of the work into a single artistic whole. “Clarity of political thought, lyrical emotion, journalistic passion, breadth of historical thinking, high artistry - all this makes “The Lay” a beautiful fragrant flower of Slavic folk poetry, worthy of attention, memory and respect,” wrote V. G. Belinsky.
It is important to note that the Lay does not so much narrate the events of Igor’s campaign as discuss them and evaluate them. It speaks of them as well known to readers. This is a formidable speech of a patriot - a passionate and excited speech, poetically inconsistent, now turning to the events of living modernity, now recalling the deeds of hoary antiquity, now angry, now sad and mournful, but always full of faith in the homeland, full of pride for it, confidence in the future. Indeed, in the Lay one can clearly feel the wide and free breath of oral speech. It is also felt in the choice of expressions - the usual military and feudal terms used in oral speech; it is felt in the very rhythm of the language, as if designed to be spoken out loud. The “Word” is also exceptionally strong in its rhythm. The author, choosing his poetic style, considers as his predecessor not any of the speakers of the 11th - 12th centuries known to us, but Boyan, a singer, poet, performing his works to the accompaniment of some stringed instrument - apparently, the gusli.
That is why, when reflecting on the genre nature of the Lay, it is important to turn to folk poetry.
It must be added that “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is by no means a work of oral folk poetry, but it is very close to it in its ideological essence and stylistic structure. In the art of words, there is a system of two genres (D.S. Likhachev), one of them is a system of folk poetic genres - epics, historical songs, ritual songs, etc. I would like to draw an analogy with these genres of oral folk art.
By the end of the 10th century, Kievan Rus was a united and powerful state. It united almost all East Slavic tribes. At its head stood the prince, supported by his squad.
WITH Kievan Rus The history of our country begins. Protecting it from enemy attacks was protecting the interests of the entire Russian people.
At the end of the 11th century, feudal internecine wars began, and the weakened Kievan Rus, deprived of unity, became the prey of foreigners.
Heroic epics describe events mainly from the 11th – 12th centuries. “Epics, as a genre, obviously emerged simultaneously with Russian feudal statehood,” writes academician B. A. Rybakov. In literature, the time of action of the heroes of epics is usually called the heroic era, when the young Russian state, at the time of its organization, had to wage a difficult and bloody struggle for existence.
Epics grew out of ancient songs and legendary fairy tales. History is uniquely combined with poetic fiction, reality with fantasy. The majesty of the images, the pathos and monumentality of the epics contributed to their popularity among wide sections of the people. The main thing in these works is the story of heroic deeds: one or more heroes - heroes, selflessly devoted to their homeland, selflessly brave and noble, fight for their native land and save it from enslavement. War is depicted here not as duels between individual heroes.
“Admired (aesthetic) correlation is caused by feats - exceptional cases of coincidence of these moments: the combination of internal and external boundaries of existence. The poeticization of feats, the glorification of their performers - heroes as phenomena of the external-internal integrity of the human “I” lays the foundation for heroics - the oldest mode of artistry. The heroic consonance of the inner world of the heroes and their external environment, impoverishing both of these sides into a single whole,” wrote G. F. Hegel, “represents a certain aesthetic principle of meaning generation, consisting in the combination of the internal givenness of being (“I”) and its external givenness " At its core, a heroic character “is not separated from his fate, they are united, fate expresses the impersonal side of the individual, and his actions only reveal the content of fate,” said A. I. Gurevich.
The initial separation of the aesthetic relationship from the moral and political is clearly visible in the Lay. Publicistically condemned for “disobedience” to the Grand Duke of Kyiv, Igor’s campaign was simultaneously endowed with the appearance of a feat. The motivation for the campaign is the coincidence of the prince’s personal self-determination with his service to the super-personal “military spirit”: Igor “will torture my mind with my strength and sharpen my hearts with courage, filling myself with the military spirit.” The fatal sign clearly tells him about impending trouble, but the hero does not ask about fate; internally coinciding with his role boundary, he enthusiastically rushes towards its external implementation. Of the same nature is the selfless behavior in battle of Prince Vsevolod and the author’s admiration of this behavior: “what wounds are dear, brothers, forgetting to honor both the stomach, and the city of Chranigov from the gold of the table, and your own dear desires, red Glabovna, traditions and customs!” All of the listed values of the world order and the hero’s private life, crowded out of his horizons by the “spirit of arms,” at the moment of accomplishing the feat, cease to be significant for the author: they lose the status of boundaries of the inner “I.”
Continuing to draw a parallel between the epic genre and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” I would like to consider their ideological world. The main ideas of the epic epic were the desire of the Russian people to preserve their old epic fund as a memory of the greatness of Kievan Rus, the creation of their statehood, national defense and love for their native land. Epics helped to raise spirits and prepared for the fight against enemies.
The ideas of the Lay were not something exceptional in the historical activity of their time. And the author of the Lay was not alone in his call for unity. In one of his letters to Engels in 1863, K. Marx defined the main idea of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” as follows: “The meaning of the poem is a call for unity among the Russian princes just before the invasion of enemies.” This idea of unity in the face of a terrible external danger subordinates the entire content of the “Word”. The call for unity is permeated in the “Word” with the most passionate, strongest and most tender love for the homeland.
What commonality of plots can be noted between the epic and “The Lay”? the artistic features of epics are organically connected with their ideological content. Historical events of many centuries, the most memorable phenomena of great national significance to the people, were embodied in epics based on the poetic laws of typification, selection, artistic invention and broad generalization of what is depicted. One of the main principles of typification, which consists in showing the plural, the national in the broadly generalized individual. Therefore, the fight in epics is usually carried out not so much by the entire military mass, but by individual warrior-heroes, who in heroic fights with enemies personify the people's strength. As a rule, in heroic epics there are a relatively small number of heroes, and only three of them occupy the central place - the famous heroes Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich.
It must be said that the connection with the epic is clearly felt in The Lay in the depiction of the characters. The author of “The Lay” hyperbolizes his heroes. This hyperbolization is one of the methods of artistic generalization, typical of the heroic epic. Just as in the epics the hero combines all the properties of the Russian army, the Russian squad or the Russian peasantry, in the Lay the characteristics and exploits of their squad are transferred to the positive heroes-princes. Before us in the Lay the initial stage of this process, which in the epic at a later time led to the fact that the Russian army was absorbed in the collective image of the hero, began to be absent from the epics.
So, for example, Vsevolod Bui Tur shoots arrows at his enemies, rattles his haraluzhny swords on their helmets: the Ovar helmets are “scratched” by his red-hot sabers. Swords and sabers are spoken of in the plural. Of course, arrows, swords and sabers are “not personal” to Vsevolod. The author of the Lay says here that Vsevolod shoots at his enemies with the arrows of his squad and fights with their swords and sabers.
Just like Ilya Muromets:
“Where he flies, there’s a street, where he flies, there’s an alley. “So does Vsevolod Bui Tur - “Camo Tur jumping with his golden helmet, there lie the filthy heads of the Polovtsian.” We see the same transfer of the exploits of the squad to the prince in the Lay and in other cases. Svyatoslav of Kiev “pulled away” the treachery of the Polovtsians “with his strong plaki and kharaluzhny swords”; Vsevolod of Suzdal can “pour the Don with helmets” - of course, not with his one helmet, but with many helmets of his squad. Yaroslav Osmomysl also intercedes the king’s path with his army. The squad is still present in The Lay, but it already serves as a background for the main character - the prince.
It must be emphasized that another feature of the commonality of the plots is the single location of action - the Russian land. Epic Rus' is rich and abundant: the fields generously produce grain, the forests contain many animals, and the rivers contain fish. There are many cities, towns and villages in this country. The cities shine with towers and temples, are surrounded by walls and towers, the streets are paved, and on holidays they are decorated with cloth and carpets. In epics, nature is close and understandable to people. She not only feeds and waters them, but also protects them from enemies. We find a similar idea of the native land in the “Word”. The image of the Russian land is central in the Lay; it is outlined by the author with a broad and free hand. The author of “The Lay” depicts the vast expanses of the Russian land. He feels his homeland as a single huge and living being. In the vast expanses of Rus', the power of the heroes of the Lay takes on hyperbolic proportions: Vladimir Svyatoslavovich could not be nailed to the Kyiv mountains. All Russian nature takes part in the joys and sorrows of the Russian people: the sun obscures the prince’s path with darkness - warns him of danger. The Donets makes a green bed for Igor, who is escaping from captivity, on its silver banks, clothes him with warm fog, and guards him with goldeneyes and ducks. Like Igor, who turned into a falcon and killed geese and swans for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the epic about Volkh Vseslavovich. The Volkh, turning into a falcon, kills geese and swans for the squad. The upbringing of the Kursk warriors Vsevolod Bui Tur is reminiscent of the upbringing of the same Volkh Vseslavovich. Even the pagan gods mentioned in the Lay are perceived as images of folk poetry.
Based on the common themes, heroics, ideas, plots and images of heroes, we can claim that “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is closely connected with Russian folk art.
It seems important to say that not only with epics we can see the close connection of the “Lay”, but also during the analysis we can identify identical features with the genre of historical song.
Historical songs are poetic epic, lyric-epic, and sometimes lyrical oral works, artistically expressing the ideological and emotional attitude of the people to specific events, often summarized in the actions of historical figures. They were created on the basis of national poetic traditions during the era of the national liberation struggle against the Mongol-Tatar yoke. As epic works, many historical songs have poetic features similar to epics, but are a qualitatively new stage in the development of oral epic poetry. The events sung are conveyed in them with greater historical accuracy than in epics, although the principles of artistic selection, generalization, and evaluation of activity are also determined by the unique worldview of the social layer in which the song existed, its aesthetic ideal. The subject of depiction in historical songs are individual facts of the political history of the people, episodes from the life of statesmen, military commanders and people's leaders. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” also reflects the facts. It is dedicated to the campaign of Prince Igor Svyatoslavovich Nogorod-Seversky, which he undertook in 1185 against the Polovtsians.
“An extremely important feature of the historical story is the broadly typified images of heroes, and this required the individualization of images, which was a new stage in the history of folklore in the depiction of a person,” says N. I. Kravtsov.
Historical songs, like “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” are characterized by idealization of images. For example, in historical songs Emelyan Pugachev is spoken of as a defender of weak and poor people. He was their ideal of power. So in the “Tale” Igor appears as a defender of the Russian land, of the entire Russian people.
Folk images of the “Lay” are closely related to his folk ideas. The artistic side and the ideological side are inseparable from each other in The Lay. Here, for example, is the usual comparison of the battle with the harvest in the Lay: “Then, under Olz, Gorislavlivech will fight and spread out strife, the life of Dazhdbog’s grandson will perish”; “The black earth, under the hooves, was covered with bones, and the glade was cleared with blood: it sighed heavily through the Russian land”; “They lay sheaves with their heads on Neliz, they thresh the chains with haraluzhny, they put them on the belly, they twist the soul from the body.” These comparisons were very frequent in oral folk poetry. They are found abundantly later - in recordings of historical songs made in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The field was not plowed with plows, not with plows
And the field is plowed with horse hooves,
The field is sown with non-germinating seeds,
Sown with Cossack heads,
The field is covered with Cossack black curls.
Chorna role is zaorana,
Kulyami covered
Bilim tilom is gilded,
Covered with blood.
This comparison of the battlefield with arable land in the Lay and in folk poetry has a deep ideological meaning. This is not even a comparison, but a contrast. The Lay and folk poetry contrast war with peaceful labor, destruction with creation, death with life.
It should be noted that from lyrical genres“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” stands closest to popular laments and glorifications. The folk song principle is expressed strongly and deeply in the Lay. Certain parts of the “Lay” are very close to songs of praise composed in honor of this or that hero - a prince or a warrior - “glories”, while others are people’s “laments”. Lamentation (or lamentation) is a genre of musical and poetic folklore of different nations, traditionally elegiac improvisation, associated primarily with funerals, weddings, memorials and other rituals, crop failure, illness, recruitment, etc.
The author of the Lay literally cites laments and glory in his work, and he follows them most of all in his presentation. Their emotional opposition gives him that vast range of feelings and mood swings that is so characteristic of The Lay.
The author of the Lay mentions lament at least five times; Yaroslavna's cry, the cry of the wives of Russian soldiers who died in Igor's campaign, the cry of Rostislav's mother. Lamentations are what the author of the Lay means when he talks about the groans of Kyiv and Chernigov and the entire Russian land after the campaign of Prince Igor. Twice the author of the Lay cites the laments themselves: the lament of Yaroslavna and the lament of Russian wives. Repeatedly he is distracted from the narrative, resorting to lyrical exclamations, so characteristic of laments: “O Russian land! You are already behind the shelomyan!”; “Then the army was in full swing, but the army was not heard!”; “Why should we make noise, why should we ring, it’s too late for predictions!”; “And don’t begrudge the brave Igor!”
Svyatoslav’s “golden word” is also close to laments, if we take as the “golden word” only the text that contains the mention of Vladimir Glebovich - “Toughness and melancholy for the son of Glebov.” The “Golden Word” is “washed away with tears,” and Svyatoslav says it, addressing, like Yaroslavna, those who are absent - Igor and Vsevolod Svyatoslavovich.
The author of “The Lay” mentally mourns him, interrupting his narration with close to lamentations lyrical digressions. “Olga’s good nest is dozing in the floor. It has flown far away! It was not born to offend, nor to the falcon, nor to the gyrfalcon, nor to you, black raven, filthy half!”
The connection between laments and lyrical song is especially strong in the so-called lament of Yaroslavna from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The author of the “Lay” seems to quote Yaroslavna’s lament - he cites more or less large passages of it or writes it for Yaroslavna, but in such forms that could really belong to her.
No less actively than laments, song glory takes part in the “Word”. The “Word” begins with a mention of the glory that Boyan sang. It ends with glory to Igor, Vsevolod, Vladimir and the Slovo squad. It is sung to Svyatoslav by the Germans and Venedes, the Greeks and the Moravas. Glory rings in Kyiv, maidens sing it on the Danube. It winds through the sea, runs through the space from the Danube to Kyiv. Separate passages from the “glories” are heard in the Lay: both where he composes an approximate song in honor of Igor’s campaign, and at the end of the Lay, where he proclaims a toast to the princes and squad. Words of glory are heard here and there in the address to the Russian princes, in the dialogue between Igor and Donets (“Prince Igor, you have a lot of greatness”; “Oh, Donche! You have a lot of greatness”). Finally, they are directly cited in its final part: “The sun will shine in the sky, - Prince Igor in the Russian land.”
Glories, as opposed to laments, were very closely connected with the princely life, and this connection with the princely life is constantly noticeable in the Lay. Boyan sings glory to the princes, to the sound of a stringed instrument; Maidens and foreigners sing glory to the princes. Slavas, apparently, were performed in different ways, but they were always sung to the princes in a certain setting (feast, the prince’s return to hometown etc.).
It is no coincidence that these glories and laments are mentioned so often in the Word. The style of the Lay - its folk basis - is largely connected with these laments and glory.
It is important to say that we can not only note the closeness of “The Tale of Igor’s Host” to the genres of oral folk art, but also trace the connection of the “Tale” with ancient Russian paganism, which in those days formed the basis of Slavic folklore, as well as the correspondence in the figurative and linguistic system works of ancient Russian literature and oral folk art.
2. 2 The system of images in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
The basis objective world Epic and dramatic works are usually composed of a system of images. Like any system, this area of the work is characterized through its constituent elements (for example, characters) and structure. Secondary and episodic characters are grouped around the main characters.
Let us consider the system of images of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. In our opinion, the following components can be distinguished:
1) Images - characters: a) main characters: Igor, Vsevolod, Svyatoslav; b) minor characters: Yaroslavna, Russian wives; c) episodic heroes: princes called to defend the state, images of ancient Russian paganism;
2) Images of nature: a) living nature - animals and birds; b) inanimate nature - plants, rivers; c) natural phenomena;
3) Images of ancient Russian paganism: a) Slavic deities; b) symbolism, allegory
Based on the classification we have compiled, we will consider the system of images of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The system of characters in the work is composed mainly of images of Russian princes.
The attitude of the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” towards the Russian princes is ambivalent. He sees them as representatives of Rus', he sympathizes with them, proud of their successes and mourning their failures. However, at the same time, the author of the Lay condemns their selfish, narrowly local politics and discord.
Using the example of Igor Svyatoslavovich Novgorod-Seversky, the author shows the unfortunate consequences of the lack of unity.
Essentially, the entire story in the Lay about Igor’s campaign is carried out in the lines of his characterization by Svyatoslav: the brave but reckless Igor goes on a campaign, despite the fact that this campaign is doomed to failure from the very beginning. His main motivation in this case is the desire for personal glory.
In the image of Igor Svyatoslavovich, it is emphasized that his actions are determined to a greater extent by the misconceptions of his environment, his personal properties. His deeds are bad, and this is because they are dominated by the prejudices of feudal society and the errors of the era. Thus, the social and historical come to the fore in the Lay over the individual and temporary. Igor Svyatoslavovich is the son of the era. This is the “average” prince of his time: brave, courageous, to a certain extent loving his homeland, but reckless and short-sighted, caring more about his honor than about the honor of his homeland.
Vsevolod is also a valiant warrior. He is inseparable from his warriors. The valor and courage of Vsevolod, shown by him in the battle on Kayal, are unparalleled. Illuminating with his golden helmet, he gallops across the battlefield, striking enemies. The contrast between war and peace, embodied in the image of Russian women, is especially vivid in the lyrical appeal of the author of “The Lay” to Vsevolod Buy Tur. In the midst of the battle, Vsevolod does not feel his wounds; he has forgotten honor and life and his dear beloved “Red Glbovna’s traditions and customs.”
In Svyatoslav “the great, formidable of Kiev,” the author of the Lay does not reflect the features of a real historical figure, but embodies his ideal of a wise, powerful ruler of the Russian land, the guardian of its honor and glory. The image of Svyatoslav is revealed in the “Word” in a “muddy dream” and a “golden word”. Here before us is a wise ruler, grieving for his reckless vassals - “sons”, bitterly lamenting the fact that the vassal princes do not help him.
The author of the Lay speaks with great condemnation about the ancestor of the Olgovich princes, Oleg Svyatoslavovich, the grandson of Yaroslav the wise. Remembering this Oleg, the author of “The Lay” says that he “sweeps sedition more powerfully and strikes across the earth.” Under Oleg Svyatoslavovich, the Russian land “will be destroyed and stretched by strife.” The author of “The Lay” notes the disastrous nature of Oleg’s sedition, first of all, for the working people, for the peasantry. The author of "The Lay" gives Oleg the ironic patronymic "Gorislavich", meaning the people's grief caused by Oleg's strife, and not his personal one.
The ancestor of the Polotsk princes, Vseslav of Polotsk, is also depicted as the same instigator of strife. The entire text of the “Tale” about Vseslav is a reflection on his ill-fated fate. Vseslav is depicted in “The Lay” with condemnation and with the warmth of lyrical feeling in the traditions of the folk epic: a restless prince, rushing about like a hunted animal, cunning, “prophetic,” but an unhappy loser. Before us is an exceptionally vivid image of a prince from the period of feudal fragmentation of Rus'.
It should be noted that in the remaining princes the author of the Lay emphasizes their positive traits to a greater extent than their negative ones. He exaggerates the military exploits of the Russian princes, their power and glory. In this hyperbolization, the author of the Lay expresses his dreams of strong power in Rus', of the military power of Russian princes. Vladimir Svyatoslavovich went on campaigns against enemies so often that he could not be nailed to the Kyiv mountains. Vsevolod of Suzdal can splash the Volga with oars, and pour out the Don with helmets, and the author of the Lay grieves that he is not in the south.
It must be emphasized that a very special group consists female images"Words". All of them are covered with thoughts about peace, about family, about home, imbued with tenderness and affection, a brightly folk principle. They embody the sadness and care of the homeland for its soldiers.
Yaroslavna, Igor's young wife, mourns not only the captivity of her husband, she mourns for all the fallen Russian soldiers.
The wives of Russian soldiers, after the defeat of Igor's troops, cry for their fallen husbands. Their cry, full of tenderness and boundless sadness, has a deeply folk character: “We can no longer comprehend our dear ones in our thoughts, nor in our minds, nor in our eyes.”
The image of the singer-poet Boyan stands out in The Lay. Comes from the Old Slavonic “ba(ion)ti”, which means, on the one hand: “to bewitch”, “to charm”, on the other – “to tell a fabulous”. Boyan is the god of songs, praises, music and musical instruments. Grandson of Veles, son of Tur. Also Bayan (Boyan) is an epic poet-singer. His name is found in the inscriptions of Sophia of Kyiv and in Novgorod Chronicle. “Bojan is prophetic, if anyone wants to create a song, his thoughts will spread throughout the tree, gray wolf along the ground, like a crazy eagle under the clouds.” Boyan's songs reflected the shamanic tradition associated with the idea of the world tree, and the skills of early Slavic poetry, dating back to the pan-Indo-European poetic language. Boyan performed his songs himself and accompanied himself on a string instrument. Did there really exist any singer-poet with the name Boyan, or was this name in the mouth of the author of “The Lay” a common noun (from the word “bayati”) to designate a professional singer-poet, in any case, in the person of the prophetic Boyan we have a type of singer era of the 11th century. What are the characteristics of the ancient Russian professional poet-singer?
Firstly, the ancient Russian singer-poet has a high, semi-divine meaning: he is the grandson of Veles, he is a prophetic songwriter; His playing of the harp and singing are, in their charming, similar to the singing of a nightingale. The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” sometimes regrets that the singer of Igor’s campaign was not the prophetic Boyan.
Secondly, a professional singer-poet is versatile; composing his song, he introduces into it episodes from events that took place in the most diverse localities of his native and foreign countries: his thoughts spread across the tree, like a gray wolf along the ground, a gray eagle under the clouds, he prowls through fields and mountains
Thirdly, a professional singer sings primarily of the old times: he is the nightingale of the old times; Even while praising his contemporaries, the professional singer-poet interweaves with modern events the wonderful events of the past, going back to ancient times, to the Trojan Ages.
Fourthly, a professional singer introduces “choruses” into his song, that is, witty, apt sayings relating to the persons and events being sung. This is, for example. , Boyan’s “chorus” about Prince Vseslav of Polotsk: “neither a trick, nor a great one, nor a bird of a city, do not endure the judgment of God”; This is also his other refrain: “It’s hard on your head except your shoulder; it’s hard on your body except your head.”
Fifthly, the task of a professional singer-poet is to magnify and glorify princes.
This is the type of ancient Russian professional singer-poet as depicted by the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
The author of “The Lay” begins his speech with a memory of Boyan. He considers him as his predecessor in the same kind of poetry. And this partly reveals to us how the author of The Lay perceived his work. In the ideological plan of the Lay, the image of Boyan is of significant importance. The author needs it in order to emphasize following the “epics of this time” - actual events. The author needs it to indicate the veracity of his work.
The author of the Lay connects the power of the Russian land with the activities of “old” Vladimir and “old” Yaroslav and, focusing his main attention on the “present sad time” of the Russian land, he regrets that “that old Vladimir can no longer be nailed to the Kyiv mountains "
The boundaries between nature and man are blurring. People are constantly compared to both birds and animals: aurochs, falcons, jackdaws, crows, the “fierce beast,” the cuckoo, etc.
The author of “The Lay” accurately conveys the unique nature of the sounds made by animals - animals and birds. His swan is “belt-length” or, when frightened, “croaks”; the nightingale “tickled”, its singing is “tickling”; eagles “call the way,” woodpeckers “show the way”; steppe animals, boars and gophers whistle; foxes "break"; tours “roar”.
The description of the second battle opens with a symbolic ominous picture of nature: “the light will tell the bloody dawns. Black clouds come from the sea and blue lightning flutters in them. There is great thunder! Let it rain like arrows from the great Don!”
The winds, the grandchildren of Stribog, blow arrows from the sea onto Igor’s brave regiments. Here is a reflection of the real situation - indeed, during the battle the wind favored the Polovtsians - and at the same time a vivid artistic symbol. Stribog Svarozhich is the son of Svarog. Father of Whistle and Weather. Together with other gods, he freed Perun from captivity. Supreme king of the winds, god of the hurricane, airspace, appearing in storms and whirlwinds; “The winds are Stibozh’s grandchildren.” Since ancient times, winds have been personified as quite distinctive creatures: in popular prints the wind is depicted as winged human heads blowing from the clouds.
Yaroslavna turns to nature to dispel her grief and at the same time force the “bright and bright” Sun, Wind, Dnieper Slovutich to help Igor escape from captivity. In this regard, Yaroslavna’s crying seems to carry the function of a magical spell of the forces of nature.
It must be added that all natural elements and phenomena, including rivers, are spiritualized, and therefore friendly or hostile to the Russians. The Lay contains many names of rivers, and the author has a special relationship with each. The rivers were personified. Dnepr Slovutich – assistant, patron. Stugna is insidious, full of icy cruelty. Kayala is a disastrous, cursed river, like Kanina, where Russian squads and the very glory of the Russians “sank.”
Personifying nature, the author of “The Lay” achieves a vivid and poetic expression of his poetic thought (by going on a campaign without permission, Igor violated his duties towards the Russian land, and nature turned away from him and took the side of his enemies. When did Igor, realizing his guilt before his homeland , escapes from captivity, the forces of nature joyfully greet the prince and actively help him).
The basis of Slavic folklore is an appeal to pagan roots. These are pagan rituals and belief in pagan gods. The pagan element largely shapes figurative system"Words". We can see this from a detailed examination of the images of the ancient Russian monument, which once again indicates the closeness of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” to folklore.
The hero of the Lay is not any of the princes, but the Russian people, the Russian land. Towards it, to the Russian land, the fullness of the personal feelings of the author of the Lay is addressed; the image of the Russian land is central in the Lay; it is outlined by the author with a broad and free hand. The author of the poem has a folk-poetic perception of the world. Nature in “The Lay” seems to live an independent life and at the same time serves as an artistic commentary on what is happening. The technique of personifying the forces of nature is associated with oral folk poetry in The Lay. The author of the poem is a Christian, but Christian views remain outside the boundaries of poetry. Pagan ideas still have a certain aesthetic value for him. Therefore, the pagan mythological element is widely represented in the Lay. Pagan mythology was for the author of the Lay a poetic arsenal from which he drew artistic images.
The elements hostile to the Russians are represented in the Lay by adherents of the “filthy pagans.” This is, first of all, darkness, night - in contrast to light, day and dawn (an eclipse of the sun as a sign of trouble and death). This is a moaning rose; animal whistle; these are the wolves that guard Igor’s trouble along the ravines; These are the foxes that bark at scarlet shields. These are “Busovi Vrani” - Busov’s ominous crows (Bus, Booz, Booz - the legendary leader of the Polovtsians, the mythical father of the tribe). And it is Div that “cries out at the top of the tree” when Prince Igor is getting ready to go on a campaign. Div is a mythical creature of pagans, the personification of savagery and spontaneity, hostile to humanity and culture. Div is hostile to the Russians. Div beats his wings, summoning everything hostile to the Russians to a bloody feast
The author of the Lay calls on the princes to serve the interests of the Russian land, and not selfish, personal ones. The Russian land, its people - “Dazhbozhi’s grandchildren” - are the main hero of “The Lay”. Dazhdbog is one of the ancient Slavic gods, the god of this world, the solar god, the bearer sunlight. “The Giving God,” who creates conditions for life on Earth; giver of heavenly moisture and harvest; God who “gives life” to nature. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” speaks of the Slavs as the grandchildren of the sun - Dazhbog. He is the ancestor
Russian people. In the name of the interests of the homeland and the people, the inspired and passionate voice of the poet sounds. He imagines the Russian land in all the complexity of the political struggle of that time, comprehends its fate in a broad historical perspective. He is deeply concerned about the honor and glory of his homeland. That is why Igor’s defeat is perceived as a terrible insult to the entire Russian land. And this author’s thought is clearly revealed by the poetic image of the Virgin of Resentment, who rises in the forces of “Dazhbozh’s grandson,” that is, the Russian people. Resentment is a swan, a bird of sadness; a cloud maiden who splashed on the blue sea with swan wings. Also - the goddess of misfortune, daughter of Mara. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” Resentment arose “in the strength of Dazhbozh’s grandson, a maiden entered the land of Troyan, splashed swan wings on the blue sea, splashing at the Don.” The author also personifies and animates Karna and Zhelya: “follow him I will call Karna and Zhelya, gallop across the Russian land.” Karna (Kruchina) - from the word “to reproach” - the goddess of grief and funeral rites, the goddess of sadness, the mourner goddess, sister of Zheli. Zhelya comes from the word “to regret”, the goddess of the funeral rite, escorting to the funeral pyre. Hence the “zhalnik” - grave. Also the goddess of death and sorrow. “Jelly”, “desire” - grief for the dead. It was believed that the mere mention of the names of Karna and Jeli eases the soul and can save from many disasters in the future. It is no coincidence that there is so much crying and lamentation in Slavic folklore.
A passionate patriot and citizen, the author of the Lay imagines the Russian land as a single powerful feudal state with a political center in Kyiv, a state in which vassals strictly fulfill their duties towards their overlord.
So, the Russian land, in the description of which lyrics and journalism were combined, is the main artistic image of the Lay. The breadth of outlook – ideological and artistic – is the basis of the author’s creative method. It is difficult to find another artistic style in the Middle Ages that would have made it possible to concretely depict the entire vastness of Rus' with such picturesqueness, to evoke sympathy for it, and to arouse the Russian people to its defense.
Consequently, the images of Russian princes, the female images of the “Lay” are not given on their own, they serve specific disclosure the author's ideas - a call for unity. Before us and here, “The Lay” appears as a work exclusively purposeful by the hand of the artist - the author of the “Lay” - driven by political thought, a passionate thought, full of ardent love for the homeland.
We can conclude that all the images in “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” are closely related to the author’s ideological intent. Everything in this work, down to the smallest detail, is strictly and harmoniously subordinated to the central idea
Also, the images of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” are closely related to ancient Russian paganism, which formed the basis of Slavic folklore. Which once again indicates the closeness of “The Lay” to oral folk art. The exception is the images of Igor and Svyatoslav - the main characters. They are not images of oral folk art, but bear folkloric features. See paragraph 2. 1
2. 3 The system of artistic and visual means in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
Oral folk poetry has many features that distinguish it from written literature. Although literature and folklore existed in parallel for centuries, they have always been completely independent areas of verbal art.
Being the art of words, which serves as starting material and a means of revealing the ideological and artistic content of works, literature and folklore have a common arsenal of means artistic expression. The principles of artistic generalization and typification of reality, as well as many compositional techniques, are comparable in them.
The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” constantly uses artistic and expressive means inherent in folklore, such as constant epithets, negative comparisons, syntactic parallelism, tautological expressions, repetition, hyperbole, etc. This once again indicates the closeness of the “Word” to oral folk art.
Of all the artistic tropes greatest freedom the creator is provided with comparisons. Comparison is one of the simplest tropes: defining a phenomenon or concept in artistic speech by comparing it with another phenomenon that has common characteristics with the first. A comparison imparts to a phenomenon or concept the illumination, the shade of meaning that the writer intends to give it. Comparisons in the new literature can be made for any reason. It must be emphasized that artistic images of “The Lay” are extremely rarely based on comparisons. In most cases, we are faced not so much with comparisons as with substitution, the replacement of one series of phenomena with another, which is based not on similarity, but on the confidence that there are aesthetically high areas in the world, such as war, hunting, agriculture, the attitude of man to nature, which are artistic in themselves and one comparison with which evokes the idea of artistic value of what is being said.
Comparisons in the Lay are all found in their pure form, although rarely - just as rarely as in other works of oral folk art of that time. But it should be noted that when resorting to comparisons, authors very often use the form of negative comparison. Usually negative comparisons in the Lay are considered signs of its folk-song basis. “In the midst of blood, it’s not a good idea to burn with the bones of Russian sons.”
The artistic system of the Lay is built not on external similarities leading to comparisons, but on some kind of symbolic representations. Feast is a battle. This also includes symbolism associated with the sun: the prince is the sun, young princes are the months, and ideas about signs foreshadowing death, death, defeat (eclipse - defeat, a roof without a prince - death), about werewolves (the prince turns into a wolf and is carried by a wolf at night).
Comparisons are introduced in the text of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” using the comparative conjunction “aki”: about the Kuryans, for example, it is said: “they themselves gallop like a raw horse to the floor.” It must be said that these comparisons are taken not by external similarity, but by the symbolic system of oral folk art: princes are compared with wolves and aurochs. The comparison of Polovtsian carts with swans can also be considered as a comparison of the hunting character in the only case in which the comparison is introduced using the form “rtsi” from the verb “speech”: “cryat tulgy midnight, rtsi, swans of dissolution.”
In oral folk art we can also find comparisons. So, Ilya Muromets “sits on a horse, like a hundred-year-old oak.” When compared, the original image is preserved and becomes closer to the other in similarity. Negative comparisons are also typical:
The dawn was breaking,
The sun did not roll out red,
A good fellow came out here,
Good fellow Ilya Muromets.
The artistry of a work is not created by “techniques”, “images”, “means”, but is inherent in the very content of the work, and the surface reflects only what is in this depth. The artistry of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” lies in the special interpretation of the unfortunate campaign of Prince Igor as part of Russian history, in the perception of the significance of what is happening, the involvement of individuals in the whole, their actions and various events around the campaign and its heroes.
Metonymy is the main artistic trope in The Lay. Metonymy - (from the Greek metonymia - renaming) - one of the main tropes: replacing in poetic speech the name of a phenomenon, concept or object with another name, inextricably linked in our minds with the idea of this life phenomenon. The completeness of metonymies in the “Word” is amazing. By its very essence, metonymy is the substitution of a part instead of the whole. The whole is present only as if by a hint, and, nevertheless, this hint entails homogeneous images.
Metonymy is characteristic primarily of military language. Most military terms and military images are based on metonymy. “I want,” he said, “to break a spear (to start a battle) the end of the Polovtsian field, with you, Russians, I want to lay down my head (to die in battle), or to drink the Don with a helmet (to reach the Don with a fight).”
Metonymy is represented by the following details in the description of the battle and the campaign: “komoni neigh”, “blow trumpets”, “stand in battle”, “speak in battle”, “drying with arrows across the field”, “lame this with spears, tremble with sabers”, “ gremleshi about shelom and swords with haraluzhny”, etc.
A series of metonymies are present in the speech of Vsevolod Bui Tur when he describes the military prowess of his Kuryan warriors. “And my Kuryans are sweeping: crawl under the pipes, climb under the helmets, and end up with a copy of the education.” Both rows of images are complete - both the row of military “education” and the row of what they were brought up under (pipes, helmets and spears are the weapons of an ordinary warrior; there is no sword, because this is the weapon of a privileged warrior). Brought up this way, they are experienced: “the paths are at home, the roads they know.”
Each of these expressions means something more than its direct meaning gives. Either it is a campaign of enemies, or a gathering of troops, or readiness to go on a campaign, etc. There are always two meanings - a direct, narrow one and a broader, general one.
It is important to say that metonymy, like comparison, is limited to certain areas where metonymy is acceptable and where it is traditional.
That is why, both in comparison and in metonymy, we encounter some traditionality and repetition. Repetition is one of the stylistic figures: a turn of poetic speech consisting of repetition of the same words, sometimes phrases, repetition and uniformity syntactic phrases speech, in sound repetitions of different types.
Repetition occurs in the “Word” in various forms. Each of these types, in addition to the general aesthetic purpose of repetition, also has private goals.
One of the most frequent types of repetitions in the Lay is the enumeration: “with Chernigov tales, with Moguty, and with Tatrana, and with Shelbira, and with Topchak, and with Revugi, and with Olbera.”
Enumeration occurs as a way of strengthening, as a way of hyperbolization. Hyperbole - (exaggeration) - a figurative expression consisting of an exorbitant exaggeration of the strength, significance, size of the depicted phenomenon. So, for example, the enumeration of peoples singing the glory of Svyatoslav serves to show the breadth of the spread of this glory: “Those people and Venedits, those Greeks and Moravas sing the glory of Svyatoslav.”
The repetition of certain words and expressions emphasizes the duration of the action: “beat one day, beat another; On the third day, at noon, Igor’s battle fell.” In a similar way, the author of the Lay also uses the word “already”: “already blasphemy has come to praise; The need has already burst into freedom; The miracle has already fallen to the ground.”
The repetition of these “already” is connected with another feature in the “Word” - the presence of refrains in it. Refrain - verses repeated in a poem after each stanza or after a certain combination of them. The refrain is not only important for the atmosphere of mourning what is happening, but also as a “knock of fate,” a frequent phenomenon in music and giving the “Word” a unique musical organization.
Consecutive identical syntactic constructions, especially short ones, can also be considered as one type of repetition: “the earth is not here, the rivers flow muddily, the fields are covered with weeds”; “resentment arose in the forces of Dazhbozh’s grandson, the two entered the land of Troyan, splashed swan wings on the blue sea. »
In oral folk art, various repetitions of words are also subject to strengthening and clarification of the content: fight - fight, ore - blood, horse - good horse, strong - mighty.
Constant epithets are also, on the one hand, an element of the “poetics of repetition”, and on the other, the connection of the “Word” with oral folk art. Epithet - (application), a word that defines, explains, characterizes some property or quality of a concept, phenomenon, object. In folk poetry, a constant epithet is often used, passing from one work to another. So, for example, the horses in the Lay have the epithet greyhound, which emphasizes the main advantage of a war horse - its speed. “And to everyone, brethren, to their own quarrels.” Igor addresses his brother Vsevolod: “Sadlay, brother, your brazni komoni.”
The epithet “gold” in relation to the princely stirrup appears three times in the Lay: “step Igor prince into the golden stirrup”, “step into the golden stirrup”, “step, sir, into the golden stirrup”
The word in oral folk art is very expressive. Particular significance is attached to the epithet. In folklore, each person - enemies and friends - is characterized by a certain epithet, often these epithets become permanent. So, a hero is defined, as we have already noted, as a good fellow, an old Cossack, a squad - brave, a head - violent, shoulders - powerful, eyes - clear, a heart - zealous, lips - sugar, a field - clean, rivers - fast. Enemies, on the contrary, are filthy and evil.
The “Word” constantly conjugates and associatively connects various phenomena. The postpositive conjunction “bo” with the meaning “because”, “since”, and the same word as an intensifying-excretory particle with a similar meaning – “same”, “after all” helps to connect different phenomena. For example, “already, prince, my mind has been filled with tension, - two falcons have eaten from the table of gold,” “it’s dishonest to win, it’s dishonest to shed the blood of your feet.”
The following feature of the “Word” can also be noted: if in modern artistic prose“verbs of speaking” are extremely diverse and, in essence, any verbs human actions can be converted in their meaning into verbs of speaking (for example, with words of direct speech you can not only “turn around”, but also “turn around”, “interrupt”, “laugh”, etc.), then in the “Word” and in In ancient Rus', even the ritual of crying, which in all cases required words and singing, was accompanied by the designation “arkuchi”: “Russian wives burst into tears, arkuchi”, “Yaroslavna cried early in Putivl on the visor, arkuchi”
Finally, situational repetitions should also be mentioned. These situational repetitions are caused, on the one hand, by the fact that only some phenomena of life were considered aesthetically valuable (war, hunting, agriculture, etc.), which we have already talked about, and on the other hand, by the ancient Russian ritual that accompanied this or that event .
Noteworthy in the “Word” is the meaning of “shore” or “shore” as a place of ritual actions, mourning, and ritual singing. For example, “the darkness of the birches is crying to the mother of Rostislav for the death of Prince Rostislav,” behold, the red Gothic maidens have risen on the shore of the blue sea.”
Personification is one of the techniques of artistic depiction, which consists in the fact that living, inanimate objects, natural phenomena are endowed with human abilities and properties: the gift of speech, feelings, thoughts. The technique of personifying nature is entirely connected with the oral poetic tradition, as is Yaroslavna’s lament, filled with deep lyricism. The personification and animation of abstract concepts: resentment - the Virgin Resentment, sorrow and sadness - Karna and Zhlya, who galloped across the Russian land - goes back to folk poetry.
The use of artistic and expressive means emphasizes the originality of the creative style of the author of “The Lay,” who in his own way used folklore visual means and poetic colors.
Conclusion.
In this abstract work, we explored the issue of the closeness of Slavic folklore and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
After conducting a detailed benchmarking monument of ancient Russian literature with various genres and images of oral folk art, we can draw the following conclusions.
Firstly, the “Word” was presented in different aspects of study: we examined the most fundamental works of academicians, which represent scientific and methodological significance and allow us to judge its importance in literature.
Secondly, we studied the poetics of “The Lay”, having examined the origin and features of the “word” genre in ancient Russian literature, and we can say that from the point of view of poetics and genre affiliation, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is closest to the genre of a military story.
Thirdly, the genre identity of “The Lay” and works of folklore was revealed by comparing it with the genres of epic, historical song, lament and glory. Based on this, we can identify the closest connection between “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and the epic genre.
Fourthly, we presented information about the system of images of the “Word” and the connection of these images with ancient Russian paganism, which formed the basis of oral folk art.
Fifthly, the system of artistic and visual means of the “Word” and oral folk art was analyzed, and their close relationship and interdependence was revealed.
Thus, we have established identical features of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” with Slavic folklore.
The practical significance of the abstract is presented to the author in the fact that the researched and presented material will expand knowledge in the field of one of the most difficult periods in the history of Russian literature and change the views of some teachers on this work of literature, as well as reveal the possibility of an unconventional approach when studying this work in school course literature.
I. The era of creation of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
II. The connection of “The Word...” with oral folk art.
1. Genre originality"Words…".
2. Folklore elements in “The Lay...”:
a) constant epithets;
b) comparisons;
c) personification;
d) hyperbole;
e) participation of nature in human affairs;
e) magical transformations.
3. Features of the manner of narration.
III. Nationality "Tales of Igor's Campaign".
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was created in the 12th century. This is the time when original literature in Rus' was just emerging and, therefore, had much in common with oral folk art.
Until now, literary scholars are arguing about the genre of “The Word...”. Although this work is literary, it contains folkloric elements. D. S. Likhachev believes that the work was created on the basis of two genres of oral folk art - “laments” and “glories”, or praises. Elements of “crying” are found primarily in Yaroslavna’s lyrical song. Like the mourners, she turns to the forces of nature: the wind, the sun, the river. “The Tale of Igor’s Host” ends with “Glory”: the author praises princes Igor, Vsevolod, Svyatoslav.
Although modern readers are not familiar with “laments” and “glories”, it is not difficult to grasp the connection between “The Words...” and folklore. Their main similarity is in language. It is rich in constant epithets: “blue Don”, “golden stirrup”, “open field”. Many comparisons in “The Lay...” are borrowed from folk poetry. The battle here is compared to the harvest: “On Nemiz they lay sheaves with their heads, thresh them with damask flails, lay life on the threshing floor, winnow the soul from the body.” In the spirit of folk traditions, there is a comparison of the battle with a feast: “Here there was not enough bloody wine, here the brave Russians ended the feast: they gave the matchmakers drink, and they themselves died for the Russian land.”
Some images of “The Word...” are also associated with folklore. Folk songs and fairy tales personify people's feelings. Also in the “Word...” as living beings, it speaks of resentment (“Virgin Resentment”), pity and grief (“Zhelya and Karna walked across the Russian land”).
The battle of Vsevolod with the Polovtsians brings to mind the epics. His courage is exaggerated; when describing his exploits, the author uses the technique of hyperbole: “Bury Tur Vsevolod, you fight in the thick of the battle, you are pricked with arrows; Where the hell are you going to jump, there lie the filthy Polovtsian heads..."
In “The Lay...”, as in folklore, a large place is given to the description of nature. She is active, helps Igor, hinders his enemies: an eclipse of the sun warns Russian soldiers of failure in the campaign; Helping Igor escape from captivity, “the earth clicked, the earth began to rustle, the grass rustled,” “the jackdaws fell silent, the magpies did not chirp, only the snakes crawled.”
This work also contains elements of a fairy tale and magical transformations. When Igor escapes from captivity, he turns into a bird, Ovlur turns into a beast: “And he ran to the bend of the Donets, and flew like a falcon under the clouds... then Ovlur ran like a wolf, shaking off the chilly dew.”
The manner of narration in “The Word...” also echoes folk art. The author often interrupts the story with an appeal to his contemporaries or past figures. When ancient singers performed epics, they also retreated from the narrative and appealed to their listeners. It is possible that “The Word...” was written to be performed to music, like folk songs and epics.
Oral folk art is the source from which “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” drew its language, images, and plots. This work was close to the inhabitants of Ancient Rus' and is interesting to our contemporaries, because it has a blood connection with folklore, which means it is truly folk.
BELGOROD STATE UNIVERSITY
CREATIVE WORK ON HISTORY
RUSSIAN LITERATURE ON THE TOPIC:
"THE WORD ABOUT IGOR'S CAMPAIGN"
PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN
MOTIVES IN THE WORK"
COMPLETED:
CHECKED:
BELGOROD - 2003
I. Introduction. On the immortality of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
1. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is a work of not only ancient, but always modern literature;
2. A living connection between “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and the worldview and creativity of the entire people;
3. Goals and objectives of this work.
II. Culture and life of the ancient Slavs.
1. Pantheon of Slavic gods;
2. The adoption of Christianity and its influence on ancient Russian culture;
3. Paganism is an aesthetic arsenal of poetic images used in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
III. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and ancient Russian paganism.
1. The concept of dual faith;
2. Pagan element and figurative system of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”:
a) the meaning of names and nicknames,
b) figurative system.
3. Spiritualization of elements and natural phenomena;
4. Pagan gods as poetic concepts.
IV. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" ideas of Christianity.
1. The influence of Christianity on the culture of Ancient Rus';
2. Use of Church Slavonic vocabulary;
3. Toponymic terms;
4. Respect for Christian literary traditions.
V. Conclusion and conclusions.
I Introduction: On the immortality of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”
Dying, a person continues to live - he lives in his affairs. And what is important is that only the best has lived, lives and will live in a person. The worst is not inherited in the broad sense of the word, it does not have long-term national traditions, it is fragile, it arises easily, but disappears even faster. The best in man is immortal. This applies even more to the life of art monuments. Works of art embody long-standing folk traditions. They continue to live beyond their era. In its best works - humanistic works, humane in the highest sense of the word - art does not age. The highest works of art continue to be modern for centuries and millennia. The modernity of art is everything that retains its aesthetic effectiveness, everything that people read, watch and listen to at the moment, regardless of what time these works of art were created.
That is why “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” which continues to live in hundreds of works of Russian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, we have the right to consider a work not only of ancient, but to a certain extent also of modern literature. It is alive and active, infects with its poetic energy and educates, teaches literary skill and love for the Motherland
For more than seven and a half centuries, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” has lived a full-blooded life, and the power of its influence not only does not weaken, but continues to grow and expand. Such is the power of the “Word” over time, its living connection with the worldview and creativity of the entire people.
In this work I have to prove that although the wonderful monument of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was created after Russia adopted Christianity, pagan ideas about the world were still very strong in it.
II. Using the text of the work “Words” and eyewitness accounts, we will try to imagine the environment in which our distant ancestors lived. “They are very tall and of great strength. Their skin and hair color is very white, or golden, or not quite black... They honor rivers and nymphs, and all sorts of deities, make sacrifices to all of them and, with the help of these sacrifices, perform fortune telling,” wrote Procopius of Caesarea. This is how this Byzantine historian saw the Slavs, who left us priceless and, unfortunately, rare information about our distant ancestors. The Slavs in those days were just beginning to make themselves known on the world stage and still lived in their own separate culture, far from the achievements of ancient civilization. They touched it much later, after the adoption of Christianity.
Their ideas about the world were reflected in naive myths about gods associated directly with nature. Even now we can hardly imagine the general picture of the Slavic pantheon; the legends and myths are lost and forgotten. Only a few names of the ancient Slavic gods remain.
Russian fairy tales brought to us the poetic charm of these ancient ideas of our ancestors; they still color our childhood with poetry: goblin, brownies, mermaids, merman, Baba Yaga, miracle Yudo, Kashchei the Immortal. Many moral principles appeared to the imagination of ancient man in a personified form: Misfortune, Truth, Falsehood. Even death appeared in the form of a skeleton in a shroud and with a scythe in his hand. The word “chur”, which is now used in the expression: “Church me!”, was the name of God.
The ancient Slavs revered Perun, the god of thunder, as the highest deity. He lives on the top of the mountain. His enemy is Veles. An insidious and evil god. He kidnaps cattle, people, a werewolf god who can turn into both a beast and a person. Perun fights with him and, when he wins, life-giving and beneficial rain falls on the earth, giving life to crops. The word “god” (apparently from rich) is often associated with the name of the deity: Dazhdbog, Stribog. In the world of myths there are kikimores, ghouls, robber nightingales, divas, the Serpent Gorynych, the winds of Yarila, the god of spring Lel.
Numerical names sometimes also acquire divine meaning; if, for example, even carries a positive principle, then odd is clearly negative.
From the 9th century, the ideas of Christianity began to penetrate to the Slavs. Princess Olga, who visited Byzantium, converted to Christianity and was baptized there. Her son, Prince Svyatoslav, buried his mother according to Christian custom, but he himself remained a pagan, a follower of the old Slavic gods. Christianity, as you know, was established by his son, Prince Vladimir, in 988. Russian chronicles preserve colorful stories about the dramatic last days of paganism in Rus':
“And Vladimir began to reign in Kyiv alone and placed idols on the hill behind the tower courtyard: a wooden Perun with a silver road and a golden mustache, then Horst, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Simargl and Mokosh. And he made sacrifices to them, calling them gods, and brought his sons and daughters to them, and these sacrifices went to the demons and desecrated the earth with their offerings. And the Russian land and that hill were defiled.”
The chronicler, already a Christian, remembers these pagan gods with an unkind word.
The customs of the ancient Slavs are harsh, their gods are harsh; in order to appease them or thank them, sacrifices and human sacrifices are needed. The chronicle tells about one dramatic episode.
Vladimir returned after a successful military campaign against the Yatvag tribe. It was necessary to celebrate the victory according to custom and thank the gods. “...The elders and boyars said: “We will cast lots on the youths and maidens; on whomever it falls, we will slaughter him as a sacrifice to the gods.” There was only one Varangian at that time, and his courtyard stood where now is the Church of the Holy Mother of God, which Vladimir built. That Varangian came from the Greek land and professed the Christian faith. And he had a son, beautiful in face and soul, and the lot fell on him... And those sent to him, coming, said: “The lot fell on your son, the gods chose him for themselves, so that we would sacrifice him to the gods.” - “These are not gods, but a simple tree: today it exists, but tomorrow it will rot; They do not eat, do not drink, do not speak, but are made of wood by human hands. I won’t give you my son!” “Give me your son, let us bring him to the gods.” “If they are gods, then let them send one of the gods and take my son. Why do you perform their demands?”
They clicked and cut down the canopy under him, and so they killed them.”
The chronicler, having told about this, laments: “After all, there were ignorant and unchristian people then. The devil rejoiced at this.”
Soon Vladimir changed his faith, and at the site of the execution of the Varangian and his son, he erected a church.
However, the former gods have not disappeared from people's memory. Faith in them, already in the form of superstitions, continued to live. The old pagan gods symbolized the forces of nature and somehow merged in the poetic imagination of the people with these forces. They made up the aesthetic arsenal of poetic images that poets used. We will find a lot of them in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Even individual Russian words originate from the names of ancient pagan gods, for example: “to cherish” - from the god of spring Lelya. IN Belarusian language a commonly used abusive expression: “Kabe pyarun cracked!” (god Perun).
III. "The Word" and Old Russian Paganism"
In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” pagan gods are mentioned several times: Veles, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Khors. At the same time, the “Lay” was clearly written by a Christian poet: Igor, upon his return from captivity, goes to the Church of the Mother of God of Pirogoshchaya. How do the author of the work combine paganism and Christianity? This is very typical of ancient Rus'. It is commonly called dual faith.
What is this dual faith? A simple combination of two faiths is hardly possible at all, especially since Christianity in the 12th century, as in the subsequent century, actively fought against pagan religion and its remnants among the people. Elements of paganism began to be combined with Christian beliefs only when they ceased to be perceived by the people as opposing Christianity. Paganism as a system of beliefs, moreover, hostile to Christianity, had to disappear before dual faith could appear. This is the disappearance of paganism as serial system beliefs could only take place a certain time after the victory of Christianity: no earlier than the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century.
That is why both the chronicler himself and the author of the work, despite all his Christian spirit, are not averse to defining the time of the events he describes either by the pagan Korochun (the shortest day of the year - the turn of the sun), or by the Christian Radunitsa (the time of commemoration of the dead), or by the pagan Rusal Week (also a holiday of remembrance of the dead).
The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” does not believe in pagan gods the way a pagan would believe in them. For him, pagan gods are symbols of nature, artistic generalizations. He animates natural phenomena, trees, sun, wind, rivers, even cities and their walls. (“Unysha was taken away like a hailstorm,” says the author, describing the consequences of Igor’s defeat). He animates abstract concepts: resentment, which takes on the image of a maiden with swan wings, melancholy and sadness - Karna and Zhelya.
The pagan element largely shapes the figurative system of the “Word”. Let's turn to Prince Igor's grandfather - Oleg Svyatoslavich, nicknamed Gorislavich. He was known for his internecine wars. Admiring his power and courage, the author of the Lay simultaneously blames him for his fratricidal campaigns: “Oleg forged sedition with a sword and sowed arrows on the ground.” Many researchers attribute the nickname Gorislavich to the word “gure” on this basis. In our opinion, however, combining the concepts of grief and glory in one word contradicts logic, and even the very image of Oleg. After all, Gorislav would then be read as a would-be brave man, something like Anika the warrior, which cannot be assumed in relation to the famous prince. The addition of the nickname Gorislavich by others to the word “mountain” (“mountain glory”) seems too ecclesiastical and does not correspond to the style of nicknames. In the name Gorislav we clearly hear “burning with glory,” “cares about glory,” “seeks glory.” Glory in Old Russian is both love of fame and ambition. So, Prince Boris Vyacheslavovich “glory brought him to judgment” - ambition led to death So, the pagan nickname Oleg Gorislavich speaks of a man, a warrior, burning with glory, glorious and love-loving at the same time, that completely consistent with the character of this prince.
And in general, a name, and earlier a nickname, was given fateful significance in ancient consciousness. So, Oleg translated from Greek means burning (here comes Gorislav!). Igor – consonant with the word “gure”. In the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” we find many names with the component “glory”: Vseslav, Yarolav, Svyatoslav, Gorislav, Vyachelav, Bryacheslav, Izyalav. Such an abundance of princely names with the root “slav” speaks for itself.
Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich of Kiev, Igor’s cousin, who learned too late about Igor’s campaign, has a prophetic dream:
Already boards without a prince
In my mansion there is a golden top.
All night from evening
Gray crows were playing near Plesensk,
In the foothills stood the Kiyani forest,
And they, the crows, rushed to the blue sea.
Why to the blue sea? In our opinion, the Blue Sea is a pagan element that patronizes the Polovtsians. This sea is an element that swallowed up the Russians, the meaning correlates with the expression “the desert has already covered its strength.” And almost everywhere in the work, the elements hostile to Russians are represented by adherents of “filthy pagans.” This is, first of all, darkness, night - in contrast to light, day and dawn (an eclipse of the sun as a sign of trouble and death). This is a groaning thunderstorm, an animal whistle, these are the wolves that guard Igor’s misfortune along the ravines; These are the foxes that bark at scarlet shields. These are “Busovi Vrani” - Busov’s ominous crows (Bus, Booz, Booz - the legendary leader of the Polovtsians). And this is Div that “cries at the top of the tree” when Prince Igor is getting ready to go on a campaign; The diva beats its wings, summoning everything hostile to the Russians to a bloody feast. Div is hostile to the Russians (cf. in fairy tales “the one-eyed marvel”). This is a mythical creature of pagans, the personification of savagery and spontaneity, hostile to humanity and culture, what we call today Asian
Div is an alien, hostile creature to the Russian person (for a Russian, in the popular understanding, is the same as a righteous person, actually a person). The expressions “What a miracle is this?” are still used in popular speech. or “what a miracle!” - in the meaning of something absurd, awkward, alien, unfavorable. Marvelous in the meaning of beautiful is familiar only to the book tradition, but not to popular speech, where this epithet has a negative meaning.
V. Dahl deciphers the word div as a miracle, unprecedented, monster, sea monster or ominous bird (scarecrow, eagle owl). The proverb “a man is wondrous three times: he is born, he marries, he dies” - speaks of the otherworldly, even unclean connotation of the word “wonder”, because It is precisely at these transitional, boundary moments in a person’s life - birth, marriage and death - that he is ritually “unclean” and requires special cleansing actions and rituals.
Alien, unmastered, divya is also conveyed by the word unknown. This is a steppe - an unknown field (cf. an open field - also deserted, but included in the image of a friendly, “our” world). Unknown - wild, wondrous, uninspired by culture, unknown. No wonder in folklore evil spirits often appears in the form of a "stranger".
Academician B.A. Rybakov insists that the div is a Slavic deity, referring to the Scythians as Proto-Slavs and their ornamentation, citing as an argument the griffin-shaped ornaments of pre-Mongol Rus'. But it is not known whether in the minds of the ancient Russians the divas were strictly tied to the images of griffins; ornaments can also be borrowed outside of religious worship, for artistic and other reasons. In any case, individual examples of wall decoration and decoration of helmets with griffins hardly give reason to call the diva “the arbiter of heavenly will,” as Academician Rybakov does. He considers Diva the patron of Igor’s squad; when the Russian army was defeated, then the miracle fell from the top, writes B.A. Rybakov in the book “Peter Borislavich. Search for the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (Moscow, 1991). However, the expression “the diva has already fallen to the ground” means, we believe, he did not fall as if cut down, but just the opposite - he attacked, rushed at the Russians from the top of a tree like a kite (cf. the expression “Vseslav cast lots for any girl” - threw lot, an active action, not a passive one).
The hostile activity of the diva stands in a logically inextricable series: “blasphemy is already rushing towards praise, need is already cracking into freedom, the diva is already thrown to the ground.” What does it mean: blasphemy overcame praise, need overcame will, wonder overcame the earth. The recitative of crying, going on without interruption in one breath, emphasized by the rhythmic repetition of the word “already”, speaks of the grief of the Russian land. This whole construction is supported just below by a final phrase related in meaning and style: “the desert has already covered its strength.” Trust in the text, and above all in the text, clarifies many dark places. And the very meaning of the word “marvelous” as outlandish, wild, alien, unknown, pagan convinces us of the hostility of the marvel.
Or take this fragment of text: “They will start to beat our birds”...
And the river Gzak Konchak (about Igor):
And if we entangle him with a red maiden -
neither will we have a falcon,
no red maiden for us.
but they will beat our birds
in the Polovtsian field.
In this fragment from the last part of the “Lay”, O. Shcherbinin in the article “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” (“Dark Places” in a New Light) for the first time offers the translation “they will kill our birds,” in contrast to other researchers who wrote: “And the birds will begin to beat us in the Polovtsian field,” to be understood as “a falcon with a falcon will begin to beat the Polovtsian birds in the field.” This metaphor - the Russian falcons beat the Polovtsian birds - runs through the entire figurative system of the word, as well as ancient Russian literature. In the Lay there are the following phrases: “When the falcon is in the washhouse, he scoops up the birds high; “You float high in a storm of action, like a falcon spreading in the winds, although you can overcome the birds in a riot.”
According to some researchers, swans are a pagan totem of the Polovtsians. Perhaps it was with the image of swans on their banners that the Polovtsians went into battle. In this case, “they will kill our birds” from the lips of the Polovtsian khans - this is both symbolic and visible, concrete images. Let us also remember the expression: “The Polovtsian carts creak, as if the swans were scared away.” Or “offense stepped onto the land of Troy and flapped its swan wings.”
In the scene of Igor’s escape from Polovtsian captivity: “... and the falcon flew under the darkness, beating geese and swans for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” Or: “Oh, a falcon is far away, beating birds - towards the sea!” By birds we mean jackdaws, black crows, magpies (cf. “herds of jackdaws run to the great Don”...). In the 12th century, birds and foxes - precisely in this combination - were perceived as purely pagan realities; it is not without reason that in the “Word and Teaching against the Pagans” we read: “The voices of the kokosh, and the corvids, and other birds and foxes listen.”
“Russian birds” are falcon, nightingale, cuckoo, duck (and goldeneye), seagull, blackbird, quail. But above all, the falcon. They are always referred to by name, and "pagan birds" are often referred to simply as "birds."
Let's turn to another fragment: “The desert covered the power.” And again, the opposition: chaos - order, element, culture, familiar, mastered, cultural, spiritualized, Christian - and unfamiliar, unknown, undeveloped, uncultivated, deserted, unclean, filthy, pagan - has an important world-forming meaning in the “Word”. This is the key to images. This contrast creates an image of a great poetic and philosophical depth- “the desert has already covered its strength” - in crying after the defeat of Prince Igor. The transfer of this phrase as “the desert has already covered the army” is completely insufficient, because the concept of force is much broader than an army. An army is just one of the centers of power. The full meaning is that the empty overcame the complex and rich, the wild overcame the cultural, powerless in all respects (since it is not inspired by tradition, culture), overcame power as the focus of not only the physical military power, but also spiritual qualities: courage, valor, honor, sacrifice in the name of the Motherland.
If we recall the masterpieces of church architecture in Rus' of the 12th century, remember that it was in this century that the construction of Notre Dame Cathedral with its luxurious architecture and complex system of symbols began, think about the complex spiritual searches of theological literature - then it will appear especially brightly and prominently in comparison with all these riches, the concept of the desert - the whole way of life nomadic peoples living in the bare steppe. (It is probably not worth mentioning in detail that the nomadic, “backward” peoples had their own culture that deserves respect, and sometimes admiration - the stone sculpture of the Polovtsians). Here we are reconstructing the consciousness of a medieval Christian. But by the way, the desert did not destroy the power, but only covered it up; power is ripening latently.
All natural elements and phenomena, including rivers, are spiritualized and therefore friendly or hostile to the Russians. The Lay contains many names of rivers, and the author has a special relationship with each. The rivers were personified. Dnepr Slovutich – assistant, patron. Stugna is treacherous, full of icy water. Kayala is a disastrous, cursed river, like Kanina, where Russian squads and the very glory of the Russians “sank.” In the medieval consciousness, proper names, as well as the names of rivers, lakes, seas, and mountains, were interpreted as designations of the nature of an object, its essence, and sometimes fate. All these animations, elements of animism and paganism in the “Word” are phenomena not so much of a religious as of an artistic nature.
When the author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” conveys Igor’s conversation with Donets, he, of course, does not assume that this conversation took place in real life. This conversation is an artistic generalization. There can be no doubt that the pagan gods mentioned in the work are artistic images that have a poetic connotation for the author, and not real cult concepts. The author of the Lay is a Christian, not a pagan. He does not believe in pagan gods, just as he does not believe in the reality of Igor’s conversation with Donets.
Pagan gods are artistic images, poetic concepts. The author of “The Lay” calls the winds “Stribog’s grandchildren”, speaks of the Russian people as Dazhdboz’s grandson.” He calls Boyan “Veles’s grandson.” Veles, or Volos ("cattle god") is mentioned several times in the work Idols of Veles - Volos stood in the 10th century in Kyiv on Podol, in Rostov, and according to legend - in Novgorod. Apparently, Veles was also considered the patron of singers-poets, a shepherd god and the god of poetry at the same time.
Thus, in the Lay, as in the folk art of his time, there is a retreat from paganism; many pagan elements are recognized as purely poetic elements. In this regard, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” reflects the process of decomposition of paganism and the transition to dual faith.
IN scientific literature There is another point of view: it is assumed that the author of the Lay absolutely believed in everything he writes about, and in all the pagan gods he mentions. But it is unlikely that in the 12th century paganism took its position so firmly. The author of the Lay was already moving towards dual faith and looked at much in paganism only as an artistic generalization. In the Russian language of the time of the “Lay” there were already quite a lot of Turkic words, therefore Turkic mythology was familiar to the Russians, but hardly anyone would argue that at the time of the intensified struggle of Christianity against paganism in Rus', the Russians not only found the strength to fight for their pagans gods, but also took seriously the belief in the Polovtsian gods. For a 12th-century poet, pagan gods (both Russian and Polovtsian) could be approximately the same as they were ancient gods for a Renaissance poet. The poetry of the “Lay” was multifaceted, drawing its images, its artistic system from various sources, transforming it, transforming it, merging it into an organic alloy, awakening artistic associations, but not religious beliefs.
IV. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and Christianity
The adoption of Christianity in Rus' created a completely different spiritual atmosphere in society. V.G. Belinsky rightly wrote that “Christianity, naturally, produced Slavic tribes the spirit of unconditional denial of their former pagan nationality... the monuments of pagan poetry were forgotten and were not entrusted to the letter. That is why not only no songs from the pagan period of Rus' have reached us, but we even have almost no idea about Slavic mythology... “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign - this wonderful monument of already semi-pagan poetry, has reached us in a single and, moreover, distorted list. How many monuments of folk poetry have completely perished!”
From the 12th century, quite a rich literature has come down to us, created and preserved in monasteries. It has a pronounced clerical character. The Russian clergy cannot be accused of lack of patriotism. The clergy understood the danger to Rus' from the fragmentation of principalities and constant strife. Therefore, the idea of unity of princes is one way or another presented in the literary monuments of that time that have reached us.
“Come to your senses, princes, you are resisting your elder brethren, raising up an army and calling on the filthy against your brothers - until God convicts you at the Last Judgment!” - the author of “The Tale of the Princes” admonished the organizers and perpetrators of the then troubles. This was apparently a sermon written and delivered in the second half of the 12th century. As we see, in the sermon the Christian God is installed as a terrifying judge. And so it was in almost all texts of that time. One may get the impression that Christianity has completely taken possession of the consciousness of the people. Although in the entire text of “The Tale of Igor’s Host” the name of the Christian God is never mentioned, the influence of the Christian faith is clearly noticeable. Twice in the text we find mention of the churches of St. Sophia in Polotsk and Kyiv:
“From the same Kayala, Svyatopolk ordered to bring his father
between Hungarian pacers
to St. Sophia to Kyiv."
“They rang early for matins in Polotsk for him (Vseslav)
St. Sophia's bells ring,
and he heard that ringing in Kyiv.”
The poet nowhere refers to Christian preachers, whose names, of course, he knew. But the widespread use of Russian and Church Slavonic vocabulary speaks for itself. Let’s take, for example, this passage: “The demonic children blocked the fields with a cry, and the brave Russians blocked them with scarlet shields.” Here are two verbs of the same root, but in one case with Russian full-voice (“pregorodisha”), and in the other with Church Slavonic incomplete-voice (“pregradisha”). In the Russian language, words of Church Slavonic origin and purely Russian ones give different shades of meaning. This increases the richness and flexibility of language, allowing the expression of various, very subtle shades of meaning, especially important in artistic speech. The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” makes extensive use of this. He has “raven” and “vran”, “head” and “head”, “nightingale” and “slavy”, “gate” and “gate”, “harrow” and “abuse”. And not only the use of vocabulary in two languages proves the assertion that the work was created after Russia adopted Christianity.
Such phrases: “the scarlet banner, the white banner” and “There were the centuries of Trojan, the years of Yaroslav have passed; there were campaigns by Oleg, Oleg Svyatoslavovich” - directly confirm what was said above. In the Dictionary of the Russian Language S.I. Ozhegov, the word “banner” is defined as belonging to church processions and military regiments - a large banner with images of saints mounted on a long pole. And finally, the second passage. In connection with what was said above about Troyan as an ancient Russian pagan god, this place should be understood as follows: “There were pagan times, the times of Yaroslav came, and there were the campaigns of Oleg, Oleg Svyatoslavich.” Here, therefore, the author of the Lay outlines three stages of Russian history: pagan times, Yaroslav’s time, as the time of Christian and united Rus', and the time of Oleg’s civil strife.”
There is no doubt that the thought we expressed is correct, also because at the very end of the work the author directly points out that in the 12th century the Christian worldview dominated in Rus':
“Igor travels along Borichev
to the Holy Mother of God Pirogoshchaya."
Borichev import - ascent from the Dnieper pier up the mountain to the center of Kyiv. Pirogoschaya is the name of a church in Kyiv, which was founded in 1132. It was named after the icon of the Mother of God, “Pirogoschaya”, which was in it, brought to Rus' from Byzantium.
“Good morning, princes and squad,
fighting for Christians
against the invasions of the filthy!
The author directly indicates that Igor, his army, and the author himself are Christians. Therefore, it is quite understandable that the work ends with the word “amen”, which comes from Greek word“So be it, truly.” This is exactly how many literary monuments of Ancient Rus' and church prayers end.
V. Conclusion and conclusions:
“The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” is a cultural monument of the 12th century, and this is extremely important from a historical point of view, because it gives us an idea of the spiritual life of the people. We know little about the life and beliefs of the Slavs before they adopted Christianity. Some very scanty information about them can be found among Byzantine historians.
Traditions live long, and much of what worried the Slavs in the days of Procopius of Caesarea survived until the 12th century. It must be borne in mind that Christianity arose at a time of the deepest crisis of ancient civilization and was the fruit of its decadence. The young peoples who adopted the new religion were far from the ideas and rather abstract forms of its doctrine in terms of their ideas. The ancient Slavs were still very close to nature. She gave them to her imagination poetic images, which were associated not only with religious ideas, but also with their aesthetic needs. This was the case with all ancient peoples at the time of the creation of civilization. The poet, the author of the Lay, was more familiar with the nature-related images of the pagan religion of the ancient Slavs, although the harsh allegories of Christianity also lived in his soul. Hence such a wealth of colorful visual and sound comparisons in his poem. Rivers, steppes, hills, the sea, the cries of prophetic birds fill the “Word”, we see them, hear them, they are participants in events. And then there are the fabulous Divas and swan maidens, and the great blue Don and the Russian land that remained somewhere behind “behind the shelomyan”, and the constant heart-tugging refrain “Oh, Russian land! You are already behind the shelomyan!” This is an appeal, a conversation with the homeland. She is not an abstract concept, she is a living being with whom you can talk, as well as drink clean water from the blue Don, the great Russian river, with a helmet.
It is important to note the verbal script characteristic of the “Word”, as well as the ability to perceive inanimate, from our point of view, phenomena and realities of nature as living ones, having their own unique character and meaning in the events taking place. So to speak, the participation of the entire vital world in history and fate. This has nothing to do with the modern interpretation of history, where either economic or political reasons are emphasized in a torn, inanimate, unspiritual world. The life and spirit poured out everywhere colors the worldview of medieval man with a reverent sense of the inextricable unity of the world and its - in a literal, concrete, sensory sense - permeated by the single will of the Creator.
The attitude of our ancestors, their understanding of peace, goodness and justice, an unparalleled sense of their native language and brilliant language creation - this is what will forever excite the Russian people in national monument culture.
Whose goddamn kiss should we step aside, may we be cursed by the Lord's twelve holidays." And in the poor days, Davidovich's resentments retreated from the godly kissing." The heterogeneity of the value-thematic space of the culture of Kievan Rus is also expressed in the existence of a fairly large spectrum transitional forms between pagan and Christian value poles, from purely pagan to...
In this regard, a lot of attention was paid to the study of oratorical techniques, the relationship of the “Word” with the works of rhetoricians of the pre-Mongol period. I.P. Eremin studied this aspect of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in particular detail, classifying it as a monument of political eloquence. Most commentators translate the phrase “difficult story” as “war story” (another, less common...
"THE WORD ABOUT IGOR'S CAMPAIGN" remains a unique work in ancient Russian literature. This is the only work of its kind with purely secular content, consciously presented in artistic form. This is a poem, and it fully deserves this name, but only due to its external form, which sounds more like rhythmic prose than like poetry.Withfrom the point of view of artistic value, it rises like a mountain among flat plain contemporary literature. The unknown author 39, who lived at the end of the 12th century, is undoubtedly a poet of genius. Seven centuries passed until Pushkin, a poet equal to him, appeared in the 19th century. In Western poetry, the “Lay” can only be compared with the “Song of Roland” and the “Song of the Nibelungs,” but from the Russian point of view it , perhaps even surpasses them in its ethical power.
Ancient Russia, however, was undeservedly harsh towards the best literary creations. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” although it was read and quoted by several authors until the 15th century, has come down to us only in one copy, which unfortunately burned down during the fire of Moscow in 1812. The obvious neglect of this masterpiece by medieval readers may be explained by its purely secular - in some ways even pagan - content and form. It apparently shocked the pious Muscovites.
Was “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” always so unique in Russian literature, or rather belonged to those literary phenomena that thundered in their time, but then completely disappeared from monastery libraries, the only repositories of ancient documents? The author himself turns to the old poetic tradition, according to which he compares
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He hangs out with Boyan, a poet who worked at the end of the 11th century. In any case, according to what is said about Boyan in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - the only source telling about this person - Boyan was both a poet and a singer, who performed his songs, accompanying them with playing a musical instrument. The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” is a poet, a literary man who combined the epic traditions of Boyan with the historical style of Byzantine chronicles. He is also very familiar with Russian chronicles. Thanks to this combination of the Russian oral poetic tradition with the Greek written one, “The Lay” apparently remained a unique work even then. The fusion of these two disparate forms was carried out by the author of “The Lay” with amazing perfection: the reader not only did not notice this, but did not even realize the stylistic duality of the poem.
The content of the “Tale” is only one episode of the centuries-long struggle of the Russian princes with the Polovtsy, who roamed the southern steppes. Following exactly historical events, the poem describes an insignificant and at the same time inglorious episode. Prince Igor, who ruled in the small southern town of Novgorod-Seversky, undertook a campaign with his brother Vsevolod, as well as his son and nephew. They were defeated and captured by nomads. After some time, Igor-ryu managed to escape. This is the essence of the historical content of the Lay. The author could belong to a select circle of warriors or to the retinue of Prince Igor and give this inglorious event a traditional epic sound. The main lyrical motif is mourning and sorrowful lamentations for the fallen Russian soldiers and the entire Russian land, torn apart by the raids of nomads and strife between princes. A call was made to the Russian princes to come to the rescue and save Igor from desecration. At the end of the poem, the tragic tension is replaced by joy and jubilation.
When analyzing the religious content of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” one should take into account the stylistic form of the work. The Lay describes the same feudal society as the contemporary chronicles, but it belongs to a completely different literary school. The transition from the church atmosphere of the chronicles of that time - not to mention the rest of modern--
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their literature - into the secular or even slightly pagan world, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” does not cause much surprise. Without the miraculous salvation of this poem, we would have had a completely different idea of the power of the influence of Christianity and Byzantium on pre-Mongol Rus'.
Based on the religious and moral worldview of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” three layers can be distinguished in its artistic fabric: Christian, pagan and purely secular. If we are guided by authentic criteria, then Christian motives are most poorly represented. There are only four lines in the poem, which clearly indicate that its author is a Christian. And yet neither these four sentences, nor each of them, are weighty enough and do not give us complete confidence in this. One of these lines is an aphoristic statement by Boyan: “Neither the cunning, nor the clever, nor the skillful bird can escape the judgment of God!” Speaking about Igor’s escape from captivity, the author notes: “God shows Prince Igor the way.” Having reached Kyiv, the happy prince “rides along Borichev to the temple of the holy “Virgin Mary of Pirogoshchaya,” named after the revered icon brought from Constantinople. The word “Christian” appears in the penultimate sentence: “Be good, princes and squad , fighting for Christians against the invasions of the filthy.” All this testifies to the author’s involvement in Christianity.
You can add two more expressions: the offensive designation of the Polovtsians as “filthy”, which runs through the entire poem, and in this case they are called “children of demons”. On the other hand, it is difficult to be completely sure of the religious meaning of the Russian word “filthy,” borrowed from the Latin “ra§apsh” and found in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” In Russian, this foreign word changed its original meaning of “pagan” and began to be used as “unclean”, “dirty” in a physical or physiological sense. When studying the meaning of this word in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the question arises whether it was used from the very beginning of this transformation in the canonical questions of Kirik, a generation earlier. In most cases, this word seems to have had the character of a direct insult in phrases such as “filthy slave”, “filthy leader of the Polovtsians”
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or “you, black raven, filthy Polovtsian.” If the religious meaning of the word “filthy” was always remembered by the author, it would be surprising, but even more surprising is that Russian soldiers are not designated as “Christians”, with the exception of the last sentence; they are simply called Russians or "Rusichi", which means "sons of Rus'".
Christian vocabulary is not only poor, but the poem lacks actions, gestures and thoughts that are necessarily inherent in Christian society. Prayers are not mentioned. Russian soldiers, going on risky campaigns, do not say prayers; they do not pray before battles and even in mortal combat. Death is not accompanied by reflections on the fate of the soul that abandoned the warrior. Among so many omens of nature, visions or revelations of the Christian heavenly world are completely absent: neither angels nor saints bless the Christian squad going on a campaign to foreign lands.
The medieval French epic The Song of Roland also contains some Christian elements. External signs and symbols are present in large quantities; the author enthusiastically contrasts the “law of Christ” with the “law of Mahomet,” which is under threat in this holy war. It is enough to recall the scene of the hero’s death, when the Archangel Michael himself descends from paradise to accept the soul of Roland. Igor's dying warriors remain among the mourning nature, alone, facing merciless fate face to face.
The distinction between Christian providence and pagan fate is not always clearly defined. Many Christians today continue to believe in blind fate. Pagan converts easily maintain a deeply rooted belief in fate, covering it up with the name of God. The mentioned speeches of Boyan are too fragmentary to understand in what sense the poet uses the phrase “God’s judgment.” But it should be noted that Russian word“judgment” means both judgment and fate. Modern Russian words “fate”, “destined” include the content of this concept, and the word “betrothed” also means “predestined spouse”. But, on the other hand, “the judgments of God” is a translation of the biblical “Counsels of God.”
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We gleaned equally scanty information by examining the author's use of the word "judgment" in describing combat and death on the battlefield. “Boris Vyacheslavich’s boasting brought him to trial” (or to his fate). We have seen that in Russian chronicles princes often go to battle so that God's judgment will triumph. In some Christian Slavic manuscripts, such as the Life of St. Constantine-Cyril, the word “court” is used as a synonym for the word “death.” But in those cases where the name of God is omitted, the word “judgment” sounds quite vague, especially in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” This concept is either simply a linguistic rudiment, or it still contains some kind of religious idea - Christian or pagan. Later we will return to the Christian expressions in The Tale of Igor's Campaign to take a closer look at the influence of Christianity on the ethical views and feelings of the author. But we rightly note that the influence of Christianity, and this is more than obvious, is very weakly manifested in the poem.
In contrast to Christianity, the pagan principle sounds incomparably richer, the understanding of which at the same time is associated with considerable difficulties. The skepticism of modern scientists expressed in relation to Slavic mythology can be traced in the assessments of the pagan world in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” which is often regarded as a kind of poetic convention. One respectable scholar compared the use of pagan images in the Lay with mythological symbols classical poetry XVIII century. The exaggeration is, of course, obvious. The medieval poet lived at a time when Christianity in Rus' was waging a fierce struggle against the remnants of paganism, when, according to the confessions of church preachers, the people still remained “double-faithful.” Such a historical situation, which arose at the junction of two religious worlds, requires a more thorough study of the religious basis of the poet’s work. Pagan elements in the Lay are heard in the names of the great gods of Russian Olympus, in mentions of a number of less significant spirits or personalities, as well as in general view poet on nature and life.
Among the great pagan gods known from other sources, the poet names four, and three of them are mentioned as ancestors or as lords of people and the elements. Up-
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Minania are stereotypical: grandchildren of Stribog, grandchildren of Dazhdbog, grandchildren of Veles. When depicting relationships between generations, the poet more often uses the expression “grandson” than “son.” The grandchildren of the Stri-god are the winds, the grandson of Veles is Boyan himself, as for the author, we do not know with whom he is related. Veles (or Volos), together with Perun, is one of the greatest Russian gods. He is often mentioned as the patron of livestock and wealth, but in this case he is the patron of the poet, the “magic” poet. Perhaps for a magician the patronage of a pagan god or kinship with him is not entirely suitable. We do not know who the grandchildren of Dazhdbog, the sun god, are; The content of the Lay suggests that these are either Russian princes, or the Russian people as a whole, and maybe even all of humanity. The poet says that because of the enmity of the princes, “the property of Dazhdbog’s grandson perished.”
God Khors, who, according to pagan mythology, is also the son of the sun, in all likelihood of Iranian origin; named directly, but apparently synonymous with the sun itself. Prince Vseslav “searched the path of the great Horse like a wolf.” The word “great” again reminds us that Khors’s divine calling is not diminished: he is far superior to the luminary itself. What meaning does the Christian author put into these names, using them so emotionally?
As a poet and student of Boyan, he is the heir to poetic traditions that go back to the depths of pagan times. These traditions seem to have dictated the necessity of using the names of the gods, who in their time were full of life and reverence, and whose light had dimmed under the onslaught of the new faith, in order to transmit them to new generations. But even for the official herald of Christianity, the ancient gods have not yet lost their significance and have not sunk into oblivion. Unlike modern theology, the ancient Church did not deny the existence of gods. Medieval theology viewed them as demons or as deified people. The second theory, known as euhemerism, was very popular in Rus'. Thus, in the Ipatiev Chronicle (1114), which partially retells the Greek chronicle of Malala, one can find a narrative about how the Egyptian pharaohs became gods. Pharaoh Theost “was called the god Svarog... After which the king
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There was his son, called the Sun, who was called Dazhdbog...” It is important to note that the poet who sang the praises of Prince Igor could well have believed in the historical existence of gods. But while Christian preachers were disgusted by their names, he mentions them respectfully, like a son or grandson. Perhaps he was not at all committed to any of the theological versions about the origin of the gods: whether they were spirits of the elements, like the sun or the wind, or whether they were the ancestors of people. The basic ideas of Christian theology were perceived by the Russian people in a very unique way, even in the 19th century. What is important for us is the fact that these names evoked deep and magical associations in the poet. He used them as symbols, but very real symbols, very significant in the system of his mythological worldview 40.
This worldview can truly be called mythological. For a religious scholar it is interesting to observe the living process of myth-making taking place in the poet’s work. Mythological elements are rooted in the worldview of most great poets, but in primitive poetry it is sometimes almost impossible to draw a line between religious mythology and the images created by the poet. The singer Prince Igor cannot be counted among the creators of primitive poetry, but he is rooted in the primitive world of paganism. He fuses folk mythological traditions with his own more or less pantheistic symbolism. There is not a single abstract idea that has not been animated by him or turned into a living symbol. For example, “resentment” is a reproach, one of his favorite symbols. This is a symbol so necessary for the singer of sorrow, the poet of grief. According to recent research by Professor R. Jacobson, the image of “resentment” was borrowed by the Russian poet from the translation of the Greek work of Methodius of Patarsky (reproach, insult, abyxia). Resentment is therefore depicted in the image of a maiden: “Resentment arose in the troops of Dazhdbog’s grandson, a maiden entered the land of Troyan, splashed her swan wings on the blue sea near the Don; the splash drove away the times of plenty.” But Russian folklore has always personified “grief”, depicting it as a creature that pursues a damned person, follows on his heels, accompanies him to his death.
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Gila. Fever or even Fevers were perceived by every Russian in the form of demonic women, whose influence he tried to avoid with the help of spells and witchcraft.
Personified Resentment does not remain alone in the poem. She is surrounded by personifications of grief and lies - two female creatures, Karna and Zhelya, names that can be interpreted as the embodiment of sorrowful crying and sorrow: “Karna clicked on him, and Zhelya galloped across the Russian land, humming fire in a fiery horn.” Among these demonic creatures, the personifications of fate and fate, we find a being of a completely different origin and unclear significance. This is Div 41, the nature of which has not yet been fully explained. “Div - cries at the top of the tree,” foreshadowing failure. The same Div throws himself to the ground when disaster occurs. Most commentators interpret it as a demonic bird-like creature created by Slavic or Iranian mythology, the personification of sinister forces that bring misfortune. Consequently, this image is close to the symbolic image of grief and misfortune.
All these divine or demonic beings live and act in the bosom of nature, which is fraught with a deeper meaning. In the poem, it is not just a landscape against which events unfold. Nature lives its own life and is completely spiritual. Without exaggeration, we can say that nature and natural phenomena occupy the same important place in “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” as man. Nature, naturally, is not completely free from man: she lovingly accepts him into her arms, but sometimes challenges him, threatening him. She warns him with signs, she shares human grief and joy. Thus, the introduction, which tells about the campaign of Prince Igor, opens with a scene of an eclipse of the sun - a devilish omen, and there is nothing unusual in this. Russian chronicles, unlike Western medieval chronicles, are always filled with descriptions of astronomical phenomena, which are interpreted in a prophetic sense. But in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” nature is not depicted as an instrument of Divine revelation. It carries within itself an independent life principle. When Prince Igor leads his warriors to battle, “The sun interceded his path with darkness.”
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lo; the night was awakened by the groans of a thunderstorm; the animal whistle rose, the diva perked up, calling at the top of the tree, telling him to listen - to the unknown land...” Foreshadowing a bloody slaughter, “wolves are calling a thunderstorm along the ravines, eagles are calling at the bones of animals, foxes are charging at scarlet shields.” After the defeat of the Russians, “the grass withered with pity, and the tree bowed to the ground with grief.”
In consonance with the general tragic character of the “Lay,” nature reveals itself in the poem mainly as a bearer of sorrow. But at the same time, she can also rejoice, sympathizing with human happiness. At the moment of Prince Igor’s escape from captivity, “woodpeckers are knocking their way to the river, and nightingales are announcing the dawn with cheerful songs.” Nature is not only a witness to human destinies. She can be not only a powerful defender, but also an enemy of man. During the flight of Prince Igor, the Donets River helps, “cherishing the prince on the waves, spreading green grass for him on its silver banks, clothing him with warm mists under the shade of a green tree.” Igor thanks Donets, his savior, talking poetically with the river. But the river appears evil and ominous, like the Stugna, whose cunning is opposed to the meek Donets. “The Stugna River is not like that,” he says: having a meager stream, having absorbed other people’s streams and streams, widening towards the mouth, it imprisoned the young man Prince Rostislav (he drowned in Stugna in 1083).
Prince Igor enters into a conversation with the river. His wife, the daughter of Yaroslav, standing on the wall of the city of Putivl, mournfully crying for her captive husband, turns to the wind, the Dnieper River and the sun with complaints and spells that sound like pagan prayers. It should be noted that in addressing these elements the word “lord” is used, which testifies not so much to empathy for nature, but to reverent awe and veneration for it:
“Oh wind, sail! Why, sir, are you blowing towards me? Why are you flying Khin’s arrows on your light wings at my dear warriors? Was it not enough for you to fly high under the clouds, cherishing the ships on the blue sea? Why, sir, did you dispel my joy through the feather grass?.. O Dnepr Slovutich!
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early... Bright and thrice bright sun! You are warm and wonderful to everyone; Why, lord, did you extend your hot rays onto the warriors of my army?
Until now, as we see, nature is personified and active in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” But in the poem countless times nature is included in metaphors and poetic symbols. Prince Vsevolod is constantly mentioned in combination with the epithet “tour”. Warriors are compared to wolves, princes to falcons, the singer’s fingers on the strings to ten falcons “launched on a flock of swans.” In human, even political world the poet does not leave the natural world. He lives with memories of nature, uses its images, its sublime spirit. Apparently, there is not a single such poem or other work in European culture in which unity with nature would be so perfect and religiously significant.
Most Russian literary historians consider “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” as a purely poetic work. A deep pantheistic feeling permeates Russian poetry, both written and oral, both artistic and folk. Russians who grew up in such poetic traditions do not attach any importance to this and do not think about their origins. In the oral folk art of Russian peasants, poetic pantheism coexists side by side with the remnants of ancient paganism. Russian poetry of the 19th century was heavily influenced by oral folk art, although its pagan origins were too often ignored. In the 12th century, when sacrifices were still made to the gods in the villages, the influence of the pagan world, rich in images and feelings, on folk art was probably more significant and profound than in our days.
We do not believe that the poet who created “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” not to mention Prince Igor himself and his wife, worshiped the ancient gods. They were probably good Christians at heart. However, the poet, at least in the depths of his subconscious, lived in harmony with the soul of the people in a different, hardly Christian world. Probably most of the images of nature he created were born of poetic invention. But, speaking about nature, he cannot help but draw the image of a living being, and
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his imagination immediately enters the realm of the mythological universe. In this natural-supernatural world, the names of the ancient gods, preserved perhaps only thanks to the poetic tradition, acquire the place that, at the early stage of the development of Russian poetry, was denied to the saints and angels of the Christian sky. The poet subtly feels that the names of the Archangel Michael or St. George can destroy the ethical fabric into which the names of Veles and Dazhd-God are woven. This is the triumph of paganism, which prevails in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
If we can only guess how deeply the singer of Prince Igor shares the pagan faith and superstitions of the Russian people, then at least we can firmly talk about his belief in magic. Moreover, he regards magic without any suspicion and even with respect. Several times he calls Boyan, his teacher, a “prophetic” poet. This word, which later acquired the meaning “wise” and even “clairvoyant”, “prophetic” in Russian, meant, according to ancient documents, “magical”. The poet applies the epithet “prophetic” to the ancient Polotsk prince Vseslav, about whom he says: “Vseslav, the prince, ruled over the people, ruled over the cities for the princes, and he himself prowled like a wolf in the night: from Kyiv he prowled to the roosters of Tmutorokan, the path of the great Horse as a wolf scoured." In the image of Vseslav the werewolf, rationalist critics saw only a metaphor. But an ancient monastic chronicler, a contemporary of Prince Vseslav, who died a hundred years before the writing of the Lay, mentioned that Vseslav’s mother conceived him through magic (1044). The same belief existed in Bulgaria in relation to one prince who lived in the 10th century. Hardly anyone in the Middle Ages doubted the existence of werewolves. What is surprising is the deep respect with which the poet treats one of them - Prince Vseslav.
If nature in “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” is permeated with pagan symbols, which are difficult to find parallels in Russian chronicles, then in their views on public life, social or political ethics, “The Lay” and the chronicles are very close to each other. However, we cannot talk about complete identity of views. The main difference is that the poet's social ethics is completely secularized.
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It is purely secular or even neutral - at first glance, neither Christian nor pagan, no matter where that secret source is that feeds both religious worlds. It is worth considering first of all the nominal value of ethics, regardless of its religious significance.
Studying the moral world of the chronicler, we see a constant struggle between two points of view: the church author and interpreter, and on the other side the feudal society that he depicts. We have seen how the second level of values appears through the pious narrative and most openly in the 12th century. The same feudal world looks at us from the pages of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” but it expresses its views freely, not constrained by the censorship of the interpreter. These views are expressed completely uncensored, they are free from any influence of Christianity, and this is most noticeable in the language and symbols, which should become obligatory and inevitable for every member of Christian society, no matter how mundane or profane it may be. The absence of Christian symbols is dictated, perhaps, by the same stylistic need as the use of images of pagan mythology in describing the landscape.
Three main social ethical currents permeate “The Tale of Igor’s Host” - the same ones that are easily found in the mundane narratives of the chronicles: the ethics of the clan or consanguinity, the ethics of the group or feudal and military dignity, and the ethics of the fatherland associated with allegiance. -ness to the Russian land. Clan or tribal consciousness in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” can be traced as often as in the chronicles, but it is quite strongly and very eloquently expressed. Prince Vsevolod addresses his brother at the beginning of the campaign: “One brother, one bright light - you, Igor! We are both Svyatoslavichs!” Generic names formed from the name of an ancestor are used by the poet quite often instead of the main ones: Yaroslavna, Glebovna - when he talks about women, or<храбрые сыновья Глеба».
Prince Igor and his brother, the unfortunate heroes of the Lay, belonged to the great Chernigov branch of the Russian princely dynasties descended from the famous Oleg Svyatoslavovich,
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who died in 1116. The poet is aware of the common destinies and the sense of pride inherent in this clan. “Oleg’s brave nest is dozing in the field. It has flown far! It was not generated as an insult..." - this is how he describes the Russian camp in the steppe. He dedicates touching lines to the memory of Oleg, an unlucky but glorious ancestor. We also see how the ethics of the clan prompts the author to give generic names to natural elements: the winds are the grandchildren of Stribog, the Dnieper is Slovutich; Russian princes are the grandchildren of Dazhdbog or, in other words, Russians - the most favorite generic comparison, usually used for this reason and, apparently, created by him himself.
Clan ethics are closely related to and are strongly influenced by feudal or military ethics, elements of which we also noted when analyzing the chronicles 42 . Here all types of military virtues are glorified without any restrictions: courage, bravery, bravery. In the style of historical narratives (and chronicles), the poet praises Prince Igor, “who strengthened his mind with his strength and sharpened his heart with courage; filled with military spirit, he led his brave regiments to the Polovtsian land...” The narrative still flows within the framework of reasonable courage, describing the behavior of the Christian prince, filled with a sense of duty: “And Prince Igor said to his squad: “Oh my squad, brothers! It’s better to be killed than to be captured." In these lines there is a parallel with the descriptions of the chronicles and, what is important to emphasize, with the sources of the 10th century describing the deeds of the great pagan warrior Svyatoslav. Even unreasonable, insane courage that goes beyond conceivable, is the subject of glorification. Such was the campaign of Prince Igor, the justification of which is the following words of the prince: “I want,” he said, “to break the spear of the Polovtsian with you, Russians, I want to either lay down my head, or drink with my helmet.” from Don."
The heroic behavior of Vsevolod in the last desperate battle is described in images reminiscent of Russian folk epic tales - epics, known thanks to records made at the beginning of our century: “The ardent tour of Vsevolod! You fight in battle, you shoot arrows at the warriors, you rattle damask swords against their helmets! Where, tour, will you jump,
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shining with their golden helmet, there lie the filthy heads of the Polovtsians. The Avar helmets were cut by you, ardent Tur Vsevolod, with red-hot sabers!”
Nowhere in Russian literature, written or oral, can one find a description of such a height of military intensity, such superhuman or animal fury with which the warriors of Prince Vsevolod, the Kurians, are depicted: “And my Kurians are experienced warriors: under the pipes there are midwives, they are nurtured under their helmets, they are fed from the end of their spears, they know the paths, they know the ravines, their bows are drawn, their quivers are open, their sabers are sharpened; they themselves gallop like gray wolves in a field, seeking honor for themselves and glory for the prince.”
This last motif, glorifying “honor” and “glory,” reveals another side of the same feudal ideal. Glory in the name of real greatness, especially coming after death, and honor at the lower social levels constitute the moral good, the fruit and advantage of military virtue and valor. Glory is achieved not by luck or political power, but by fearlessness. That is why the poem ends with a “doxology” to Prince Igor and his relatives, although from a political point of view their campaign was doomed to failure and ended in defeat. In the same spirit, the poet glorifies the ancestor of the princely family of the Olgovichs, whom he calls Gorislavich, a name that combines the words “grief” and “glory.” He also glorifies the ancient Vseslav, the “magician,” whose grandfather’s glory was lost to his weak descendants. Both of them - Oleg and Vseslav - left behind a sad memory in the annals of Rus', which were well known to our poet. They were the main “smiths of enmity”, heroes of civil wars. If for the poet or Prince Igor they still conceal a glimmer of glory, like Oleg for Boyan, then this is only due to their personal courage, the desire for risky adventures that distinguished Prince Igor himself, as well as the descendants of Prince Oleg.
What constitutes the glory of princes is honor for the squad, their servants and warriors. The refrain: “seeking honor for yourself, and glory for the prince,” is repeated twice in the battle scenes. The idea of “honor” as a personal value based on the awareness of military dignity is very important for the historical assessment of the culture of Ancient Rus'. This idea was especially significant in the Middle Ages.
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forged feudal West. Undoubtedly, the concept of honor formed the basis of aristocratic freedoms and, accordingly, became the basis of modern democracy. On the other hand, it was widely believed that the idea of honor was alien to the Russian national character and the Orthodox understanding of Christianity. Indeed, it is in vain to look for the origins of this idea in Byzantine social ethics or in the later Muscovite society, where “honor” was understood as a social position granted by state power. In the non-Christian East, the Islamic world and Japan, the consciousness of personal honor is equally strongly developed, although it lacks that religious support against the claims of the state that the medieval Catholic Church gave to the individual.
The truth is that the concept of personal military honor has little, if any, connection with the peculiarities of the national character of the Teutonic peoples. It is easily found in any society where military service is rooted in a feudal or feudal-like organization. Ancient, or Kievan, Rus' was just such a feudal society, and that is why the idea of military honor developed in it - perhaps not without the influence of the Varangians. On the pages of the chronicles we discover that this idea is still hidden under a dull veil, only sporadically breaking through the Byzantine ideal of the humble Orthodox warrior. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” this idea sounds freely and eloquently.
The third source of social ethics for the singer Prince Igor is persistent patriotism, which embraces not individual Russian principalities, but the entire Russian land. This pan-Russian consciousness, as we have traced, was in decline at the end of the 12th century, and only a few traces of this decline can be found in contemporary chronicles of that period. In The Tale of Igor's Campaign, patriotism occupies just as important a place as in the 11th century; in fact, the poet - the author of "The Lay" - is a faithful heir to the era of Boyan. There is not a single phrase in the poem that is repeated as often as “Russian land.” This expression is not perceived in that narrow sense - including only Kyiv and the surrounding lands,
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what was typical for that time - but in a broader sense. This concept included all the principalities and lands inhabited by Russian people. Prince Igor's raid, which is essentially just a minor episode of a border battle, is viewed as a national tragedy. Igor leads his regiments to the battle for the “Russian Land”, he fights for the “Russian Land”. His defeat causes national grief. The poet goes even further and ends with the words of Boyan: “It’s hard for a head without shoulders, it’s hard for a body without a head - so it is for the Russian land without Igor.” These words sound as if for him Prince Igor was the real head or leader of all Rus'.
The expression “Russian land” in the mouth of the poet is not only hyperbole to enhance the glory of Prince Igor, it is the fruit of his political worldview. The bearer of political ideals in the poem is Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev, the head of the Olgovich family. In his bitter and passionate appeal to all Russian princes, Svyatoslav demands that they act in defense of the Russian land, “for the wounds of Igor, the violent Svyatoslav!” Smolensk and Polotsk, Galich and Suzdal, the most remote outskirts on the borders of Rus' - all are embraced by this passionate appeal. In his laudatory list of Russian princes, the poet does everything to avoid disparaging individual branches of the Rurik family. The Monomakhovichs, the traditional enemies of the Olgovichs, are given a dominant place due to the political significance of the positions they occupy. On the contrary, one of the strongest representatives of the Olgovich clan, Yaroslav Chernigovsky, is criticized for his ignoble behavior: he refrained from all joint campaigns against the Polovtsians.
The poet’s national consciousness echoes the consciousness of the clan. But it also echoes the feudal ethic of unlimited honor. The poet, being a patriot, cannot help but see the disastrous consequences of enmity, and he unequivocally condemns them: “The struggle of the princes against the filthy stopped, for brother said to brother: “This is mine, and that is mine.” And the princes began to talk about little “this "to say great things" and to forge sedition against themselves. And the filthy ones from all sides came with victories to the Russian land.”
Here greed rather than pride is a political original sin, contrary to the concepts of feudal ethics.
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Ki. The words “this is great” indicate an exaggerated scrupulousness in the understanding of personal honor. The poet is fully aware of the national damage caused by the pursuit of glory, speaking about the great hero, ancient Oleg: “It was Oleg who forged sedition with a sword and sowed arrows on the ground... Then, under Oleg Gorislavich, it was sown and sprouted by strife, many perished. the death of Dazhdbozh's grandson; in princely sedition, human lives were shortened.”
This political condemnation of Oleg does not downplay the poet’s admiration for the “glory” and courage of the prince. We find the same dualism in assessment in relation to Prince Igor. Speaking on his own behalf, the poet tries not to utter a single word of condemnation towards the adventurous and reckless raid, which ended in disaster for the “Russian Land”. But the political assessment is given through the lips of Svyatoslav of Kyiv, who, through tears and lamentations, sends words of condemnation to his captive cousins: “Oh my children, Igor and Vsevolod! Early on you began to offend the Polovtsian land with swords and seek glory for yourself. But you did not overcome with honor, you did not shed vile blood with honor. Your brave hearts are made of strong damask steel, forged and tempered in courage. What have you done to my silver hair?”
We have before us an ethical conflict that the poet leaves unresolved. His heart responds equally to the call to “glory” and to the call of suffering Rus'. He does not appear to sympathize with domestic feuds. He prefers to see the manifestation of his adored military valor on the battlefield against the common enemy of Rus', the pagans. In this he is unanimous with the best traditions of the chronicles.
It is interesting to compare the singer’s glorification of Prince Igor, the high assessment of this prince and his campaign with the assessments contained in the chronicles of that time. Stories about this campaign have reached us, preserved in the Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles. They give very unambiguous interpretations of the image of Prince Igor. The Laurentian Chronicle (1186), which was created in the city of Vladimir, reflects the political trends characteristic of the northern branch of the Monomakh family, the view of the opponents of Prince Igor. This look is quite harsh. The chronicler denounces the adventurous spirit and recklessness...
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insolence, which turned into an inglorious defeat for Prince Igor and his squad. Sometimes the tone of the story takes on an ironic tone: “That same year, Olgov’s grandchildren decided to go against the Polovtsians, since they didn’t go last year with all the princes, but went on their own, saying: “What, aren’t we princes?” We’ll get the same glory for ourselves!”
After the first easy victory, their enthusiasm increased immensely. They spent three days in entertainment and boasting: “Our brothers went with Svyatoslav, the Grand Duke, and fought with the Polovtsians in full view of Pereyaslavl, they themselves came to them, but they did not dare to go to the Polovtsian land after them. And we are in their land, and we ourselves have killed, and their wives have been captured, and their children are with us. Now let’s follow them across the Don and kill them all without a trace. If we win here too, then we will follow them to the Lukomorye, where our grandfathers did not go, and we will take glory and honor to the end,” “but we did not know about God’s destiny,” the author adds. The behavior of Russian soldiers in the second battle was not distinguished by courage:
“Ours, seeing them (the Polovtsians), were horrified and forgot about their boasting, for they did not know what the prophet said: “Wisdom, and courage, and a plan are in vain for a person if God resists”... And ours were defeated the wrath of God."
The author's lamentation of the failures of the Russian army is interspersed with a pious depiction of the punishing God. Prince Igor's escape is naturally described with a sense of satisfaction and is interpreted as a sign of divine forgiveness. “Soon Igor fled from the Polovtsians, for the Lord will not leave the righteous in the hands of sinners.” The characterization of Prince Igor as a righteous man is quite unexpected in the context of the chronicle, but it is quite understandable from the standpoint of Christianity, as opposed to paganism; among other things, this is a biblical quote.
The Ipatiev Chronicle, compiled in Kyiv, is more than friendly towards Prince Igor, tells about the prince’s failure in more detail, and from a religious point of view this version is more carefully developed. It is very likely that this part of the Ipatiev Chronicle includes annals created in the very house of Prince Igor. Igor is presented in it as a wise, pious prince who has gone through purifying suffering and achieved a high degree of Christian humility.
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His reflections on the meaning of the eclipse of the sun are very different in tone from his proud challenge to this omen, which sounds in the Lay. So, according to the chronicle, he says: “Brothers and squad! No one knows the divine secrets, but God creates the sign, as does His whole world. And what God gives us - for our good or for our sorrow - we will see.” When scouts warn him about the enemy’s readiness, he replies: “If we have to return without a battle, then our shame will be worse than death; so it will be as God gives it to us.” The idea of honor and dignity is emphasized, softened, however, by humility and faith in God. Here are his thoughts after the first victory: “Behold, God, by His power, doomed our enemies to defeat, and gave us honor and glory.”
The second, unsuccessful battle is described in much more detail than in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” We learn that Igor himself was wounded. One chronicle stroke reminds us of a vivid epic picture - the chronicler speaks of the love connecting Prince Igor with his brother Vsevolod at the moment of mortal danger: “And already captured, Igor saw his brother Vsevolod, fighting fiercely, and he prayed to God for death so as not to see the death of his brother.” The captivity of Prince Igor is accompanied by a long monologue by the prince, in which he attributes his failure to God’s just punishment and begs for forgiveness. One of his sins lies especially heavy on his conscience - his brutal plunder of a Russian city:
“I remembered my sins before the Lord God, that I committed a lot of murders and bloodshed on Christian land: how I did not spare Christians, but gave the city of Glebov near Pereyaslavl to plunder, Then innocent Christians experienced a lot of troubles: they were separated there were fathers with their children, brothers with brothers, with each other, wives with their husbands - the elders were kicked, the young suffered from cruel and merciless beatings, husbands were killed and dissected, women were desecrated. And I did all this... and I am not worthy to live! And now I see vengeance from the Lord my God...” A specific episode of the plunder of the city of Glebov comes from the lips of Prince Igor himself, these are his personal memories, although the general pious presentation of events is attributed to the chronicler.
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