Glorious old Turkish king Bakhmet He fought on the Russian land, He mined the old Kazan city under the forest, He de stood under the city With his force-army, There was a lot of time this time, Yes, and devastated the Kazan city under the forest, Ruined the Kazan de city in vain.

Glorious old King Bahmet Turkish

He fought on the Russian land,

He mined the old Kazan-city undergrowth,

He de stood under the city

With your force-army,

There was a lot of time this time,

Yes, and ruined Kazan-city undergrowth,

Ruined Kazan de city in vain.

He cut down all the princes-boyars in Kazan,

Yes, and the princess-boyar -

He took those alive in full.

He captivated the people many thousands,

He led the Turkish land to his land,

He set up three great outposts on the road:

The first great outpost -

He let in rivers, deep lakes;

Another great outpost -

Clear fields are wide,

Became thieves-robbers;

And the third outpost - dark forests,

Unleashed fierce beasts,

Only in Kazan in the city

There was only one young wife, Avdotya Ryazanochka.

She went to the Turkish land

Yes, to the glorious king, to the Turkish Bakhmet,

Yes, she went full to ask.

She walked not by the way, not by the road,

Yes, you are deep rivers, wide lakes

Those she sailed,

And you are small rivers wide lakes

Yes, whether she wandered along the ford.

Did she pass the great outpost,

And those clean fields are wide,

The thieves-robbers of those opalden passed,

How about noon fierce thieves

Those sleeping holding.

Yes, she passed the second great outpost,

Yes, dark, you are dense forests,

Those fierce beasts passed midnight,

Yes, at midnight the beasts are fierce

Those sleeping holding.

Came to the land of Turkey

To the glorious king Bakhmet of Turkey,

Yes, in his chambers are royal.

She lays down the cross according to the written

And bows, you know in a learned way,

Yes, she beat the king with her brow, bowed low.

- Yes, you, sir king de Bakhmet of Turkey!

You ruined our old Kazan-city under the forest,

Yes, you are our princes, the boyars knocked them all out,

You took our princesses, the boyars of those living in full,

You took many thousands of people full of people,

You brought Turkish into your land,

I am a young woman, Avdotya Ryazanochka,

I remained alone in Kazan.

I came, sir, to you myself, yes,

Is it possible to let me go

some people captured.

Would you like your own kind-tribe? -

Turkish king Bahmet says:

- You are a young wife, Avdotya Ryazanochka!

How I ruined your old Kazan under the forest,

Yes, I killed the boyar princes,

I took the princess-boyar and those living in full,

Yes, I took many thousands of people full of people,

I brought Turkish into my land,

He set up three great outposts on the road:

The first great outpost -

Rivers, deep lakes;

The second great outpost -

Clear fields are wide,

Became fierce thieves-robbers,

Yes, the third outpost of the great -

Dark forests - you are dense,

I unleashed fierce beasts.

Yes, tell me, wife Avdotya Ryazanochka,

How did you pass these outposts? -

The answer is kept by wife Avdotya Ryazanochka:

I am these great outposts

Passed not by way, not by road.

Like I am a river deep lakes

Those I sailed,

And those clean fields are wide,

Thieves, robbers,

Those I have gone through,

Opalden thieves-robbers,

They rested holding.

Dark forests are those of fierce beasts,

Those de I passed at midnight,

Ferocious beasts,

Those sleeping holding.-

Yes, those speeches fell in love with the king,

Says the glorious King Bahmet Turkish:

- Oh, you, young wife Avdotya Ryazanochka!

Yes, she knew how to speak with the king,

Yes, know how to ask the king for a full de head,

Yes, which little head will not be amassed for more than a century.–

Yes, the young wife Avdotya Ryazanochka says:

- And you, the glorious king Bakhmet of Turkey!

I'll get married and get a husband,

Yes, I will have a father-in-law, I will call the father,

If you are a mother-in-law, I will call you mother.

And I'll be known as their daughter-in-law,

Yes, I will live with my husband, yes I will give birth to a son,

Yes, I will sing, I will feed, I will have a son,

Let me call you mother.

Yes, I will marry my son and take my daughter-in-law,

Yes, will I be known as a mother-in-law.

Yes, I will live with my husband,

Let me give birth to a daughter.

Yes, I will sing, I will feed, I will have a daughter,

Let me call you mother.

Yes, I will give my daughter in marriage,

Yes, I will have a son-in-law,

And I will be known as mother-in-law.

And don’t make me that little head,

Yes, dear beloved brother.

And I’ll never see my brother forever and ever.-

Did the king like those speeches,

He said to the wife this is the word: -

Oh, you young wife Avdotya Ryazanochka!

You knew how to ask the king if the head is full,

Yes, you won’t make money for a century.

When I ruined your old Kazan-city undergrowth,

I knocked out the boyar princes,

And I took those living princesses to the full,

He took many thousands of people full of people,

Yes, they killed my dear beloved brother,

And the glorious Turkish Pasha,

Yes, I won’t make a brother for me forever and ever.

Yes, you, young wife Avdotya Ryazanochka,

You take your captive people,

Yes, take them to Kazan to the last.

Yes, for your-you words for suave,

Yes, you take yourself a golden treasury

Yes, in my Turkish land,

Do you just take as much as you need.-

Tuto's wife Avdotya Ryazanochka

She took the people captivated,

Yes, she took the golden treasury

Yes, from that land of Turkish,

Yes, as much as she needed.

Yes, she brought de captive people,

Yes, to that empty Kazan,

Yes, she built Kazan-city anew,

Yes, since then Kazan has become glorious,

Yes, since then Kazan has become rich,

Is it here in Kazan Avdotino's name was exalted,

Yes, that's how it ended.

With the invasion of Batu and the ruin of Ryazan in 1237, two outstanding artistic images created by the genius of the people are connected - Evpaty Kolovrat and Avdotya Ryazanochka. But if the legend (and according to some assumptions, a song, an epic) about the feat of the Ryazan hero Yevpaty Kolovrat has come down to us as part of the Old Russian “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu in 1237”, then the legend (and perhaps a true story) about Avdotya Ryazanochka has been preserved in the oral song tradition, it was preserved and carried through the centuries by folk memory.

According to its genre characteristics, as well as its content, "Avdotya Ryazanochka" can be attributed both to ballads (it has a plot), epics (it "suggested" like an epic), and historical songs (it is historical in its essence, although specific historical realities were not preserved in it). But its main advantage lies in the fact that it is in this work of oral folk art that the heroic image of a Russian woman is created. And if Yaroslavna "Words about Igor's Campaign" is called next to the names of female images of world literature, then we can name Avdotya Ryazanochka next to Yaroslavna.

One of the songs about Avdotya Ryazanochka was recorded on August 13, 1871 at Kenozero by A.F. Hilferding from the sixty-five-year-old peasant Ivan Mikhailovich Lyadkov. Known for "Avdotya Ryazanochka" and arranged by the wonderful Russian writer Boris Shergin.

The text is published according to the edition: Gilferding A.F. Onega epics. 4th ed., vol. 3, no. 260.

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MOSCOW STATE OPEN PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER M.A. SHOLOHOV

As a manuscript

KOVYLIN ALEXEY VLADIMIROVICH RUSSIAN FOLK BALLAD: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GENRE

Specialty 10.01.09 - folklore.

DISSERTATION for the degree of candidate of philological sciences

Scientific adviser Doctor of Philology, Professor A.A. Gugnin MOSCOW - 2003

INTRODUCTION .................................................. ................................................. ..............3 FIRST CHAPTER Formation of the genre of the Russian folk ballad of the XIV centuries .............................. ..............................19 1. Historical prerequisites for the formation of the Russian folk ballad genre 19 2. A cycle of ballads about Polonyanka girls .................. ...............................................22 3. adjacent forms. "Avdotya-Ryazanochka" .............................................. ...............41 4. "Kozarin"............................. ................................................. ............................... SECOND CHAPTER The development of the genre of Russian folk ballad XIV - XVII centuries ........ ......................... 1. Elder ballads of the 14th – early 16th centuries .................. .............................................. 2. Changes in the genre structure ballads in the 16th century ........................... 3. Cycle about an evil wife .. ................................................. ............................................... 4. Cycle about the timeless well done................................................. ......................... 5. Historical song and ballad poetry .................. .................................................. 6. Reworkings of the novelistic epic..... ................................................. ..... THIRD CHAPTER Genre changes in the Russian folk ballad of the 17th – 19th centuries ................ ..... 1. Types of cyclizations of the Russian folk ballad genre .............................................. 2. Lyricization of a folk ballad .............................................. .............................. CONCLUSION................... ................................................. .................................. BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................... ................................................. ................................. INTRODUCTION The ballad genre is one of the most complex and unexplored in Russian folk poetry. A lot of research works are devoted to the ballad, and yet it remains the most controversial and mysterious form for modern science. In educational literature, only in 1971 V.P.

Anikin was the first to introduce the theme of the ballad genre. Until that time, the term ballad did not have sufficient theoretical justification in educational publications.

In the scientific world, one can note an increase in interest in studying the specifics of the genre only from the end of the 50s of the twentieth century, since the publication of the collection of Russian epics by V.Ya. Propp and B.N. Putilov2. From the 60s. specific features of the genre form of the ballad are established, attempts are made to trace the origins and fate of the genre, old collections are studied, new ones are released, and active work is underway to collect ballad songs in the regions. However, the main, global issues of the genre remain unresolved. What is a ballad in a generic sense, why does the lyric manifest itself in the genre extremely unevenly, and yet the ballad turns into lyrical forms? How does a folk ballad arise, what are the reasons for its lyricization, as well as its transformation into the genre of a literary romantic ballad? Why is the ballad a flexible genre unit capable of reflecting the artistic demands of several historical formations, from the 14th to the 18th-19th centuries? How do epic, lyrical and dramatic beginnings combine in its genre structure at specific historical stages, and does their presence determine the general laws of creating specific works in different periods of ballad creativity? How does the ballad of the 15th century differ from the ballad of the 16th century in terms of genre? What is the specificity of the interaction of the genre with other forms of folk poetry:

ritual, epic, lyrical, historical, spiritual songs?

We will try in our work to trace the evolution of the Russian folk ballad genre and answer the questions posed. We should not disregard the fact of correlation between Russian and European folk ballads. The folk European ballad is traditionally understood as plot narrative lyrical songs of epic origin.

They have a common content and indefinite genre specifics. In the works of Western European scientists, the epic is the same ballad, because it has a plot, evokes certain emotions, feelings and reflects the private life of the hero. "Russian ballads, 'epics' or 'olden times' differ from all other ballads in Europe in form, style and subject matter"3. Therefore, it seems appropriate to study the evolution of the genre, taking into account the national specifics of each ballad region. Only by collecting data on all ballad regions, one can compare evolutionary chains, take into account national characteristics - in a word, conduct a comparative analysis of the ballad heritage of various European countries and determine the general model, genre type of the European folk ballad. This work is devoted to Russian folk ballads and is the material for such a generalizing study.

Before proceeding to the study of Russian folk ballads, it is necessary to dwell on the general model of the emergence of the genre in Europe. Until the 20th century, the theory of the origin of the ballad in the conditions of the primitive communal era was widespread. The term ballad comes from the Italian word ballata (the verb ballare means to dance). The ballad refers to songs performed to music in dance (F.B. Gummer, A.S. McKinsey, R.G. Malton, etc.) Dance is understood as an early form of primitive art, respectively, the ballad is one of the earliest forms of poetry . "Inasmuch as dancing is the most spontaneous of all the arts, it may be regarded as the earliest".

"The ballad is a song made in the dance, and so by the dance"4. In Russia, the connection between the ballad genre and ritual creativity was pointed out by A.N. Veselovsky. “At the beginning of all development, the most ancient layer of choral, ritual poetry, songs in faces and dance will appear, from which lyrical and epic genres have consistently emerged.” Ballads "carried out their epic canvas from the choral action, they were performed mimicry and dialogically, before their coherent text was formed, to which they continued to dance"5. The ballad songs themselves “separate themselves from the spring cycle”6.

In the 20th century, the theory of the origin of the ballad in the primitive communal era was defended by the famous scientist P.V. Lintur7. One can note the opinion of G.A.

Kalandadze, who supported the tradition of the 19th century: “The emergence of the ballad is more directly related to the emergence and development of round dances, which date back to ancient times”8. The works of other researchers are more cautious. Professor N.P. Andreev in the introductory article to the first collection of folk ballads prepared by V.I. Chernyshev, notes: “One might think that some songs similar to a ballad existed before, but they have not survived to us in their original form.” In the modern sense, the scientist refers the ballad to the early feudal and feudal period9. This point of view dominated during the first half of the 20th century. Earlier, in 1916, V.M. Zhirmunsky, obviously influenced by the comparatively historical method of A. N. Veselovsky, wrote about the English folk ballad: “... the ballad form retained features that make it necessary to attribute the emergence of this form to the era of poetic syncretism, to the choral song dance. ... But this theory does not apply to real ballads that have come down to us; in their concrete form, our ballads do not claim to be such an antiquity.

Later, almost half a century later, in his epoch-making work "People's Heroic Epic", the scientist will express with all certainty and clarity that the folk ballad is replacing the heroic epic simultaneously with the chivalric romance in the 13th - 14th centuries. This point of view should be recognized as promising; it can be traced in the vast majority of European and Russian works on the ballad of the twentieth century. "The European ballad is the product of the social conditions by which it is defined, subject to the precise limitations of each individual nation"12. Modern science believes that the ballad, like any genre of oral folk art, is a poetic form of reflection of reality, in this case, the needs of medieval times.

“Speaking about the birth and flourishing of the ballad as a genre of folk poetry, one has to establish ... the correspondence of one or another type of ballad to a certain stage of social development with its inherent attitude and way of thinking”13. An ideological and artistic analysis of specific ballad plots leads to the conclusion that the ballad reflects conflicts and historical conditions of the medieval era.

Apparently, the folk ballad arises as a genre in the general era of the Middle Ages in all European countries and has pronounced national characteristics. The origin of the genre is typological, in each country ballad songs appear as a completely independent genre. At an early stage of development, it closely interacts with developed similar genre forms, which subsequently can have a noticeable impact on the entire genre image of the national ballad (specialists distinguish the type of English and Scottish ballads, Scandinavian, German, French, Slavic ballads, Spanish romances, etc.). It should be noted the difference noted by researchers of the ballad genre, such as Slavic ballads, from Western European ones (the Spanish region occupies a special position, in which the features of both types are historically justified combined). In all likelihood, initially a dance song was called a ballad, or rather, it denoted a spring round dance song of love content. By the 13th century, such songs were becoming solid literary forms and were widely used in Western Europe. “It is impossible not to notice that the Romanesque form of the ballad, as soon as it became popular, immediately turned into a literary one”14. “From a dance song, a ballad already in the 13th century in Italy, and then in France, turned into a literary genre that has a certain metrical form and a purely lyrical content”15.

The emergence of a new, proper ballad genre, the assertion of its aesthetic platform presupposes interaction with developed genre forms. The ballad borrows a certain form, form of performance of dance songs, thereby being included in the system of folklore genres and artistically fully reflects new modern conflicts. So the Scandinavian ballad borrows the custom of dance and the Romanesque verse form. A well-known researcher of Scandinavian ballad poetry M.I.

Steblin-Kamensky notes: “The ballad verse form, as well as the custom of dance accompanied by singing, were presented in the era when the ballad arose, outside Scandinavia, and above all in France. ... As is usually assumed, from France, apparently, as early as the first half of the 12th century, it penetrated Scandinavia, and above all, Denmark and the custom of dancing accompanied by singing”16. In other countries, the ballad was most often not associated with dance, and in the Slavic region (especially among the southern and eastern Slavs) it has a tonic versification, since the heroic epic songs that were popular at that time and had a significant impact on the new genre had this form.

Of fundamental importance is the question of the genre structure of the ballad.

V.Ya. Propp proposed to define the folklore genre as a combination of "its poetics, everyday use, form of performance and attitude to music"17.

V.V. Mitrofanova pointed out the need to analyze the ideological and thematic unity, the commonality of plots and situations18. Scientists note the difficulty of classifying the folk ballad genre, since it does not have a clear form of performance, does not have a stable everyday use (ballads are performed mainly from time to time, sometimes on famous holidays), and “the rhythmic structure of the ballad opens up space for the most peculiar musical possibilities” nineteen. Apparently, the ballad is determined by its own genre specificity, and the researchers establish common features of the ballad genre. The ballad is set to depict the world of private people, "the world of human passions interpreted tragically"20. "The world of the ballad is the world of individuals and families, scattered, disintegrating in a hostile or indifferent environment"21. The ballad focuses on the disclosure of the conflict. “For centuries, typical conflict situations have been selected and cast in ballad form”22. The ballads contain “sharp, irreconcilable conflicts, good and evil, truth and untruth, love and hate, positive and negative characters are opposed, with the main place given to the negative character. Unlike fairy tales, it is not good that wins in ballads, but evil, although negative characters suffer a moral defeat: they are condemned and often repent of their actions, but not because they realized their inadmissibility, but because at the same time as those whom they wanted to destroy and the people they love are dying.”23 The conflict is revealed dramatically, and, it should be noted, the drama literally permeates the entire ballad genre. “The artistic specificity of the ballad is determined by its dramatic nature. The composition, the way of depicting a person, and the very principle of typification of life phenomena are subject to the needs of dramatic expressiveness. The most characteristic features of the composition of the ballad:

one-conflict and brevity, discontinuity of presentation, an abundance of dialogues, repetitions with an increase in drama ... The action of the ballad is reduced to one conflict, to one central episode, and all the events preceding the conflict are either set out extremely briefly ... or completely absent ... "The images of the ballad characters are also revealed according to dramatic principle: through speech and action. It is the attitude to action, to the disclosure of a personal position in conflict relations that determines the type of the hero of the ballad.

“The creators and listeners of ballads are not interested in personalities. They are primarily concerned with the relationships of the characters among themselves, transferred, epically copying the world of consanguinity and family relations. The actions of the heroes of the ballads have a universal meaning: they determine the entire plot basis of the ballad and have a dramatic tense character, setting the stage for a tragic denouement. “Events are conveyed in the ballad in their most intense, most active moments, there is nothing in it that would not relate to action”26. “The action in a ballad, as a rule, develops rapidly, in leaps and bounds, from one peak scene to another, without connecting explanations, without introductory characteristics. The speeches of the characters alternate with narrative lines. The number of scenes and characters is kept to a minimum. ... The whole ballad is often a kind of preparation for the denouement”27. Scientists note the incompleteness of the ballad genre, almost any ballad can be continued or expanded into a whole novel.

“Mysteriousness or understatement, arising from the compositional properties of the ballad, is inherent in the ballads of all peoples”28. As a rule, the ballad has an unexpected and cruel denouement. The heroes do things that are impossible in ordinary, everyday life, and they are prompted to do such actions by an artistically constructed chain of accidents, usually leading to a tragic ending. "Motives of unexpected misfortune, irreparable accidents, terrible coincidences are common for a ballad"29.

The presence of these features allows us to assert that "ballads have such a specific character that one can speak of them as a genre"30.

Currently, there are four theories for defining the genre of the ballad.

1. Ballad is an epic or epic-dramatic genre. The supporters of this position include N. Andreev, D. Balashov, A. Kulagina, N. Kravtsov, V. Propp, Yu. Smirnov. "Ballad is an epic (narrative) song of a dramatic nature"31. The source of the emotionality of the narration is the dramatic beginning, the author's presence in the ballad is not expressed, which means that the lyrics as a generic feature of the genre are absent. The lyrical beginning is understood as a direct expression of the author's attitude to reality, the author's mood32.

2. Ballad - a lyrical form of poetry. At the moment of the development of science, such a point of view should be considered abandoned. Its origin dates back to the 19th century. It was believed that the ballad in its literary form reflects the folk form and easily correlates with such lyrical genres as romance and elegy. Pavel Yakushkin, one of the well-known collectors of folk poetry, wrote: “The ballad so easily turns into an elegy and, conversely, an elegy into a ballad, that it is impossible to strictly distinguish between them”33. They differ only in the number of options presented more in the ballad34. Such a theory does not withstand serious criticism, much earlier V.G. Belinsky wrote about the belonging of the ballad, which arises in the Middle Ages, to epic works, although in general it should be considered, according to the critic, in the section of lyric poetry35.

3. Ballad - lyrical-epic genre. This point of view is shared by A. Veselovsky, M. Gasparov, O. Tumilevich, N. Elina, P. Lintur, L. Arinstein, V. Erofeev, G.

Kalandadze, A. Kozin. Until recently, this theory was considered classical. There is every reason to believe that it arises from the assumption about the lyrical warehouse of the ballad, which was widespread in the 19th century. Scientists note the peculiar lyricization of the folk ballad: “If for epics the main path of transformation is the transition to prose, in the form of a wide range of prose forms, ... then for the ballad the main path of transformation is the transition to lyrics, in the form of, perhaps, a wider set of lyric poetry. epic and lyrical forms"36. Considering such lyrical-epic ballads of the 18th – 19th centuries, the researchers come to the rightful conclusion that the leading principle in the structure of the genre is precisely the lyric. Unfortunately, in the definition of a specific manifestation of the lyrical principle, the very term lyricism, general, mostly non-genre grounds are given. We are talking about a special emotional perception, lyrical empathy of listeners to the content of ballads, their sympathy for the suffering and death of heroes. Also, as a drawback of this concept, one should point out the lack of works devoted to the genre evolution of the ballad: perhaps the ancient form of ballad songs is not constant, changes over time and does not quite correspond to the modern form of ballads.

4. Ballad - epic-lyrical-dramatic genre. This approach to the definition of a ballad is now entering the leading positions. Supporters of this concept are M. Alekseev, V. Zhirmunsky, B. Putilov, A. Gugnin, R. Wright Kovaleva, A. Mikeshin, V. Gusev, E. Tudorovskaya. "A folk ballad is an epic lyrical song with pronounced dramatic elements"37. In principle, Russian folklore studies went to such a definition for a long time and independently, but it is possible to establish connections with the analytical works of German poets and collectors of folk poetry of the 18th-19th centuries, who created the type of romantic ballad. I.V. Goethe believed that “the singer uses all three main types of poetry, ... he can start lyrically, epicly, dramatically, and, changing forms at will, continue ...”38. In the definition of a ballad as a symbiosis of three poetic genera, I.G. Herder added another mythological element. The dramatic beginning is one of the leading elements that form the ballad genre. The dramatic presentation of the series of events, the dramatic conflict and the tragic denouement determine not the lyrical, but the dramatic type of emotionality of the ballad genre. If the lyrics in folklore mean the subjective attitude of the author to the events depicted, then the dramatic beginning is the attitude of the characters to the events taking place, and the ballad genre is formed in accordance with this approach39.

The last group of scientists believes that the dramatic beginning is an indispensable feature of the genre and has an equal role with the epic and lyrical. In a particular song of the epic-lyric-dramatic type, they can be involved to varying degrees, depending on the needs of the historical time and the ideological and artistic setting of the work.

Such a position, in our opinion, seems to be the most promising and fruitful in relation to the study of the folk ballad genre.

Unfortunately, we have to admit that there are only a few works devoted to the origin and development of the Russian folk ballad genre. V.M. Zhirmunsky in the article "English Folk Ballad" in 1916.

proposed to divide ballads into genre varieties (epic, lyrical-dramatic or lyrical)40, thereby removing the question of the problem of the evolution of the ballad genre as such.

In 1966, the study “The History of the Development of the Russian Folk Ballad Genre” by D.M. Balashov, in which the author, using specific material, shows the thematic nature of the change in the ballad in the 16th - 17th centuries, and in the 18th century notes signs of the destruction of the genre as a result of the development of an extra-ceremonial lyrical lingering song and "absorption of the epic fabric of the ballad by lyrical elements"41.

N.I. Kravtsov summarized all the available experience and proposed to establish four groups or cycles of ballads in the educational literature: family, domestic, love, historical, social42. In 1976, in the scientific work "Slavic Folklore", the scientist noted the evolutionary nature of these groups43.

In 1988 Yu.I. Smirnov, analyzing East Slavic ballads and forms close to them, presented the experience of an index of plots and versions, where he subjected reasonable criticism to the artificiality, conventionality of dividing ballads into fantastic, historical, social, etc. “Such an artificial division breaks the natural connections and typological relationships between the plots, as a result of which forms related or close to them are separated and considered in isolation”44. The scientist clarifies the rules for constructing an evolutionary chain45 in relation to ballad material, highlighting five derivatives of the genre (from a drawling or “vocal” song intended for choral performance to literary ballad songs that are common among the people)46.

In general, there is a general picture of the evolution of the folk ballad genre from epic to lyrical form. In this work, private, practical questions about the ways and reasons for modifying the genre elements of the ballad are solved, connections between disparate plots are established, and the genre specificity of specific texts is determined. In our work, we use the method of text reconstruction, the foundations of which were laid in the works of the historical-typological school of V.Ya. Propp and B.N. Putilov.

With regard to the ballad genre, it has its own specifics and is realized in the following aspects.

It is assumed that the ballad genre is organized in certain cycles that contribute to the maximum disclosure of all genre features of the ballad. The cyclization of the ballad genre is primarily a plot-variative realization of one conflict. In the ballad cyclization, the dramatic element will be fundamental, which in practice consists in creating a) variants of a dramatic situation (early cycles), then ending the conflict;

b) versions of a dramatic situation, conflict.

A variant of a ballad cycle is a song that repeats a given conflict model, but aims to reveal it as fully as possible in the plot. The version is a qualitative change in the text, the creation of a new conflict on the basis of a developed cycle or a separate ancient ballad (“Omelfa Timofeevna rescues her relatives” and “Avdotya the Ryazanochka”, “Tatar full” and a cycle about Polonian girls). Cycles are studied in their direct interaction, internal evolutionary connections, it is also traced how the very principles of folk cyclization change over time.

The study of the composition of the cycle involves a genre analysis of the plot-variative series of songs. Particular attention is paid to the study of the main components of the genre specificity of the ballad. The type of cyclization and formulary, the type of hero and the level of conflict, the nature of the folk / author's assessment and the dialogic / monologue speech of the characters, the use of folklore and intra-genre traditions, the type of conventionality and the reflection of the aesthetics of the artistic / direct case are analyzed, the role of formal plot logic, the category of miraculous and symbolic is established. . The features of the poetic language and artistic techniques of the style of ballads are studied. The impact on specific plots of the tradition of adjacent ballad forms and ritual, epic, lyrical, historical songs, as well as spiritual poems is especially noted. All the results of the analytical work are brought into line with the requirements of historical time, this is how the approximate time of demand for ballad cycles is determined.

Ultimately, the typological features of the ballad genre are established at each historical stage. The nature and features of the genre changes of the ballad in its generic and artistic aspects, the general principles of its evolution are revealed. The ballad cycles are considered in their direct connection and are more or less accurately dated.

As a result of the analysis of the ballad material in the Russian region, it is established that the ballad is a flexible, mobile unit of an epic-lyrical-dramatic character, which has certain stable typological features at each historical stage of its development from the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th centuries. to the 18th - 19th centuries Initially, the lyrics are involved in the form of tradition and do not have a significant role in the genre structure of the ballad.

Gradually, the lyrical beginning changes the genre appearance of the ballad, which ultimately leads to the lyricization of the genre or its transformation into literary analogues. The ballad worldview, as it were, prepares the ground and contributes to the emergence of personal and historical artistic consciousness, which led to the development of forms of extra-ceremonial lyrical and historical poetry. Subsequently, the ballad genre cannot fully reflect the conflicts of the new era. Competing with historical and lyrical songs in the 16th-17th centuries, strengthening the role of the lyrical element in its genre structure, the ballad gradually, as it were, dissolves into the lyrical element, which is more in line with the reflection of all the depth and inconsistency of the new era. At best, what remains of a genuine ballad is an external form, a kind of ballad style of presentation or ballad plot (a type of petty-bourgeois ballads). The original genre of the folk ballad was conserved in the 19th-20th centuries. The most famous, topical ballad plots for a particular locality are preserved. They are given a lyrical form, they are lyrically processed, but certain stable typological features remain unchanged (cf. a similar process that began earlier in epic creativity). Such ballad songs are gradually disappearing as the literacy of the population grows, the distribution of books and the disappearance of the ballad narrators and performers themselves.

In the work on the dissertation, we were guided, first of all, by the concept of the historical-typological school (V.Ya. Propp, B.N. Putilov) about the historical study of the genres of folklore and the establishment of certain typological features at certain historical stages in the development of a particular genre in accordance with a single process of formation of the European ballad genre. The analysis of the genre structure of specific ballad songs is carried out taking into account the requirements imposed by V.Ya.

Propp to study the genre composition of Russian folklore as an integral system. The connections of the Russian folk ballad genre with Western European and Slavic samples are also taken into account (the works of scientists of the comparative historical school A.N. Veselovsky, P.G. Bogatyrev, V.M. Zhirmunsky, N.I. Kravtsov). On the other hand, we support the opinion of D.M. Balashov about the independent role of the Russian ballad genre, its national identity and the leading role in Russian oral folk art from the 13th to the 16th - 17th centuries.

The main object of the research is the Russian folk ballads presented in the collections of M.D. Chulkova, Kirsha Danilova, P.V. Kireevsky, P.A. Bessonova, P.N. Rybnikova, A.N.

Sobolevsky, V.I. Chernysheva, D.M. Balashova, B.N. Putilova, S.N. Azbelev.

The internal connections of disparate songs, the model of their evolutionary development are established. Stable typological features are determined, allowing to give a clear definition of the genre. Finally, a general idea is given about the fate of the ballad and the place it occupies in the system of song folklore genres.

Thus, the relevance of the work is determined by understanding, on the basis of specific observations, the problems of the evolution of the genre system of the Russian folk ballad, its place in the system of genres of Russian oral poetry and the further prospects for the transition to literary analogues through the type of German romantic ballad.

The solution of these problems involves considering the Russian ballad heritage a) as a dynamic system that has its own logic and specifics of development, interacting with similar forms of folk poetry;

b) in the context of historical changes in the artistic consciousness of the people, which influenced the aesthetics and fate of the entire genre;

c) taking into account the theory of the emergence and development of the European ballad genre.

Based on the foregoing, the specific objectives of the dissertation were:

1. Systematization and analysis of ballad plots presented in the Russian region.

2. Establishing the genre specifics of the Russian folk ballad, typological features at specific historical stages, the totality of which can give a clear definition of the genre.

3. Determination of specific genre changes in the Russian folk ballad from the time of its inception to the transition to lyrical forms and literary analogues.

4. Understanding the place and significance of the folk ballad genre in the system of genres of Russian song folklore.

5. Establishing the time of occurrence and existence of both individual ballad plots and cycles as a whole.

The analysis technique is based on the principles of the historical and typological method, the basis of which is the comparison of possible variants of the ballad, its ideological and artistic analysis with the requirements of the relevance of the historical era in which it arises and develops, as well as the establishment of the typological similarity of the ballad creativity of different peoples as a general pattern of a single process. and, at the same time, as its various national variations.

The following provisions are made for defense:

1. Russian folk ballad is an epic-lyrical-dramatic genre in which, depending on historical expediency and necessity, in strict accordance with evolutionary theory, these beginnings can play a different role.

2. The history of the development of the Russian folk ballad suggests the emergence of the genre from the end of the 13th century as an epic-dramatic song. The ballad takes on a lyrical form in the 18th and 19th centuries.

3. The ballad is originally a mobile and flexible genre system that allows reflecting the conflicts of various historical formations.

4. The establishment of internal genre links of the Russian ballad heritage involves the organization of all ballad material in cycles.

Scientific novelty dissertation is determined by an integrated approach to the study of the genre of Russian folk ballads. The cycles of the Russian ballad heritage are restored and analyzed, which are built into a clear evolutionary model that establishes specific dates for the emergence and existence of ballad songs.

Structure and scope of work. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, notes and a bibliography, including titles.

In the first chapter the time of the formation of the Russian ballad genre from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 16th centuries is considered, an attempt is also made to determine the genre specifics of the most ancient ballad songs and the prospect of their development.

In the second chapter the genre changes of the Russian folk ballad from the 16th to the 17th centuries, the interaction of the ballad genre with epic and historical poetry are studied, the typological features of the genre during its heyday are established.

In the third chapter the reasons and features of the ballad lyricization process and its transition to literary analogues are analyzed.

In custody sums up the genre evolution of the ballad, its significance as a type of oral folk poetry, defines the general concept of the history of the development of the ballad genre, outlines the prospects for further research into the causes and ways of the transition of the folk form of the ballad into the author's literary counterparts.

Basic provisions dissertations were tested in reports at interuniversity conferences of Moscow State Pedagogical University: “Russian and foreign literature:

history, modernity and interrelations" 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, as well as in monographs and articles:

1. Russian folk ballad: origin and development of the genre. M., 2002.

(Monographs Scientific Center for Slavonic-Germanic Studies 5.). P.180.

2. "Folk and literary ballad: the relationship of genres" // Problems of the history of literature. Sat. articles. Issue three. M., 1997. S.54-65.

3. “Ballad as a poetic genre. (On the issue of generic features in a ballad)" // Problems of the history of literature. Sat. articles. Issue seven. M., 1999. S.23-29.

4. “The formation of the Russian folk ballad. Article One” // Problems of the History of Literature. Sat. articles. Issue ten. M., 2000. S.13-18.

5. “The formation of the Russian folk ballad. Article two: "Avdotya the Ryazan".

(On the question of the genesis of the folk ballad genre)" // Problems of the history of literature. Sat. articles. Issue eleven. M., 2000. S.17-35.

6. “The formation of the Russian folk ballad. Article three: A cycle of ballads about Polonyanka girls // Problems of the history of literature. Sat. articles. Issue thirteenth. M., 2001. S.14-37.

7. “The formation of the Russian folk ballad. Article Four: Once again to the question of one plot riddle (Bylina about Kozarin) // Problems of the history of literature. Sat. articles. Issue fourteen. M., 2001. S.107-114.

Anikin V.P. Ballad songs // Russian oral folk art. M., 1971. S.190-204.

Epics. T.1,2. M., 1958.

Entwistle W.I. European Balladry. Oxford, 1939. P.354.

Quoted from Pound L.. Poetic Origins and the Ballad. New York, 1921. R. 5, 7.

Veselovsky A.N. Historical poetics. L., 1940. P.281.

Veselovsky A.N. Historical poetics. M., 1989. P.189.

Lintur P.V. Ballad song and folk tale // Slavic folklore. M., 1972. P. 181.

Kalandadze G.A. Georgian folk ballad. Tbilisi, 1965. P.11.

Andreev N.P. ballad songs in Russian folklore // Russian ballad. M., 1936. C.XIX.

Zhirmunsky V.M. English folk ballad // English and Scottish ballads. M., 1973. P.101.

Zhirmunsky V.M. Folk heroic epic. Comparative-historical essays. M.-L., 1962. S.179.

Entwistle W.I. European Balladry. P. 91.

Elina N.G. Development of the Anglo-Scottish ballad // English and Scottish ballads. M., 1973.

Gugnin A.A. Folk and literary ballad: the fate of the genre. P.79.

Elina N.G. Development of the Anglo-Scottish ballad. S.!05.

Steblin-Kamensky M.I. Ballad in Scandinavia. // Scandinavian ballad. L., 1978. S.223 - 224.

Propp V.Ya. Principles of classification of folklore genres // Poetics of folklore. M., 1998. P. 177.

Mitrofanova V.V. To the question of the violation of unity in some genres of folklore // Russian folklore. T.17, L., 1977. S.36.

Zhirmunsky V.M. English folk ballad. P.98.

Propp V.Ya. Poetics of folklore. P.41.

Balashov D.M. The history of the development of the Russian ballad genre. Petrozavodsk, 1966. P.12.

Smirnov Yu.I. Songs of the South Slavs // Songs of the South Slavs. T.11, M., 1976. P.17.

Kravtsov N.I. Slavic folklore. M., 1976. S.193.

Balashov D.M. Russian folk ballad // Folk ballads. M.-L., 1963. P.8.

Smirnov Yu.I. Songs of the South Slavs. P.18.

Balashov D.M. The history of the development of the Russian ballad genre. C.6.

Steblin-Kamensky M.I. Ballad in Scandinavia. pp.238-239.

Balashov D.M. Russian folk ballad. P.11.

Putilov B.N. Typological commonality and historical connections in Slavic songs-ballads about the struggle against the Tatar and Turkish yoke // History, folklore, art of the Slavic peoples. M., 1963. P. 425.

Propp V.Ya. Poetics of folklore. P.44.

Balashov D.M. Russian folk ballad. C.7.

For more details, see Kravtsov N.I. Slavic folk ballad // Problems of Slavic folklore M., 1972.

Russian songs collected by Pavel Yakushkin. SPb.,. 1860. P.8.

There. P.13.

Belinsky V.G. The division of poetry into genera and species. // Belinsky V.G. Collected works in three volumes.

T.2, M., 1948. P.50.

Smirnov Yu.I. East Slavic ballads and related forms. Experience index plots and versions.

M., 1988. P.7.

Gusev V.E. aesthetics of folklore. L., 1967. P. 137.

Goethe I.V. About the ballad // Aeolian harp: Anthology of the ballad. M., 1989. S.554.

Kovylin A.V. Ballad as a poetic genre (on the question of generic features in a ballad) // Problems of the history of literature. Issue 7, M., 1999. S.23-28.

Zhirmunsky V.M. English folk ballad. S.91-95. The scientist violated the principle of division by including a special group of national ballads about Robin Hood.

Balashov D.M. The history of the development of the genre. P.45,46.

Kravtsov N.I., Lazutin S.G. Russian oral folk art. M., 1977. S.198-201.

Kravtsov N.I. Slavic folklore. P.189.

Smirnov Yu.I. East Slavic ballads. C.10.

Smirnov Yu.I. Slavic epic traditions: Problems of evolution. M., 1974. S.153-161.

Smirnov Yu.I. East Slavic ballads. S.6-7.

First chapter Formation of the genre of Russian folk ballad of the XIV-XV centuries.

1. Historical prerequisites for the formation of the Russian folk ballad genre.

The ballad "Avdotya the Ryazanochka", a cycle about Polonyanka girls, is traditionally regarded as the first examples of the ballad genre. Before studying the actual ballad creativity, specific ballad songs, one must bear in mind that the new genre goes back to more ancient traditions and poetic forms, undergoes a long enough development path to crystallize into a clearer genre unit.

The ballad is definitely a story song. Therefore, first of all, we will be interested in the features of the plot of the early epic: how the nature of the plot changed up to the time of the creation of the first samples of the ballad genre. Unfortunately, the early forms of the Russian epic, as noted by V. Propp1, are not known to us. However, analyzing the epic heritage of other peoples of the pre-state stage of development, V. Propp came to the conclusion that the epic was created in the era of the decomposition of the primitive communal system2, that is, its poetics is directed against the ideology of the tribal way of society, against mythology as a system of worldview. The mythical plot of early primitive creativity is being modified. In terms of ideological content, new poetic forms of the pre-state epic are opposed to the ideology of the clan, the dominant plot will be getting a wife in order to fight for a new ideal - for the foundation of a family. Such a radical change could not have taken place in the art system. The new epic poetry chooses the main element in the poetics of the mythological era and, shifting the focus of its functionality, gradually changes the entire poetic system. Such an element is the image of the hero, or rather his functionality. The hero becomes a public hero, “his activity is aimed at the benefit of people”3, and not at achieving his own goals. “... The new concept of heroism invades the old compositional system and begins to break it”4. Gradually, the whole structure of the songs will also change. The plot about getting a wife will be replaced by plots about the various exploits of the hero.

In the era of the state system, in the era of the unification of tribes, the hero changes his functionality again: he becomes a unifying center that no longer links characters, but various plots. As a result, the composition of the songs changes. The so-called process of epic cyclization takes place: various plots unite around the main inactive center (this is the hero - the sovereign). The plots themselves lose their former complexity and are dedicated to the exploits of heroes. The epic becomes multi-heroic and more specific in terms of expression. We can talk about the creation of a historical background in epics, the heroes of which, however, are still connected with the heritage of the mythological era and latently reflect the mythical ideas of the people.

The invasion of the Tatar-Mongolian troops and the long yoke that followed the enslavement of the Russian feudal principalities served as a turning point that changed the old epic thinking of the singers. Specific historical events of such magnitude have changed the consciousness of the people, a special tragic vision of the world has appeared. In this era, there is a need to create two fundamental genres in Russian poetry: an epic of a new type and another genre form, later known as "old woman", and now - a ballad. The first line is characterized by the preservation of the integrity of the poetics of the previous heroic songs, but old plots can acquire new features. First of all, the system of images is changing again: the hero receives a specific historically motivated functionality: defense of the motherland, Russian statehood;

enemies from mythical creatures become more historical. The background of such epics is historical, although the laws of epic conventionality are still unshakable.

The second type of work is the ballad. A special tragic vision of the world or a ballad worldview is manifested in the fact that the epic ideal of a mighty hero is replaced by a private, typical person, sometimes weak, helpless before the forces of external evil. Therefore, it is no coincidence that a woman becomes a favorite ballad hero. The new poetics is based on a long tradition of modifying the genre system: first, the functionality of the hero is changed. The hero of Ancient Russia turns into a type of a private person. Accordingly, the poetic form of the new epic poetry will also change: the goal will no longer be to create an image of an epic hero that requires a fairly detailed narration, but a short, tense dramatic event depicting a private person in all his defenselessness before the forces of external evil.

The main thing to note is that the new genre has formulated a fairly clear principle: it is based on a short, entertaining, dramatically intense plot that reveals a completely typical private person. A new type of thinking appears, which has already radically departed from the legacy of the mythological worldview - this is plot thinking. Now the main place is occupied not by the hero, but by the plot, the event that reveals the hero's inability to be heroic. The ballad opens up new horizons:

the dramatic plot, which revealed the impotence of a person in the world around him, is more consistent with the formation of the type of a separate, private, disunited person.

The genre of the Russian folk ballad has as its immediate predecessor the songs of the heroic epic, the epic. The elements of the old poetics are rebuilt, the songs acquire a completely new look and sound - this is how the artistic contradictions that arise when using the old poetics in order to create a new image of the hero are smoothed out.

The ballad genre is looking for genre correspondences, it summarizes the entire experience of folklore creativity, where such contradictions found certain solutions. As a tradition, the ballad draws on the genres of fairy tales (adjacent forms) and lyrical extra-ceremonial poetry. The folklore tradition means the support of a new genre formation on the artistic system of another genre, the processing and use of elements of one kind of works to meet the needs of an exclusively borrowing kind in order to more effectively solve artistic problems or establish new genre discoveries. As soon as the matches are found, the ballad brings them into the genre structure, reworks and forms their new meaning.

The ballad genre, when it first appeared in the cycle about Polonian girls, uses the tradition of lyrical non-ritual songs.

The heroic image of the Polonyanka is based on the tradition of creating the image of a red girl. Thus, the lyrical element is implicitly incorporated into the genre structure of the epic ballad.

Thus, even before its inception, the ballad goes a long way of development. The mythological plot of the pre-state epic is replaced by epic in the Russian heroic epic and epic-dramatic in the ballad genre. The mythical hero is transformed through the image of a hero into a transitional type of a heroic woman (like Avdotya the Ryazanochka or Marya Yuryevna) or into a ballad type of a kind young man or a red maiden, the figurative system of which goes back to a lyrical song. When creating a new genre, the heritage of the epic and lyrics was actively used. The ballad is an epic type of poetry, but already during the formation of the genre in the cycle about the Polonyanka girls, the genre attracted lyrical forms of poetry as a tradition. We will explore this issue in the next chapter.

2. A cycle of ballads about Polonyanka girls.

The cycle about Polonyanka girls presents the most ancient ballad songs.

This point of view is generally accepted. Also known is the position in which such ballads date back to the 16th century and their occurrence is associated with historical events in the south of Russia.5 In terms of genre, the cycle about Polonyanka girls also evokes ancient traditions and poetic forms, undergoes a long enough development path to crystallize questions: D. Balashov recognizes it as a ballad, most scientists are inclined to believe that historical events led to the emergence of the cycle, therefore such songs should be classified as historical. At present, the point of view of B. Putilov, who defines songs about Polonyanka as historical ballads, is widespread.

Historical events do not have an autonomous meaning, they are used as an everyday background, clearly and concretely showing the tragedy of human destinies6.

The cycle of ballads about Polonyanka girls has a long development. It arises in the 13th century, in the 16th century it receives a new impetus for development in the south of Russia. For such a long time, the ballad undergoes genre changes. Therefore, songs dating back to the 13th century will differ markedly from their own adaptations of the 16th-17th centuries.

Ballads about Polonyanka are as heterogeneous as the cycle itself. One can trace how, at the dawn of its development, the ballad cycle arises. The ballad opens up a new type of hero - a heroic woman who finds herself in a hopeless tragic situation, but actively fighting for her personal and thus national independence. According to the purpose of the idea, this is an epic image, the formation of the cycle also has an epic setting: the songs are organized around one center - around the Polonyanka girl. However, it would be a careless step to recognize the ballad cyclization as actually epic. The epic idea in the ballad genre is transformed: the heroic image of a woman is fully revealed through the use of a dramatic situation in which the hero finds himself. It is the dramatic situation that shows the defenselessness of the hero before the forces of external evil and determines the manifestation of true heroism by the Polonyanka girl.

Initially, the ballad cycle organizes songs according to the principle of having a common dramatic situation.

The goal of the storytellers, who felt the contradictions of the new era and the inability to fully illuminate them with the artistic means of the heroic epic, was to create a positive female image that heroically, but unsuccessfully, as in reality, would resist the forces of external evil, Tatar-Mongol rule. This image was prompted by the tragic reality itself, a more successful embodiment of such a plan could not be found. This image of a Polonyanka girl, her very status indicated the tragedy and hopelessness of the situation, therefore, initially, the songs of this cycle did not provide for any active actions on the part of the hero.

The priority is completely given to the depiction of the dramatic situation. Therefore, the early ballad cycles do not focus on the actions of the hero, like the subsequent ones - the image itself was chosen too well in artistic terms. So in the early ballad “The Girl Captured by the Tatars”, only the situation of the capture of the girl was developed, later in various versions of this song (of which it should be noted that exist as independent texts “The Robber Duvan” and the ballad versions of “Kozarin”), the girl will take active steps to free . Such actions will be dictated by the very logic of the development of the ballad as a genre form: the emphasis will shift from the dramatic situation to the plan of action, to the plan of the hero's functionality. Since that time, the leading artistic device of the genre has been developed - dialogue.

We see that in the ideological and artistic terms, the formation of the image of the polonyanka is opposed to the epic. The ballad is not interested in the hero-hero, who shows his qualities in the active and successful overcoming of epic obstacles, the ballad is interested in the priority of the dramatic situation over the hero. The ballad hero is defined first through being in a dramatic situation, then through active actions, a tragic choice, showing the defenselessness and weakness of an active and heroic person in his actions, before the forces of external evil. Thus, the goal of creating the cycle is epic, but the emphasis is shifted: the epic vision of the world is being modified.

The dramatic principle of text organization is introduced into the genre structure of the ballad and in its own way models the worldview of ballad songs. The dramatic vision of the world gradually comes to the fore.

The role of lyrics as a genre-forming element in a ballad song at an early stage of development, therefore, will be insignificant. Lyrics acts as a tradition that does not give way to a new genre. The means of its expression is the very new image of the hero that the ballad should form. Indeed, the ballad hero is a generalized typical person who, under specific conditions, reveals his tragic position in the world. Lyrics had a similar type of hero; in the genre of lyrical non-ritual songs, a generalized typed person also specifically expressed his feelings about the prevailing, mostly tragic, situation. The lyrical image of the hero gives confidence that the new type of ballad hero is based on solid folklore soil, that a similar type of hero has already taken place in the folklore tradition. Therefore, the lyrical and ballad forms will be characterized at the initial stage of the formation of the ballad only by the formal side of the similarity: the songs are distinguished by a shortened form. The artistic means of creating the image themselves will go back to the epic, since the purpose of its formation is epic.

Thus, the lyrical song was that genre unit, like a fairy tale in the creation of related forms, in which the questions put before the ballad were already solved. tasks: external forces suppress the hero. Therefore, in the formation of the image of the protagonist, a feature is laid that corresponds to the aesthetics of the lyrics:

generalization, typification of the image of the hero is given through his namelessness. In this regard, the assertions about the formation of the “red maiden” and the “good fellow” as lyrical images are true. However, to absolutize such a position seems to be an unjustified position. Just as Avdotya the Ryazanochka is not a fairy-tale character, but an epic one, so the Polonyanka is not a lyrical image, but basically an epic one. The namelessness of the hero has a specific function:

if in a lyrical song the goal is to reveal the feelings and experiences of the hero, merged into one with the outside world, then in the ballad the feelings of the hero are not important. The goal will be dramatic in its basis and epic in its way of expression: to convey the conflict of the era and show the impotence of man, his tragic break with the outside world.

Lyrics as a genre principle has an indirect impact on the ballad genre at its inception and is expressed in the similarity of the figurative system of works. With the development of the category of folk assessment, the main motives and meanings inherent in the genre system of lyrical songs will pass into the ballad genre. A red girl can be perceived as a bride, a good fellow as a groom. In the ballad "The Red Girl Runs from the Crowd" the river can be interpreted in the tradition of wedding songs as a symbol of marriage.7. Only gradually does the ballad approach lyrical forms, and as the category of evaluation develops and develops in the ballad genre, the figurative system becomes that element in the structuring of the work, which will lay the principle of mobility in the genre structure of the ballad.

Ballad songs as plot works already at the stage of their appearance show an original type of plot in comparison with epic and lyrical forms of poetry. In the epic, the plot is understood as a means of revealing the image, so the singer's memory is guided by the so-called formulaic typical places. In a lyrical song, plot plays a secondary role. Most likely, under the influence of the ballad genre, lyrical songs are organized to a sufficient extent by plot, so that “a lyrical song is not very clearly delineated from a folk ballad”8.

The logic of the development of thoughts and feelings of the lyrical hero determines the connection of the picture of events. “All vital material in a lyrical work is passed through the prism of the thoughts and feelings of the lyrical hero in the connection and sequence in which it is necessary for the most complete and vivid expression of these thoughts and feelings”9. Therefore, formalism receives a leading artistic device - allegory. Metaphors, rarely comparisons, become formulaic10, the narrator's memory is guided by them. In the ballad genre, the plot is understood dramatically, as a means of revealing the conflict.

There has not yet been a modern understanding of the plot as a sequence of actions that reveal the character of the hero11, moreover, in the emerging cycle of ballads about Polonyankas, plot is understood as a means of revealing a dramatic situation, so outwardly it may seem that the plot in a ballad is not important, which corresponds to the principles of a lyrical song. In fact, the storyteller's memory is organized in a plot, conflict situations (originally a dramatic situation) get formality. The ways of their resolution can be different, having the right to exist, so the ballad can manifest itself in full and significance only in the cycle. It should be noted that the plot organization of the text according to the dramatic principle leads to the artistic inferiority of most ballad songs in comparison with the epic and lyrical heritage.

A prosaic verse, unsuccessful turns of speech justify themselves only in terms of the speedy achievement of a conflict situation, which forms the basis of a ballad song. It is the creation of a plot line of a dramatic situation or later a conflict that is the specifics of the ballad genre, therefore all ballad material is organized cyclically.

Initially, the basis of the cycle about Polonyanka girls is formed by one dramatic situation: flight. We are talking about the most popular ballad "Red girl runs from the crowd." Ballads about captivity, being in captivity, undoubtedly, arose later.

“The Red Girl Runs Out of the Crowd” is a ballad that has preserved the most ancient features of the formation of the cycle. The ballad begins with the use of a negative comparison technique.

“Not a white winch flies in flight - A red girl runs from the crowd.” The reception of a negative comparison in this song cannot go back to the artistic system of lyrical forms of poetry. First of all, it should be noted the absence of a song beginning or lyrical appeal, characteristic of folk lyrics. Here is an authoritative statement by V.

Proppa: “A folk song does not start directly from the main content, but leads to it gradually”12. This, according to the scientist, is the poetic law of the composition of lyrical songs. The aesthetics of the ballad genre does not provide for a gradual approach to action; in the best ballads, an exceptional dramatic situation is conveyed immediately, without preparation, as in the ballad "Prince Roman Lost His Wife", as in the song "The Red Girl Runs from the Full".

The negative comparison in this ballad most convincingly reveals the drama of the situation and goes back, apparently, to epic means.

“A negative comparison meets all the most stringent requirements of folk poetics. It contains allegorical figurativeness, but at the same time remains true to reality. Maybe that's why it is one of the favorite devices of folklore, and in particular the epic, and is used in the most critical, dramatic places in the story"13. The technique of negative parallelism serves as an epic setting: to show the most specific quality of the depicted object, focusing on the dramatically colored speed of movement of the Polonyanka.

The following lines speak directly to this:

“Under it, the good horse stretches, The horse’s tail and mane spread, The marten’s fur coat swells on the girl ...” The task of the narrator when composing ballads about Polonyanka was to create a heroic female image. In the earliest ballad of the cycle, the image of the red girl is equivalent to the image of the hero of the heroic epic and uses the epic means of its embodiment. The positive qualities of the hero are characterized as specifically as possible through specific objects. The heroes have military equipment, the red girl has rich attire.

“On a girl, a kunya fur coat swells up, On a white chest, a stingray of pearls rolls out, On a white hand, a golden ring burns like heat.”

The crossing, according to most researchers, is interpreted in this song under the influence of wedding songs as a symbol of marriage, the image of a red girl as a bride14. Of course, under the influence of the author's assessment of the image, the initial ideological and artistic connections of the text are subsequently rethought, and ultimately the ballad is lyricized. According to the initial idea of ​​the song, the crossing was interpreted as an epic obstacle that the hero must overcome. Therefore, the red girl turns to the river in an epic way.

“The red girl stood on the steep bank, She shouted in her sonorous voice:

Do you still have small fords?

Do you still have viburnum bridges for you?

Do you still have anglers?

Are there any other carriers for you? However, the tragedy of the situation lies in the fact that all the power of the heroic female image can only be embodied in the richness of the decoration. The red girl cannot overcome the obstacle herself - in this, according to the ancient storyteller, all the drama of this situation is manifested.

Apparently, this ballad, due to its popularity, was reworked many times15. This explains the late replacement of the epithet "loud" by "gentle". The image of the red girl departs from the ancient epic meaning, the heroine, according to the formal plot logic, cannot order the carrier, she must ask him.

“She spoke in her gentle voice,“ Take me to the other side, To my father, to my mother, to the clan-tribe, To the clan-tribe, to holy Russia! The epithet "gentle" alludes to the subsequent processing of this text, to the role of the carrier, to the lyrical comprehension of the plot. However, it must be admitted that without such a replacement, the ballad turned out to be complete and whole.

The situation, given to enhance the dramatic beginning in the form of an exceptional event, is artistically completed, the image of the heroine is sustained to the end in an epic style. Epithets convey an accurate and specific characteristic;

indeed, a red girl is red because there simply cannot be another16. “Good horse”, “loud voice”, “small fords”, “Holy Russia” - all these epithets of the epic system of the world. Accurate epithets convey the epic generalized significance of the female image: “red girl”, “white winch”, “white breasts”, “white hand”, “scat pearls”, “golden ring”, “marten coat”.

Later, the constant epithet "red girl" would become dead, frozen.

The radical reworking of our ballad is connected with the design in the ballad genre of the leading artistic method of text organization - dialogue. The formal plot logic of the text appears, and it is required to describe the female image in more detail, to additionally motivate the already incomprehensible epic behavior of the polonyanka. Motivation occurs due to the description of the heroine's wealth, which she offers in the form of a ransom (from fairy-tale aesthetics, this motivation is distinguished only by the epic nature of the appeal itself and its focus on a specific person, and not on the river, as in the original idea of ​​the song). The system of dialogue will make clear the tendency in the ballad genre towards the dominance of the dramatic beginning. In particular, it will manifest itself in the freedom to use tenses - for a ballad, such an artistic device will be justified as the perfection of the dramatic principle of text organization through dialogue. The combination of past and present enhances the drama of the conflict and fully corresponds to the already established ballad aesthetics of the dramatic vision of the world.

“Oh, you are a goy, mother Daria-river!

Are there any shallow fords along you?

"Take me to the other side..."

The type of equal heroes, discovered with the development of the ballad genre, had a decisive influence on the structure of our song. The carrier as an episodic person becomes already equal to the red maiden. There could not be a successful transition to such a turn of the dramatic situation, therefore, in this part of the later motivation for the red girl’s answer, the rhythm is broken, the previous poetic device in the organization of the text - syntactic parallelism - is broken by the introduction of dialogue.

And will you, beautiful girl, marry me? - “Princes and boyars wooed me, So will I go for you, for a Mordovian?” It should be noted that the dramatic principle of narration used in dialogic speech reduces these shortcomings, moreover, syntactic parallelism is restored at the end of the ballad by using increasing repetition as the personification of a new growing conflict, and sounds like a harmoniously generalizing result.

“Two chauffeurs ran after the girl, Two chauffeurs, two Tatars, The red maiden spread a marten fur coat, The red maiden rushed into the Darya River, The red maiden sank, like a key to the bottom.” The denouement is given in the past tense, since the focus here is on dialogue: the ballad is no longer interested in the dramatic position of the image, but in its functionality, its action. An epically given character in such a situation cannot act epicly, he is put in the conditions of choice:

one bondage must replace another. The tragic choice of the heroine modifies her image, it is no longer epic - it is a ballad character. The image of a red girl approaches lyrical forms. The carrier himself is interpreted as a groom - this is a symbolic image of wedding songs.

The symbolism of ritual poetry makes the two images equivalent, motivates the penetration of the lyrical principle in the form of folk assessment. The heroine makes her choice, tragically defending her freedom, thus a new type of ballad hero appears before us - this is a tragic hero. Thus, two dramatic situations are introduced into the structure of one conflict - the conflict of the girl's heroic struggle for freedom. That is why the ballad has received such wide distribution and existence: the image of the Polonyanka girl has passed through different eras, preserving and deepening the main conflict of the work.

The type of tragic hero is fully embodied in a very rare, known in two recordings and rather strange ballad "The Miraculous Salvation". With the exception of the allegorical end, the song is an example of a developed ballad genre. The narrator's attention is focused only on the actions of the heroine, on the words that reflect the act of such an action. The hero is fully functional, heroic conflict reveals his position to the end. The developed system of dialogue, the technique of repeating the epic obstacle, which enhances the drama of the situation, the active type of the hero, the clear popular assessment expressed in Annushka's action - all this testifies to the existence of the text no earlier than the 15th century. Such a text is completely subordinate to the purpose of the ballad cycle about Polonyanka and is its integral part. However, we are confused by two points: why the ballad has an unusual allegorical end and why it is not widely used. The answer lies in the figurative system of the text.

Brother and sister, as equal heroes, entered the ballad genre by the 16th century. However, the image of the brother in this text is secondary, it serves as a characteristic of the functionality of the protagonist: to show the tragic impotence of Annushka and, on the contrary, to emphasize the power of external evil, which is transmitted in a generalized form - in the type of the Crimean king. Epic obstacles are erected in order to show the strength of the enemy, the technique of repetition with an increase shows the futility of any struggle and resistance to external evil.

“The king of the Crimean struck On Yuria's gates.

Yes, distant guards Yes, they scattered, Yes, distant oak doors Mustache unwrapped, Yes, distant golden locks Mustache opened, Yes, distant stone chambers Mustache collapsed.

The image of the enemy is generalized, but this is an epic enemy. If in epics he approaches the city, surrounds it with myriad strength, waiting for the appearance of the hero as an epic obstacle to test his own power, then here the epic obstacle will look like a fairy-tale one - this is a system of obstacles. However, the goal of the Crimean tsar, who generalizes in his image the entire power of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, is not to subjugate the heroic image of the protagonist, not to prey on a woman. The image of the enemy is introduced in order to show the heroism of a Russian woman actively fighting for freedom. This is a winning hero. He breaks castles, destroys stone chambers, shows his undeniable power and puts the heroine in an exceptionally dramatic situation. The aesthetics of the heroic epic has shifted in the opposite direction: it is not the Russian hero-hero who wins, but the epic enemy. All the main character can do is hide behind the barriers. Therefore, such a ballad does not receive distribution, the people cannot sing the victorious enemies, while at the same time singing the heroic feats of the Russian heroes in the heroic epic. In the 15th century, the narrator's attention is transferred to the image of the hero, to his actions, but these actions in this song, even when defending Annushka's inner freedom, only emphasize the power of the historical enemy, his full and equal image. The absence of the epic grotesque in the depiction of the image of the enemy, its more individual disclosure speaks of the formation of a new type of hero - a formidable, wise foreign king (cf.

the development of such an image in the subsequent adjacent form "Avdotya-Ryazanochka"). This discovery of a full-fledged image of the enemy in the cycle about Polonyanka girls will be used by ballad aesthetics in the future in other cycles of ballads, when the historical enemy disappears, he will be replaced either by family members or by the aesthetics of chance.

This ballad could develop following the tradition of creating related forms, such as "Avdotya the Ryazanochka", "Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna". She could change the figurative system, Annushka really should become the main character. Therefore, genres are brought to the rescue, where the hero wins without resorting to epic confrontation. Thus, the task is to reduce the image of the enemy, to focus attention on the heroine. Evaluative suffixes are being actively introduced, everything that relates to the heroine gets an affectionate meaning: a white pebble, arms and legs, a violent head, brother Yuryuchka, sister Annushka. The raw white stone takes on a symbolic meaning18, the meaning of a sacred and inevitable, fatal action;

based on the aesthetics of lyrical songs, the very image of Annushka receives a lyrical assessment, the very beginning of the song is a lyrical melody that sets the listener in a lyrical mood.

"Yes, we cherish me, we cherish!" However, the artistic means of the lyrical song are clearly not enough.

The tragic ballad choice of the heroine emphasizes not only her freedom, but also the power of the epic enemy. It was necessary to rebuild the image of the heroine in such a way that the only possible victory remained for her, thereby reducing the epic power of the Crimean tsar. The popular assessment of the heroine was embodied in the idea of ​​her holiness, only a holy hero can defeat the epic enemy. This is the aesthetics of spiritual poetry: Annushka turns into holy Russia, moreover, she is embodied concretely.

“Ide Annushka fell - There the church stood, Ide arms and legs - There are fir trees, pine trees, Where there is a violent head - There are steep hills, Where there is a blond spit - There are dark forests, Ide colorful dresses - There is a green forest, Ide shed blood - There are blue seas ".

The fairy tale also served as the genre basis of the allegory. There have already been such situations in the fairy tale: the escaping girl turned into a church. This is a genre support, a tradition that does not allow the introduction of new artistic techniques, but justifies their appearance in other genre forms.

Thus, in the song there is an expansion of the figurative structure, an additional assessment is introduced: the heroine is a saint. The image of the enemy is leveled, the attention of the narrative is focused on revealing the image of Annushka, the concrete embodiment of the idea of ​​her holiness, so the parts of the heroine's body turn into concrete objects. Only a mobile genre could reflect such an approach to the figurative system of a work: it completely changes.

The significance of the related form "Miraculous Salvation" was enormous. The principle of equality of heroes, the type of characters of equal value, was approved in a related form.

Moreover, in the figurative system of the ballad, the beginning of a trend of moving away from the epic, from the epic means of incarnating the characters, was laid. The image of the enemy could not be illuminated epicly, the two heroes had to have really equal significance, and the tragedy should be derived precisely from their dramatic relationship, and not from their epic confrontation. The distance from the epic contributed to the strengthening of the role of the dramatic principle in the construction of the genre and the subsequent convergence of ballad songs, starting with the cycle about Polonyanka girls, with lyrical forms.

The latest in time of occurrence and the most widespread (there are over forty recordings made in all regions of Russia) is the cycle of ballads "Tatar full". Here we run into a very interesting loop-within-a-loop problem. “Tatarsky full” is included as an integral part of the cycle about Polonian girls, but this song forms its own fairly wide and diverse range of options and versions. In addition to the most diverse variants and developments of the plot, one can note such ballad versions and plot roll-calls as “Pan brings the Russian polonyanka to his wife”, “The King and the Maiden”, “Three sons-in-law”, the contamination “Saving the polonyanka”. Moreover, in Slavic folklore we find many parallels, the classical versions of such ballads about the crowd date back to the 15th - 17th centuries. First of all, solid, equal heroes appear before us. Both the mother and the Polonyanka are equivalent, and a dramatic conflict lies in their relationship. However, we are faced with some contradictions: the beginning of the song represents a dramatic situation already developed in the cycle about the Polonyankas - captivity. The leading conflict of the cycle about Polonyanka girls - the girl's heroic struggle for freedom - is absent. There is a clear decrease in conflict and its transfer to another plane - to the plane of personal relations between mother and daughter. The significance of the dramatic situation is reduced to the level of an artistic background that more clearly depicts the true conflict that lies in the relationship between mother and daughter. Hence the development of the leading artistic device of the cycle - dialogue. What explains such innovation, such an unexpected decrease in the conflict situation, its transfer to the plane of personal relationships and, most importantly, the completely non-ballad stable motive of a happy ending? What is the cyclization of such songs?

The dramatic situation - the captivity of a Polonyanka - ceases to interest folk storytellers by the 16th century. Captivity ballads were widely circulated and developed. These are numerous adaptations of the epic about Kozarin, and later versions of the song “The girl was taken prisoner by the Tatars”. In the future, with the development of the “Tatar Full” cycle, with the loss of ideological and artistic connections, plot versions can be created that develop the dramatic situation of captivity that is initial for the cycle. As an example, we can point to the song “Pan brings a Russian polonyanka to his wife”, which presents the plot beginning of the “Tatar full” cycle.

The permanent, stable motives of this cycle are that the daughter always makes the mother work and always recognizes her afterwards.

Recognition can occur in different ways: both in a lullaby over a grandson, and according to special signs - the main thing is that the daughter always recognizes her mother and always feels guilty before her. The image of the Tatar as an enemy is leveled, it is intended - as the driving center of the first dramatic situation - captivity - to serve as a background, to set off the relations of the Russian foreign girl and her Polonyanka mother that have become aggravated to the limit.

The translation of the conflict from a specific action into the plane of personal relationships is associated with the tradition of the formation of female characters in ballad art. In Avdotya-Ryazanochka, the motive of longing for her relatives, for her homeland, makes the heroine go to a foreign land and get her happiness, accomplishing a feat and asserting herself in terms of forming a new type of hero. The motive of longing for her relatives, for her homeland, makes a happy Russian woman living in a foreign land return to lead to tragedy, to the realization of the impossibility of happiness in a foreign land, far from her homeland (“Sister and brothers are robbers”). In the cycle "Tatar full" this attitude is rethought.

The daughter lives happily in a foreign land, she does not return home. The ballad is no longer interested in how the Russian girl got to the Tatar, she acts as a happy wife. The conflict lies in the fact that the motherland itself, in the person of its most native representative - the mother - comes to her, forcibly taken prisoner by her husband-Tatar. Daughter's happiness, according to the artistic meaning, cannot be destroyed, we find such a version in the ballad "Sister and brothers-robbers".

Here the goal is to show the eligibility of the hero to achieve happiness in a foreign land, so the song will always have a happy ending. Therefore, the dramatic conflict is reduced, it is translated into a psychological plane - the daughter feels guilty in connection with late recognition.

“You are my dear mother, Why didn’t you tell me now?

I would have met you outside the gates, I would not have forced you to work, I would not have forced you to rock the cradle, I would not have forced you to weave leather, I would not have forced you to feed the geese.

I would give you food and drink and carry you in my arms.

Only in the Ukrainian versions of this song does the mother not forgive her daughter.

The curses of the mother are connected with the relevance for the Ukrainian people of the topic of foreign evil, historical bloody raids of external invaders. Later the cycle will be simplified. The choice of the heroine between happiness in a foreign land and return to her homeland in the ballad "Three sons-in-law"20 will be interpreted equally: both as the impossibility of happiness for a Tatar, and vice versa, as the only possible happiness.

In the late ballad "The King and the Maiden", the ideological content of the songs of the "Tatar Full" is again rethought. The main conflict will develop in the family relations of brother and sister in their homeland.

The impossibility of happiness with a Tatar already in his homeland is explained by the comments of the narrator, recorded by E.E. Tomilin: “He took his sister out into the street, put her head on the chopping block, and began to chop. She thought that the Big King would intercede, but he looked and went away. The image of the heroine is tragic, the name Annushka therefore hints at her innocence, shifting the focus to the severity of the sin of the Tatar who deceived her.

“Do not chop me, brother, in the gorenka, Cut me off, brother, on the street, So that everyone will be a marvel, The Big King is a disgrace, That the brother cut off his sister’s head.”

The impossibility of happiness with the enemy is the meaning of the ballad, so the ballad has no formal end. The enemy has been exposed, and it doesn't matter how the brother and sister dealt with22. Therefore, the main leading artistic principle in the formation of the ideological setting of the song will not be the specific action of the hero, but a developed system of dialogue that reveals the true background of subsequent events.

In the “Tatar full” cycle, great importance is assigned to the dialogue system. The dialogue of equal heroes reveals the conflict of testing and affirming the happiness of the heroine in a foreign land, but also enhances the role of the final, final action. The meaning of the denouement acquires the function of a departure from the original intention in the cycling of ballad songs. The cyclization of the internal artistic connections of the conflict or, at first, of the dramatic situation gradually gives way to the cyclization of the external, the cyclization of the denouement. Thus, "Tatar Full" reflects a qualitatively different type of cycling of ballad creativity, associated with the development of the formal logic of the plot. The idea of ​​the work, the conflict situation will remain unshakable, the genre becomes more stable, but the external formal plot acquires greater freedom. Variants with different endings will be created while maintaining the ideological meaning of the work. Therefore, the variant of the ballad cycle will be perceived not as a variant of a dramatic situation, but primarily as a variant of conflict resolution. The cycle will narrow and acquire the features of a stable plot, to which the storyteller's memory will be primarily oriented. This principle of cyclization reflects a single song, but the ballad itself can go back to a more extensive cycle. For example, cycles about the superiority of a girl over a young man, about poisoning will reflect the tradition of modifying female images in ballad art. Basically, the path of the ballad in the future is the creation of separate single songs, developing separate cycles of denouement options, although they are connected, of course, by common motives, ideological settings with ballads of previous samples.

Thus, the ideological basis of the cycle "Tatar Full" will remain unshakable. The influence of such ballads as "Avdotya Ryazanochka", "Sister and Brothers Robbers", the subsequent lowered version of "The King and the Girl" determines in the songs "Tatar Full" a stable, unchanging idea of ​​​​affirming the happiness of a private family abroad. The active existence of this cycle is typical for the 16th – 17th centuries; one can also note the special popularity of the “Tatar Full” cycle in the south of Russia as a result of the prevailing historical conditions.

The considered cycle about Polonyanka girls led us to the conclusion about changes in the principle of genre structuring of ballads. The epic setting of the created cycle is replaced by a dramatic approach in text modeling. The figurative system of the ballad is modified, the main epic hero turns into a dramatic type of equivalent characters.

Moreover, a popular assessment is introduced into the image of the hero, later generating into the author's. This brings the genre structure of the ballad closer to lyrical songs as opposed to the epic heritage. The principles of cyclization of the song become clearer: with the discovery of the type of equivalent heroes. With the discovery of dialogue as the leading artistic principle that creates a model of the song's conflict, the ballad cycle is understood as the creation of variants of the conflict. However, the songs do not lose touch with the previous samples, they are closely related to each other. The memory of storytellers is focused on conflict, but with the development of formal plot logic, more attention will be paid to the external manifestation of the conflict, so the cyclicity of ballads is perceived as creating options for denouement. This feature is stable throughout the development of the genre and approaches the formation of cyclicity in lyrical songs, where the creation of variants does not lead to genre transformation, but mainly reflects the changed requirements of the era.

3. Adjacent forms. "Avdotya the Ryazanochka" The ballad genre forms related forms. The formation of related forms is an indicative sign of the creative productivity of the genre, its ability to further develop. The ballad interacts with other developed genres of folklore, creates transitional forms and shows the perspective of the development of certain artistic elements of the genre system. Such interaction can occur when trying to compare different solutions to a common problem. Only "long-term coexistence of genres and their interaction leads to the transition of one genre to another or the transition of works from one group to another"23. In the XV-XVI centuries. the development of the Russian heroic epic and the ballad genre led them to convergence and the creation of related forms. The first example of this kind of work is "Avdotya Ryazanochka".

The genre basis of "Avdotya-Ryazanochka" has not yet been determined. D.

Balashov takes it for a ballad, V. Zhirmunsky, focusing on the collections of A. Hilferding and R. Trautmann, refers it to epics. B. Putilov defines "Avdotya-Ryazanochka" as a historical ballad, in the educational literature it is customary to attribute it to the category of historical songs. “Avdotya-Ryazanochka” is traditionally dated to the 13th century, since the content of the song reflects, as it is supposed, a historical event: the ruin of Ryazan by Batu in 1237. Based on this work, B. Putilov restores the so-called “Ryazan cycle” of historical or historical ballads that have not come down to us songs. In the variants, the city of Ryazan is more often called Kazan, the scientist explains this fact by the conditionality of toponymy of late northern origin24. According to new research by specialists in the historical school, the text of Avdotya-Ryazanochka can go back to the 16th century as a response to the defeat of the embassy of Mikhail Klyapik in Kazan in 1505.25 The relatively recent ruin of Ryazan by Khan Akhmet in 1472 is also taken into account Bakhmet Turkish), later Kazan in 1552.

"Avdotya the Ryazanochka" is known only in three entries. Researchers have not found analogies in the Slavic regions of this song26. The songs of the Ryazan cycle, about Yevpaty Kolovrat are restored only hypothetically. It is necessary to determine the genre specifics of the song in order to answer the question why only one work has come down to us from an extensive cycle, which does not form a single variant, with the exception of the later ballad version “Omelfa Timofeevna helps her relatives”.

The 13th century was a transitional period for Europe, when the heroic epic was replaced by a chivalric romance and a ballad. The prerequisites for such a development were already beginning to appear in Russia, if it were not for the beginning of cultural isolation associated with the invasion of the Tatar-Mongolian troops at that time. As a result, we see a new rise in the heroic epic of the XIII-XV centuries, the creation of epics with a fundamentally new type of historicism. The Russian heroic epic selects a significant part of European ballad plots for itself (a similar process is observed among the South Slavic peoples). The Russian ballad, thus, faces the limitation of the content structure and develops a special tragic vision of the world.

The time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion required the creation of heroic characters, and the ballad genre solves the tasks in a special way.

The epic hero, the defender of Russian statehood, finds his parallels in the ballad genre - this is the type of girl from the ancient ballad "The Red Girl Runs from the Crowd". Techniques for creating such a type are rooted in the epic tradition of raspberries, women heroes. According to the idea of ​​folk singers, this is how the whole tragedy of the situation is manifested: there are no heroes in life. The choice of the image of the hero at an early stage is narrowed and receives a special tragic finality in the type of a defenseless, but actively fighting for the independence of a woman. In epics, under the influence of the aesthetics of the ballad genre, a tragic type of heroes appears: the Danube, later Sukhman and Danilo-Lovchanin. Thus, the first achievement in the genre of the Russian ballad is the creation of a female image27, which at an early stage of development has a heroic character. This is the influence of the heroic epic, heroic epics, the influence that the ballad genre will experience throughout the entire stage of its formation.

"Avdotya the Ryazanochka" cannot be unconditionally classified as a ballad genre. The narrator's attention is paid not to the conflict of the song, not to various options for its full disclosure, but to the epic goal - the creation of a new type of heroic character - a woman who does not have the status of a hero, but defeats a formidable enemy. This is an epic type of hero, Avdotya Ryazanochka goes towards danger - and defeats an invincible enemy. This is an epic feat, the only thing is that it is performed by an unusual character - not a log, but an ordinary woman. Therefore, Tsar Bakhmet is not an equal hero, he only emphasizes, is a means of revealing the heroism of an ordinary woman - Avdotya the Ryazan. Thus, the epic and ballad aesthetics are combined in the image of the hero. But there is also a genre tradition that influenced this song.

In Avdotya the Ryazanochka, formulaless verse predominates. In relation to the epic heritage, such an artistic device is clearly perceived as unsuccessful. The epic verse is made up of several traditional poetic combinations - formulas. The task of the epic singer is to skillfully build a verse to a given line ending. Therefore, "the skill of the narrator is not to memorize thousands of epic verses composed by someone before him, but to learn how to recreate them in the course of telling the epic"28. The formulaless verse "Avdotya the Ryazanochka" is expressed in a series of prosaisms. Subordinating constructions are often used, while the poetic language of folklore tends to simplify its structure as much as possible.

“In the dark forests he let loose fierce beasts, so that no one could pass or drive through.”;

* * * When you ruined the old Kazan-city under the forest, You captivated the people with forty thousand…”;

* * * "When you knew how to go the way and the way, So know how to ask for little heads From the three unified ones ..." The use of a formulaless verse in this text is so stable that subsequent narrators, reworking the plot and introducing additional motivations into its explanation, use the same text construction principle:

When I ruined your side, Kazan-city under the forest, Then they killed my dear brother…”

“Tsar Bakhmet Turkish, Coming from Kazan from the city, Let all the rivers-lakes deep…” Also, the presence of explanatory constructions complicates the text, makes the style of presentation cumbersome and clumsy.

"Clean fields - the robbers have passed at midnight (About midnight the robbers hold the guardrails), Dark forests - fierce animals - have passed at noon (About noon fierce animals and hold the guardrails)".

Competent distribution of lines according to the principle of syntactic parallelism, the repetition of such inconvenient sentences in artistic speech protects the text from becoming prosaic. The use of the repeat technique usually emphasizes the entire significance of the episode, so sometimes a build-up repeat is used. As Y. Lotman wrote, since folklore is based on the aesthetics of identity, repetition will be absolute and unconditional, and not dialectically complex30. The main functions of repetition in the epic are subject to this law.

In "Avdotya Ryazanochka" repetition has an additional function: it serves as a rhythmic organization of the text. The repetition acts as a formulaic verse, thanks to which the singer memorizes the text. Thus, the prose language of "Avdotya-Ryazanochka" unexpectedly reveals its poetic merits: stylistically cumbersome constructions are poeticized with the help of syntactic parallelism and repeated repetition of such parts of the text. This technique was innovative for creating a new type of song.

Such a formulaic verse does not have compositional stability when creating a version. One can compare this version with its later version, discovered by A. Grigoriev 40 years later, in the city, on Pinega, “Omelfa Timofeevna helps out her relatives.” The later edition changes the text, making it more plot-driven. Repetition as a leading poetic device disappears along with prose, the dialogue takes on a bright dramatic color. The version, due to the conciseness of the form and the emphasis of the narrator on the conflict situation, seems to be a ballad, here the image of the heroine does not carry national heroism.

Omelfa Timofeevna appears as a private typical person, the conflict is transferred to the family sphere. However, there can be no ballad interpretations of the plot. The too obvious influence of the previous sample, the artistic means of which are subordinated to the creation of the heroic image of Avdotya Ryazanochka, devalues ​​this version from the ballad point of view. Omelfa Timofeevna performs a private feat;

ballad aesthetics, if it describes the feat of a private person, it certainly shows his tragic break with the outside world, the superiority of the forces of external evil.

We observe a violation of the compositional structure of the song. The ballad conflict, the denouement is given in the first part, the second part reveals the heroic image of Omelfa Timofeevna. Such a continuation is logical only from a plot point of view.

“Omelfy and Timofeevna says, The Orthodox Tsar says to her, yes, everything:

“How did you go and all the dark forests?

How did it go and fast rivers?

Who else did you have and was a friend?

Who else do you have and carriers? Omelfa da Timofeevna answers:

"I have comrades and burning tears, Carriers and fishermen."

As Omelfa-ta went, she boasted:

“I already went alone, but five went.”

In terms of genre, the two-part, two-part ballad is unacceptable. The conflict loses its meaning, it repeats the conflict model in Avdotya Ryazanochka, devaluing the ballad sound of the version. The formulaic meaning of repetition in the song "Omelfa Timofeevna Helps Out Relatives" disappears, the ballad is perceived as a plot, acts as a plot version of an ancient model. With the development of the ballad genre, we will not meet works where the technique of repetition will have a formulaic meaning. There is every reason to assume that the formulaic nature of repetition is unique in the song "Avdotya-Ryazanochka" and unstable in terms of the development of the genre. Such instability, simultaneousness indicates that these poetic combinations are based not on epic aesthetics, but on the aesthetics of a fairy tale.

Indeed, the elements of the construction of the verse can be taken from the samples of the heroic epic, but in this case the narrator's thinking goes back not to the epic, but to the fairy tale. The narrator recycles the material taken from the epic heritage and presents it in a fabulous way. In ideological terms, the task of the singer is an attempt to create a new heroic image, the solution to this issue is achieved with the help of fairy-tale poetics. A new type of hero must prove the legitimacy of their claims. The singer and listeners must make sure that the heroine is a truly heroic image, rightfully replacing the hero of Russian epics. The task is further complicated by the fact that new heroes appear in the parallel developing epic: Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich - and they are especially popular at this time: the Russian heroic epic is going through a new fruitful stage of its development.

Therefore, the song introduces various tests of the hero in order to verify the authenticity of his status. Overcoming obstacles, emphasizing the complexity of these tests with the help of a triple repetition, the introduction of special prosaic explanatory constructions go back to fairy-tale poetics. The fairy-tale hero also overcomes obstacles to achieve the intended goal. And the very nature of the obstacles in the song is fabulous.

“You are Avdotya’s wife, Ryazanochka!

How did you go along the way?

I had all the deep rivers and lakes set free, And robbers were placed along the roads, And fierce animals were set free in the dark forests, So that no one could pass or drive through.

Apparently, the dialogue in this song cannot go back to ballad aesthetics. The emphasized drama of the situations takes the form of a fabulous question-answer system that serves the purpose of testing the status of the heroine: is Avdotya worthy of being a new type of hero or not. By its genesis, this is a system of tricky riddles and wise answers. On this basis, it can be assumed that the image of Avdotya-Ryazanka finds its parallels in the poetics of creating images of fabulous wise maidens31. However, the goals are completely different: if plot entertainment is important in a fairy tale, then in this song all fairy-tale tricks are used to test the status of the heroine, to test the capacity of the heroic type of hero. Therefore, in artistic terms, Avdotya the Ryazanochka approaches the type of heroes of the heroic epic: the constant use in the text of stable epithets of appendices: “Avdotya the wife of Ryazanochka” finds its parallels in epics.

This is the epithet "hero of the Holy Russian." In the analyzed song, this once again emphasizes the main idea: the epic and the ballad at a certain stage of development converge and create new samples in terms of genre.

Thus, fairy-tale poetics also determines the artistic organization of the text. The image of the main character has parallels in the figurative system of the fabulous wise maidens. The entire text describing the heroine's fabulous trials is repeated three times. The wise answer of Avdotya-Ryazanochka to the proposed riddle, which carries the functions of a heroic battle in an epic:

“But you don’t know how to ask for little heads, So I will cut off your wild head up to the shoulders” - leads to a happy ending, and there can be no other end32. Even the most prosaic beginning of the song, the use of the union “and” in complex constructions, although artistically softened by syntactic parallelism, resembles a fairy-tale beginning.

“Tsar Bakhmet of Turkey acted here, And he ruined the old Kazan-city under the forest, And he captivated the people full of forty thousand, He took the whole full to his land.” More clearly, such a line can be traced in the adjacent form "Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna". You can compare the beginning and end of a given text and determine the use of fairy tale genre aesthetics.

“Once upon a time there was Prince Roman Mitrievich, He slept with his wife, and she was touched at night ...” * * * “And they took that white-dub deck to Holy Russia, And cut crosses into crayons, And wonderful images, And gilded them with pure red gold, And sent them out in all churches.

"Avdotya the Ryazanochka" is a new genre form (we will call it an adjacent one, since it reflects the aesthetics of different genres, different forms of seeing the world, subordinated to one dominant goal). Its plot does not go back to ballad aesthetics, but to fairytale;

the dramatic conflict is not expressed, since it is subordinated to the idea of ​​creating a new heroic female image capable of defeating the forces of external evil. The task of the singers is not to reflect the conflict in all its possible consequences, but to create a heroic image of a new era. This task is epic in essence and reflects the aesthetics of the heroic epic. Therefore, the happy ending of the related forms "Avdotya Ryazanochka", "Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna", "Kozarin" is not subject to variation: you need to change the artistic goal in order to create a ballad.

In the actual ballad genre, such a goal already exists: it is the creation of not a heroic, but a tragic female image. As an example, you can point to the ballad "Sister and brothers-robbers."

Robber Sister and Brothers is a ballad in the external logic of events about incest, and here all attention is focused on the conflict of incest that has taken place. Such a motive, even in the absence of similar plots among neighbors, is international. Moreover, connections with the Slavic ballads of this text can be established not only by the presence of the theme of incest, but also by the solution of an older motive: violation of the ban on returning home33. The ballad, as a later historical genre formation, cannot directly reflect the effect of such a motif, it is transmitted indirectly, through epic overtones. The conflict in an ancient ballad cannot be based on chance,34 an unrecognized meeting of brothers and sisters must have taken place. Even in later versions, the motif of longing is constantly mentioned, pushing the heroine to return to her homeland, home. Meeting with brothers must be motivated. And this is the motivation:

the heroine returns home from a strange side, her sister wants to see her family. It is the violation of the ban, as well as the new tragic worldview in matters of personal and family life, that lead to a denouement that does not imply the possibility of a happy ending35. Much earlier, however, we find a song with a similar resolution of the conflict. We are talking about "Avdotya the Ryazanochka" and the tradition of creating female images in the ballad. The motive of longing for her relatives, for her homeland, makes the heroic victorious woman go to a foreign land and accomplish a feat. On the contrary, the tragic woman in the ballad about robbers lives in a foreign country, lives happily without conflict, and this alone may indicate that her happiness will be destroyed in her homeland. During the period of national tolerance for the Tatars, another plot version arises:

a woman given in marriage to a foreign land remains in a foreign land, living happily.

This cycle of ballads is "Mother-in-law in captivity of her son-in-law" or "Tatar is full." In the ballad "Sister and brothers-robbers" in one of the options, the heroine is directly called "Ryazan wife":

“The little robber does not sleep, does not lie, He does not sleep, does not lie, he thinks, He asks the Ryazan wife:

“Tell me, Ryazan wife, from which horde…” Such a name indirectly confirms the idea of ​​a woman’s status not as a sister, but as a foreigner who cannot return home. Therefore, the original version of the ballad is not occupied by the theme of committed incest, a destroyed family, it is the later interpretation of the song by the performers, but by the image of the heroine returning from a foreign land. For this reason, the ballad did not form an extensive cycle: such a character must carry either a negative attitude or a negative meaning. The formation of the image of the “Ryazan wife” allows us to reconstruct the ballad “Sister and brothers-robbers” and attribute it to the end of the 15th century. However, the presence of additional signs, such as:

the absence of an active popular assessment in action, a successful attempt to shift the conflict to the area of ​​family feelings about the incest that had taken place,36 the introduction of motives of repentance and collective forgiveness in the mother - refers the active existence of the song to the 16th - 17th centuries.

"Avdotya the Ryazanochka" is not solely a response to a historical event. In this song, the task of the narrator was to create a new image of the heroic woman-winner, and the salvation of the city, conceivable in the later version as the salvation of the family, is an act of heroism. The song could not have been created later than the 15th - 16th centuries, since during this period the nature of the heroic principle of the female image changes: this is not the passivity of the 16th century, but the absence of national heroism during the Tatar-Mongol yoke and reducing it to a personal plane of love or family content.

"Avdotya the Ryazanochka" forms a tradition of related forms in the ballad genre. As a direct continuation of it, the song "Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna" should be considered, which contaminates both dramatic situations and, undoubtedly, is of late origin. Both works presumably date back to the 15th - early 16th centuries, since the time of existence of both songs actually coincides.

When creating the heroic image of Marya Yurievna, one should not underestimate the role of the ballad cycle about Polonyanka girls. The epic setting for the creation of a heroic image is complicated by the ballad one: the singers are interested in the conflict of the girl's heroic struggle with strangers. Personal freedom reflects national freedom, therefore Marya Yurievna is a national image of a heroic Russian woman. The heroic principle of the female image must be tested, as in "Stavra" and "Avdotya-Ryazanochka". In this case, this is a test of the heroine's right to escape, and again the fairy tale comes to the rescue as a genre that has experience in solving the tasks set. The heroine defends her right to escape, and this receives a popular assessment, similar in character to the "Miraculous Salvation".

In the related form "Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna" the singer's memory is guided by the external logic of the plot, so we will no longer encounter repetition as a leading poetic device. In the ballad genre, the formal plot logic of the text has been laid since the 16th century. This principle of narration goes back to fairy-tale poetics37 and is subordinated to the goals of entertaining. It will organically form the basis of those created in the 16th-17th centuries.

novelistic epics, therefore, there is every reason to assume that the epic about Stavra, Avdotya the Ryazanochka and Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna were the forerunners in the development in Russian folklore of the tradition of creating novelistic epics, the main function of which went back to the entertaining chivalric romance in the West.

4. "Kozarin" The epic about Kozarin had a significant influence on the development of the ballad genre. The history of the study of this song represents a fairly small number of works. Orest Miller held the idea of ​​incest as the oldest basis of the song, A.S. Yakub noted the real background of the event described by the epic, Vs. Miller clarified this thesis by pointing to a more specific fact38. In Propp, in the book "Russian Heroic Epic", he examines this song in detail, in 1965 an analytical article by B.

Putilov about "Kozarin" 39.

The question of the genre structure of Kozarin remains open. On the one hand, the song is interpreted as an integral part of the cycle about Polonian girls, on the other hand, it has retained the peculiarities of the poetics of the heroic epic. V. Propp speaks of the semi-ballad character of the bylina40, B. Putilov clarifies this position, arguing about two ways in which the plot develops: the path of the heroic epic and the ballad.

The criterion of distinction is, according to the scientist, the functionality of the image of the protagonist. In the epic version, Kozarin is the main character;

in the ballad, he is an episodic character and has a plot goal - the release of the Polonyanka41.

The second circle of problems arises when the question of the genesis of the genre is raised.

According to V. Propp, the source of the addition or processing of the epic was an ancient plot, erected by scientists to the circle of epics about matchmaking. B. Putilov sees in the creation of "Mikhaila Kozarin" the influence of the development of folk poetic tradition, creating youthful songs about Mark or ballads about polonyanki and incest. The scientist defines the epic under study as a tendency towards cyclization about Polonyanka girls42.

Let us briefly outline the currently dominant point of view of V.

Propp. The scientist considers the song an epic of a semi-ballad character.

The researcher convincingly proved the lack of connection between Kozarin and the epics of the Kyiv cycle. The main conflict, according to the scientist, lies in the confrontation between the old ideology of the prehistoric epic (Mikhaila's father) and the new positive epic hero. Kozarin wins over the clan (according to V. Propp) and over fate and fate, which leads him to commit incest (according to B. Putilov). The epic plot is the most archaic among epic plots in the Russian heroic epic: a hero saves a kidnapped woman. Therefore, it is very likely that the plot of Kozarin will be influenced by the circle of ancient epics about matchmaking. Tatars go back to monsters (in some variants that have experienced a fabulous influence, zoomorphic creatures are called kidnappers);

sister also has the ancient meaning of bride/wife. However, the epic has as its content not incest, but overcoming the old tradition of the prehistoric epic, so the hero is not disappointed, but rejoices that he is saving his sister, and not finding a wife.

The epic distribution area is not quite common. As noted by V.

Propp, "Kozarin" is recorded the most number of times on Pinega43. This is the area, according to the research of S.I. Dmitrieva44, is a ballad song, songs of a ballad character are presented here most widely.

Indeed, the impact of the ballad genre on the epic is noticeable.

The similarity is evident in the composition of the song itself. On the one hand, it is closed and self-sufficient, like most Russian epics. However, the principles of ballad cyclization of the text are also evident: only a set of equal variants, versions of the plot illuminates from all sides the ideological and artistic significance of the work. The same idea was expressed by V. Propp, not satisfied with any, even the most complete version of the song:

"Only the totality of these interpretations in different versions gives a complete picture of the people's design"45. However, none of the options gives us a case of completed incest. In a folk ballad, a stable motive for a happy ending is impossible, since the ballad genre seeks to illuminate all sides of the conflict and therefore works out all possible options for resolving the conflict situation. Apparently, in this case, the ballad conflict is not the basis of the song.

The bylina about Kozarin sings of the non-dramatic relationship between a young man and a girl. Mikhailo Kozarin is an epic hero. The whole appearance of the protagonist in the variants describing his birth, childhood, corresponds to a typical heroic image. Kozarin is not a private person, not a good fellow as a type of ballad hero, this is an integral image that has its own character in the epic marking of a feat. In the heroic epic, the heroes are always marked and have their main feat, but the truly heroic characters of the military epic have several plots, several feats. Kozarin is not a hero of a military cycle about the fight against the Tatar-Mongol invasion, he is of a different era.

His name is not transferred to other heroes, on the contrary, later, due to the one-sided interpretation of the image by folk performers, Kozarin can be replaced by Alyosha Popovich. Our hero has only one plot, only one feat, the functionality of the entire image of Kozarin is determined by this plot. Only rare heroes of the heroic military epic can have such a stable connection only with their plot, such heroes denote either a passing era (Svyatogor) or a negative type (Danube)46.

The aesthetics of ballad songs had a significant impact on the formation of the image of Mikhail Kozarin. The very name Kozarin, as is commonly believed, reflects Khazar origin. This is a foreign name, moreover, it means a tribe hostile to the Russian people. It can be assumed that the stable motif of the hero's alienness serves as an intensification to the main characteristic of the image, clearly marking the hero. This is a marking of a ballad character, a ballad worldview - the rootlessness of Kozarin determines his entire image.

Kozarin is rootless, he does not belong to his family. The motive of expulsion from one's family is stable for all variants of the epic. Kozarin is an exile, his whole life is exile, he is a hero without heroism, a hero of one plot, a hero of one feat. The functionality of the heroic image is entirely subordinated to the sphere of aimless wandering, as Svyatogor once wandered without a thirst for exploits and glory. If it were not for the heroic nature of Kozarin, we would easily recognize in him the type of “timeless fellow”, who at one time became the most popular image of folk ballads, a bright representative of which is reflected in the ballad “Well done and the Smorodina River”.

Nevertheless, Kozarin performs a heroic feat - he saves the polonyanka from the hands of the Tatars. The song does not have the main content of incest, otherwise the cause of the family conflict would be, as B. Putilov47 pointed out, a warning about incest. However, even with a successful denouement, the conflict escalates: the father does not forgive the heroic son who saved his sister. As V. Propp rightly noted: “Fathers in the life of the heroes of the Russian epic, as a rule, do not play any role”48. In this case, the ideological confrontation between the father as the head of the family and the son determines the conflict of the song.

Kozarin somehow interferes with the happiness of his family, and even a perfect feat in the name of preserving it cannot relieve him of tragic guilt. His fault lies in the fact that he is a hero.

Mikhailo Kozarin was not born in his era, he was born in a private family, which, by most options, has many children. In the collection of D. Balashov "Folk Ballads" there is an option where the saved sister tells the deliverer:

“I am not of a greater family, no less, What was the same kind of princely.

As my father had nine sons, And I am the tenth, bitter.

Four brothers serve the king, And four brothers pray to God, And the ninth brother is a hero in poly.

Kozarin is opposed to his family by his heroic origin, for this reason the father cannot recognize him as his blessed son. The family acts as the norm of life. Therefore, the hero rejected by the family is perceived as rootless (a type of ballad hero), this is a hero without true heroism, heroism, which manifests itself not in one feat, but in the whole whole and meaningful life. The rootlessness of Mikhail Kozarin is understood as his inferiority, such a hero as once Svyatogor is denied by the new ballad aesthetics. The time of heroes is gone, what is needed is not the feat of a hero, what is needed is the feat of a private person, the current heroes have a place in exile. Therefore, Kozarin is deliberately perceived as not entirely Russian, therefore a song about such a hero has a single and isolated existence - the hero performs a private feat for the sake of establishing a private family, but as a hero of a national scale he is not needed, from a historical point of view, this is a negative hero.

"Kozarin" is one of the first attempts to create the image of a tragic hero who did not find a place for himself either in the epic tradition or in the new system of the world. The image of a tragic hero, subject to ballad aesthetics, will then find its embodiment in such heroes as Sukhman and Danilo Lovchanin.

This song, by design, is a product of epic creativity and does not have a ballad setting. However, the influence of the aesthetics of the ballad genre on the epic is undeniable. The epic itself corresponds to the ballad worldview so much that later "Kozarin" is reissued into ballad versions. First of all, "Kozarin" is moving closer to the cycle of Polonian girls. New variants are being created, where the figure of a polonyanka becomes the central one. They also get a ballad interpretation of the song with the main character Kozarin, but the heroic beginning will disappear. The ballad will present a type of private tragic hero who will find full artistic justification in the parallel incest cycle that is being formed. Based on the old plot, songs with a tragic end will appear.

Thus, the ballad aesthetics and plot closeness of Kozarin to the cycle about Polonyanka girls predetermined the features of the future fate of the song. The epic became more and more close to the ballad cycle, ballad versions appeared that obscured the original epic. And not without reason, these options are considered as an integral part of the Polonyanka cycle. The image of the protagonist, a rootless hero, a hero of one feat, was also reflected in the ballad type of a rootless young man, rejected by the new ideal of the era - a typical private family.

According to the artistic conception, "Kozarin" is an epic that is significantly influenced by the ballad genre and represents a new stage in the formation of the heroic epic. The hero is thought to be opposed to the ideology of the new coming era, and the heroic beginning of Kozarin will not allow him to find his place in the world of private conflicts of private people. "Kozarin" presents an artistic interpretation of a turning point in the history of the Russian heroic epic. The emergence of the song can be dated no later than the 16th, and most likely, the 15th century, during the convergence of the ballad and the heroic epic and the creation of the so-called related forms.

Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic M., 1999 P.31.

There. P.32.

There. P.46.

There. P.47.

Sokolova V.K. Russian historical songs of the 16th – 18th centuries. M., 1960. S.142-143.

Putilov B.N. Russian historical song // Folk historical songs. M.-L., 1962. P.15.

Putilov B.N. Russian historical and song folklore of the 13th - 16th centuries. M.-L., 1960. P.109.

Propp V.Ya. About Russian folk lyrical song // Folk lyrical songs. L., 1961. P.54.

Lazutin S.G. Composition of Russian folk lyrical song (to the question of the specifics of genres in folklore) // Russian folklore. T.5. M.-L., 1960. P.212.

Astafieva-Skalbergs L.A. Symbolic character (object) and forms of its image in folk song // Questions of genres of Russian folklore. M., 1972. P.31.

Only the historical song genre will interpret the plot as the actions of the hero, reflecting his image, forming the initial concepts of the term “character”, and the cycles of Western European ballads also reflect a similar aesthetic, cf. ballads about Robin Hood Propp V.Ya. About Russian folk lyrical song С.53.

Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. P.520.

See more: Putilov B.N. Russian historical and song folklore. pp.109-110.

Wed version of this ballad "The death of a young man at the ferry", where the original idea invested in the song is completely lost.

Wed similar arguments about the constant epithet "kind" in relation to the young man in V. Propp. Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. P.527.

According to the research of A. Amelkin, such a character will develop by the 16th century. Amelkin A.O. About the time of the emergence of the song about "Avdotya-Ryazanochka". // Russian folklore. T. 29, St. Petersburg, 1993.

According to the observations of L. Astafieva-Skalbergs, the images-symbols in folk songs are stable and ambiguous. Astafieva-Skalbergs L.A. Symbolic character… P.33.

Putilov B.N. Reality and fiction in the Slavic historical ballad // Slavic folklore and historical reality. M., 1965. P.166.

The third daughter, given to a foreign land, will always be unloved. This is the only motif reminiscent of the ancient tradition of the prohibition of returning home, as well as the negative attitude towards the foreign side.

“A father gave birth to a mother three daughters:

Two daughters are happy, And the third is unhappy. Wed an ideologically opposite option that has a similar motive.

What did the aunt have, what did the widow have? There were three daughters:

Two were loved, the third daughter was hateful.

Folk ballads. M.-L., 1963. S.393.

It should be noted that in the ballad genre, the past tense denotes the perfection of the action even in the dialogic or monologue speech of the hero (cf. the ballad "Threats of a girl to a good fellow", analyzed below). In this case, the use of the past tense in the words of the heroine means the bloody denouement of the ballad and gives the whole work a special tragic sound.

Kravtsov N.I. The system of genres of Russian folklore. M., 1963. P.27.

Putilov B.N. Russian historical and song folklore. P.65.

Amelkin A.O. “About the time of the origin of the song about “Avdotya-Ryazanochka” // Russian folklore. T. SPb. 1996. S.80-85.

V. Zhirmunsky, attributing this song to novelistic plots about the release of a husband from captivity by his wife, draws a parallel with the German song “Count of Rome” of the 16th century, respectively, assuming a rather late origin of “Avdotya-Ryazanochka” itself. Zhirmunsky V.M. Folk heroic epic.

Comparative-historical essays. M., L., 1962. S.182-183, 191.

V. Propp, in his materials on the ballad, believed that the main feature of the ballad is a woman, and her absence means that the work is not a ballad. Propp V.Ya. Poetics of folklore. M., 1998. P.138.

Putilov B.N. The Art of the Epic Singer (From Textual Observations on Epics) // Principles of Textological Study of Folklore. M., L., 1966. S. 231., see details 232-236.

Venediktov G.L. Extralogical beginning in folklore poetics // Russian folklore. T.14. L 1974. S.225.

Lotman Yu.M. Lectures on structural poetics // Lotman Yu.M. and the Tartu-Moscow semiotic school. M.1994. pp.223-224.

It should also be noted the influence of the heroic epic in the formation of the image of Avdotya. In the heroic epic, in particular in the epics about the reflection of the Tatars, such a heroic female image already existed. We are talking about Princess Apraksa (Evpraksia), the wife of Prince Vladimir. “The new heroic struggle and the heroic era create the image of a heroic Russian woman, and this is how Apraksa is depicted in the epic. She is opposed to Vladimir. She always holds the hand of heroes against Vladimir. Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic.

The choice of the heroine fell on her brother, and here it is legitimate to consider the influence of tribal relations, already incomprehensible to the new generation of singers. In fairy tale poetics, the model of the world is preserved, where the members of the collective are considered primarily as the successors of the clan. In this song, such an idea has no development and is limited to the poetics of a fairy tale.

V. Eremina writes: “... the origins of many ancient motifs that are reflected in folklore, especially when it comes to late folklore genres, should be sought not in the rite, but in the ritual forms of thinking, in the worldview foundations lost by the ritual, which turn out to be much more stable and conservative than the ritual itself." Eremina V.I. Ritual and folklore L., 1991. P.194. Analyzing the Slavic ballads (“Daughter-Bird”, “Bird-Avenger”, “Sister and Brothers-Robbers”, “Robber’s Wife”, “Coming of the Dead Brother”), their archaic layer, the researcher comes to the conclusion about their late origin: “ ... a fairy tale, a ballad - genres are completely independent, not originally attached to the rite, tracing ancient ritual relationships, their living meaning, sometimes significantly retain not only the representations that have become obsolete in the ritual, but also their motivation. There. P.195. It should be noted here that V. Eremina considers the rite as a late historical formation, while the ballads reflect a more archaic set of ideas associated with the prohibition of returning to the family and the violation of this prohibition.

V. Propp, mentioning this ballad, believes that its action is based on pure chance. Propp V.Ya. Poetics of folklore. P.317. The randomness of the actions of the ballad is also implied by D. Balashov as a manifestation of the aesthetics of a direct case, although the scientist primarily means the lack of motivation and the primacy of the action in the genre of the ballad. Balashov D.M. The history of the development of the Russian ballad genre.

Petrozavodsk, 1966. P.41.

Variants that do not contain the theme of committed incest are spoiled and late reworkings of the original ballad. They are mostly of southern origin. These include the ballad "Robbers and Sister" from the "Collection of songs of the Samara region, compiled by V. Varentsov."

B. Putilov thinks it's true. without naming specific dates, the later introduction of the image of the horror of incest. As a consequence, the disappearance of the very motive of incest is indicated, as the reason is the desire to soften the content of the song. Putilov B.N. Reality and fiction in the Slavic historical ballad // Slavic folklore and historical reality. M., 1965. P.165.

It should be noted the role of the epic "Soloman and Vasily Okulovich", which influenced the song "Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna". V. Propp and B. Putilov attribute it to epics of fairy tale content and place it in the second volume of their collection. Epics. T.1-2 M., 1958.

For more details, see Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. pp.568-569.

Putilov B.N. The story of one plot riddle (epic about Mikhail Kozarin) // Questions of Folklore.

Tomsk, 1965.

Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. P.156.

Putilov B.N. The story of one plot riddle. S.20-21.

Putilov B.N. Russian historical and song folklore of the 13th - 16th centuries. P.105.

Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. pp.156-157.

Dmitrieva S.I. Geographic distribution of epics in the Russian North // Slavic folklore.

M., 1972. P.67.

Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. P.164.

Mikhailo Potyk and Ivan Godinovich have similar plots, and also cannot be recognized as completely positive characters. There. P.134., Putilov B.N. The story of one plot riddle. P.17.

Propp V.Ya. Russian heroic epic. P.186. The only exception is the fairy tale about the healing of Ilya Muromets.

Second chapter.

The development of the genre of Russian folk ballad in the XIV - XVII centuries.

1. Elder ballads of the 14th - early 16th centuries.

From the older ballads of the XIV - early XVI centuries. few songs have survived. These include the cycles about the harassment of the daughter-in-law by the mother-in-law and the murder of the wife by the husband1, and the cycle about Polonyanka girls also continues to develop. At this time, the ballad genre finds new ways of its development.

The folk ballad develops conflicts in family life, such songs become so popular over time that the use of family everyday topics is now considered as a national feature of the Russian ballad genre. In science, the circle of such songs is called "family household" ballads.

The cycle about the harassment of the daughter-in-law by the mother-in-law is, of course, the oldest and is represented by ballads about Prince Mikhail. It has strong inter-genre connections with the cycle about Polonian girls, but at the same time it generalizes and develops all the accumulated experience of the ballad genre.

The cycle of ballads about Polonyanka girls forms a heroic female image, tragic in essence. The dramatic situation in which the heroine finds herself determines the tragic meaning of her image. In the ballad about Prince Mikhail, a truly tragic ballad image is formed. It is in the family sphere that such conflicts are found: the position of a woman in a peasant environment, relations with her mother-in-law reveal a truly tragic image. The type of the heroine is modified. The social heroism that the Polonyanka girl carries in herself is reduced to a minimum, the tragedy of her situation develops in the status of a victim. It is the status of the victim for the image of a woman that fully reflects the idea of ​​the ballad genre about the defenselessness of a private, isolated person in front of the forces of external evil. The status of a defenseless victim aggravates the conflict of relations between the characters to the maximum, and the new genre builds its poetics on the dynamics of such an aggravation, on the cyclization of the conflict situation. Such aggravated conflicts, more concrete and closer to reality than the dramatic situations of the cycle about the Polonyanka girls, can be easily found in family life.

The dramatic situation that forms the Polonyanka type plays a leading role in the formation of a new ballad hero. The priority of the dramatic situation in the formation of the type of hero leads to the creation of a passive female image, the image of a victim. The functionality of the tragic image of the daughter-in-law - the victim is narrowed as much as possible, down to a simple mention in the older ballads. The concentration of artistic means reflects the new poetics of the genre: it is not the hero himself that is important, his image, what is important is the function for which he is intended. The image of the victim reflects the type of a passive hero, such a hero cannot manifest himself in action, therefore, his role in the compositional structure of the song should be reduced to the maximum. Therefore, in the older ballads, the daughter-in-law, the wife of the hero, is mentioned sporadically, although, undoubtedly, she is one of the main characters. The meaning of her image is defined and stable - this is a tragic hero who is a victim of the cruelty of the surrounding world.

Of particular interest in terms of their formation are the main characters in action: Prince Mikhailo and his mother. The mother of the hero, in contrast to the heroic epic, in the older ballads always has a negative meaning, she is called the mother-in-law and is opposed to the daughter-in-law, a positive image. The image of the mother-in-law goes back to the image of the enemy from the cycle about Polonian girls. It reflects in the folk poetic tradition the images of the Tatars, cruel and bloody rapists2, who play an active role in the ballads about Polonyanka, developing the dramatic situation of captivity. The mother-in-law is thought of as an enemy, as a manifestation of the forces of external evil, therefore, neither the motivation for actions, nor the punishment for the destruction of the family will be applicable to this image. The aesthetics of the ballad genre claims that evil cannot be eliminated or a complete physical victory over it. Evil will always be active, always manifested through concrete actions. The massacre of an innocent daughter-in-law will be extremely cruel and described with maximum specificity.

Thus, the image of the negative hero is revealed according to the dramatic principle - through his actions, active actions.

The image of the protagonist - Prince Mikhaila - will retain the principles of formation of the heroic image of a Polonyanka girl. However, its development will differ significantly from the type of hero-victim, although in the future the ballad genre creates such variants where male and female characters approach each other in the status of a victim (“Vasily and Sophia”). In the older ballads, the male character must represent an active type of hero, perform active actions. This is the aesthetics of the epic: the active hero is responsible for the family, he is its master and head;

the ethics of family life of Russian medieval society is formed according to the same laws.

Prince Mikhailo wants to prevent a disaster, which he learns about most often from an epic messenger. Absent according to the law of epic convention, as in the classic examples of epics, the hero, upon his return, actively searches for his wife until he is confronted with the fact of her murder by his own mother.

However, the whole tragedy of the situation will lie in the fact that he is powerless before the forces of external evil, which embodies the image of his evil mother. The tragedy of the image of Prince Mikhailo, like the tragedy of the image of a Polonyanka, is formed by a dramatic situation - the hero cannot do anything, cannot correct a hopeless situation. Prince Mikhailo is not a hero, he is a private person. He understands that the mother is the embodiment of evil, against which it is pointless to fight, so the ballad ends, since the dramatic situation is completely exhausted.

In the XV - XVI centuries. on the basis of songs about Prince Mikhail, a cycle of ballads is created about the murder of a wife by a husband. This includes songs such as "The Slandered Wife", "The Princess and the Elders", "Ryabinka", "Prince Roman Lost His Wife", "Dmitry and Domna". The development of the cycle about the harassment of the daughter-in-law by the mother-in-law is continued by the early editions of the ballads "Vasily and Sophia" and "The Widow's Children". In artistic terms, such works create a new level of conflict - the conflict of relations between equal heroes, revealed according to the model: enemy and victim. The dramatic situation loses its dominant significance, it fades into the background and gives way to the glorification of the conflict. In the 15th century, with the development of such songs, a special kind of ballad formula appeared, which is expressed in the cyclization of conflict situations. The singer memorizes specific forms of conflict, at an early stage their conditional typical motivations, and builds a ballad based on them. Therefore, the original variability, instability of the content structure of the work is laid in the text.

In the ballad "Slandered Wife" the functionality of the male image changes. The dramatic situation that determines his type in the ballad "Prince Mikhailo" is processed into a conflict situation. Accordingly, the type of hero also changes. Unlike the heroic epic, where the hero reflects the people's faith in the limitless powers of man, the ballad hero fully recognizes the power over himself of the limitless forces of tragic reality. And only by becoming an accomplice of these forces, their involuntary tool, the male image can embody the type of active hero characteristic of older ballads. The husband will always be resolute in reprisals against his wife, he will not give a chance to justify the heroine, to reveal her position. The plot represents "a kind of poetic thickening of the picture of the Domostroy economic structure"3.

Most likely, here we observe the result of the development of a passive female image - the victim. The domostroy laws of society in the 15th century4 had not yet caused such acute conflicts, resolute protests, characteristic of the subsequent era. The heroine herself has no right to dialogue, her image is perfect and complete. The reasons for such an easy belief of the husband in slandering his wife reflects a certain type of conventionality of the ballad. The blame is shifted to the hero himself, artistically motivates his active actions and tragic type. The conflict of the ballad escalates to the limit, and the traditional dramatic situation with which the work ends only serves to intensify the conflict. The hero discovers the innocence of the ruined wife - and can do nothing. He is an unwitting accomplice of the evil forces of the surrounding reality, he is on the same level with his mother, he is a negative hero. The conflict of the ballad is over, for the older ballads the events that follow are not important. Therefore, the motive for punishing the elders in the northern interpretation of the plot "The Prince and the Elders" should be considered later, formed under the influence of the development of the formal plot logic of the narrative.

This is the aesthetics of “as if by chance” or an artistic case: logically, all conflicts can be avoided, but the goal of the ballad is the opposite - just to show the most aggravated conflict situation. This is the artistic logic of events, a certain convention in their presentation. This is an epic convention, and by the nature of the motivation / unmotivation of the characters' actions, much can be said about the time of origin of this text.

It is possible to clarify W. Propp's formulation that a well-motivated work appears or is processed later than a weakly motivated one5. A well-motivated work, from the point of view of its artistic logic, appears earlier than a weakly motivated one, based, so to speak, on direct chance due to the loss of the original artistic conception of the ballad.

38 Artistic originality of the ballad genre.

Folk ballads - these are lyrical-epic songs about tragic events in family and everyday life. In the center of ballads there is always a person with his moral problems, feelings, experiences. The hero of ballads differs from heroes-heroes who perform a feat, from fairy-tale characters. This is a nameless person, experiencing, suffering and sometimes dying in difficult life circumstances. If there are heroic principles in epics, optimistic ones in fairy tales, then tragic pathos expressed in ballads.

"The ballad puts the focus on individual human destiny. Events of national significance, ethical, social, philosophical problems are reflected in ballads in the form of specific destinies of individuals and private family human relations." Russian ballads depict the era of the Middle Ages , the heyday of the genre falls on the XIV-XVII centuries. The plots of ballads are diverse, but ballads on family and everyday topics are more widespread. In these ballads, the main characters, as in fairy tales, are the "good fellow" and the "beautiful maiden." Often they tell about unhappy love and tragic events.

Exist two points of view on the origin of ballad songs. Some researchers (A.N. Veselovsky, N.P. Andreev) believed that ballads originated in "prehistoric" times. As evidence, they referred to the fact that the ballad songs preserved the most ancient motifs of incest, cannibalism, transportation across the river as symbols of the transition from one state of life to another, the conversion of a person into a plant and animal, etc. Others (for example, V.M. Zhirmunsky) claimed that ballads originated in the Middle Ages. The second point of view in relation to Russian ballad songs seems to be more acceptable. The content of the ballad songs speaks for itself. As for the most ancient motifs, they testify to the connection between medieval song folklore and previous ideological and historical traditions.

Poetics. Ballads belong to the epic genre of poetry. The story in them is conducted from the third person, as if from the outside, from the narrator. The main sign of the epic nature of a ballad is the presence of a plot in them, but the plot does not appear the same as in other genres: in ballads, as a rule, only the climax and denouement are presented within the figurative image; the rest is said only in general terms. In a ballad, we are always talking about an event, which in itself is a continuation of the previous ones, but one can only guess about them. This makes the ballad story mysterious and at the same time contributes to the fact that it highlights the most necessary for the realization of the plan. The ballad avoids multiple episodes. Ballads have long been noticed plot dynamism. In them, the reception of an unexpected development of the action is frequent.

Verse. The verse of the ballad is closely connected with the melodic structure of the singing, and the melodies include the properties of the solemn chant inherent in the epic, and a piercing tonality. The intonation of misfortune and grief from such a combination of majestic sadness. The verse of a ballad is more mobile than that of an epic, it is closer to the verse of historical songs and differs from it only in strong emotional impulses as a result of a sharp emotional-intonational movement. The verse becomes especially expressive in the most dramatic moments of singing. In these cases, he takes properties from bitter weeping. In the genre that arose at the stage of transition from the "classic" epic epic to the new one, the transition of archaic song forms to new ones, in which there are already lyrical qualities, is noticeable.

Between the world recreated in the ballad and its creator (and, consequently, the reader) arises space-time distance. The ballad space, emphatically "otherworldly", fundamentally different from everyday reality, is not just removed from the perceiving individual. It is qualitatively designated as belonging to another aesthetic and ethical system associated with folklore ideas, as V.G. Belinsky, pointing to the "fantastic and folk legend" underlying the ballad plot . Closed space(!)

Ballad lyricism is the result of the impact on the subject of some epic event, the reaction of the soul, experiencing its discovery of the ballad world.

Unmotivated Evil(ignoring the need for motivation). Over the life of ballad heroes, their feelings "a tragic fate weighs" (V.M. Zhirmunsky). That is why the hero of the ballad often seems to even voluntarily go to his death, resignedly accepts death.

The specifics of the conflict: behind the characteristically ballad situations of family drama, social inequality, captivity, captivity, etc. really determined by the specific circumstances of the Middle Ages, a higher and eternal plan emerges, to which the folk ballad gravitates, striving to reduce various conflicts and conflicts to the most general, generic, unchanging oppositions: love-hate, good-evil, life-death. The main conflict in the ballad Man and Fate, Fate, Man before the court of Higher powers. Conflict is always tragic and inexplicable.

Ballad Function: the need to master the tragic sphere of being. The ballad genre responded to the needs of the individual to experience feelings and states that she was deprived of in everyday reality.

As a genre, the ballad of the old formation remained a unique phenomenon in the history of folklore, and many features of the genre influenced the formation of song genres of a time closer to us.

Addition

Russian folk ballads are works of rich vital content, high artistic perfection, and wonderful art of the word. This is manifested primarily in the mastery of the plot: on the one hand, in the selection of situations of great emotional power, and on the other, in the exact characterization of the characters in their actions. In the ballads, in a summary of the episode, limited in time and place of action, the tragedy of the position of an innocently dying person, usually a woman, is skillfully revealed. The tragic in a ballad is, as a rule, terrible. This is often a crime, an atrocity committed against a person close or dear, which creates a particularly acute tension. Prince Roman deals with his wife with terrible cruelty; the sister recognizes the bloody shirts of her brother, who was killed by her "robber husband." A significant role in the course of the action is played by the unexpected, for example, the sister's recognition of her brother's shirts, the involuntary poisoning of her son's mother. The episode, which serves as the plot center of the ballad, does not have an exposition, but sometimes receives a brief motivation in denunciation or slander, which then drive the actions of the characters.Motivation is sometimes combined with the mystery that arises as a result of a prediction (prophetic dream, omen) or prediction of events.The tragic in the plots of ballads is manifested not only in the actions of the characters (murder, torture), but also in the peculiarities of their mental states.The tragic fate of a person in a feudal society, the suffering and death of victims of despotism, as well as a tragic mistake, deceit, slander, which "lead to the death of people. The tragic thing is the late repentance of a mother or husband who killed an innocent son or wife, in the late recognition of a dishonored sister by a brother. The ballad differs from other folklore genres by the depth of the psychological image, the ability to reveal complex and intense experiences, including the state of mind of the killer, his remorse and remorse. Ballad characters are characterized by strong passions and desires. Avdotya Ryazanochka goes to the camp to the enemies in order to free the captives; the girl flees from captivity: freedom is dearer to her than life; unable to escape from her pursuers, she throws herself into the river; defending the right to love, the girl prefers to die, but not to be forcibly married. In reckless anger, a husband can destroy his beloved wife. Characters are possessed by such feelings as horror, despair, severe suffering, unbearable grief. Their experiences are most often expressed in action, in deeds. In the ballad “Well Done and the Princess,” the king’s anger at the young man, at the servants, is expressively conveyed, and the change in the king’s state of mind is motivated in a peculiar way. Feelings are transmitted in their external expression. In the ballad “Prince Roman Lost His Wife,” the daughter learns about the death of her mother: As the princess fought on the damp ground, She cried in a loud voice. And further: She beat her hands on the oak table. Experiences are also expressed in the speech of the characters, in monologues and dialogues. It often takes a peculiar form. Sophia, who loves Vasily, stands on the kliros in the church. She wanted to say: "Lord, forgive me." Meanwhile, she said: "Vasilyushko, Vasily, my friend, touch me, Touch me, move over, Let's hug and kiss." Works of the ballad type are more realistic than other poetic genres, since in the latter there is neither such a detailed psychological development of images, nor so many opportunities for showing everyday details. The realism of ballads consists in the vitality of conflicts, in the everyday typification of characters, in the plausibility of events and their motivation, in everyday details, in the objectivity of the narrative, in the absence of fantastic fiction. The latter is present only occasionally in the denouement of events and is used to morally condemn the villains. This is the motif of intertwining trees on the grave of the perished, which serves as a symbol of true love. The motive of turning a girl into a tree is also usually in the denouement of events. The originality of the ballad is manifested primarily in its difference from other genres. The ballad is a poetic genre, but its verse, although sometimes close to the epic one, differs in that it is shorter, usually two-strike, while the epic verse is usually three-strike. The similarity with the epic verse is manifested in the presence of a pause approximately in the middle of the line. Traveled // Mitriy Vasilyevich In the open field, // on a good horse, Sat // Domna Aleksandrovna In a new hill, // under a slanted window, Under a crystal // under a glass. She thought, // thought, She blasphemed him, // blasphemed him. In epics, and often in historical songs, the positive hero triumphs, but in ballads he dies, and the villain does not receive direct punishment, although sometimes he grieves and repents. Heroes in ballads are not heroes, not historical figures, but usually ordinary people; if these are princes, then they are bred in their personal, family relationships, and not in state activities. The ballads are close to epics and historical songs in epic, narrative, plot, but their plots are less developed and usually come down to one episode. They reveal the relationship of characters in more detail than the plot situation in lyrical songs. Ballads differ from them in the absence of lyricism, which appears only in later works and testifies to the destruction of the genre. However, ballads interact with other genres. They contain epic formulas, epithets: They lead the cross in a written way, Bow in a learned way In the early ballads, epithets are not uncommon: a good horse, a feast of honors, oak tables, a damask sword. But the structure of a ballad is different from that of an epic. There are fabulous motifs in the ballads: predictions, transformations. In the ballad "The Prince and the Old Women" the princess is revived with living water; in the variant of the ballad "Slandered Wife", the snake that the young man wanted to kill promises to help him in gratitude for the rescue, but her words turn out to be slander. Unlike epics and historical songs, the meaning of which is patriotic and historical ideas, the meaning of ballads is in expressing moral assessments of the behavior of characters, in deep humanism, in protecting the free expression of feelings and aspirations of the individual.

Scientists note the difficulty of classifying the folk ballad genre, since it does not have a clear form of performance, does not have a stable everyday use (ballads are performed mainly from time to time, sometimes on famous holidays), and "the rhythmic structure of the ballad opens up scope for the most peculiar musical possibilities" nineteen . Apparently, the ballad is determined by its own genre specificity, and the researchers establish common features of the ballad genre. The ballad is set to depict the world of private people, "the world of human passions interpreted tragically"20. "The world of the ballad is the world of individuals and families, scattered, disintegrating in a hostile or indifferent environment"21. The ballad focuses on the disclosure of the conflict. “For centuries, typical conflict situations have been selected and cast in ballad form”22. The ballads contain "sharp, irreconcilable conflicts, good and evil, truth and untruth, love and hate, positive and negative characters are opposed, and the main place is given to the negative character. Unlike fairy tales, it is not good that wins in ballads, but evil, although negative characters suffer a moral defeat: they are condemned and often repent of their actions, but not because they realized their inadmissibility, but because at the same time as those whom they wanted to destroy and the people they love are dying.”23 The conflict is revealed dramatically, and, it should be noted, the drama literally permeates the entire ballad genre. “The artistic specificity of the ballad is determined by its dramatic nature. The composition, the way of depicting a person, and the very principle of typification of life phenomena are subject to the needs of dramatic expressiveness. The most characteristic features of the composition of the ballad are: one-conflict and conciseness, discontinuity of presentation, an abundance of dialogues, repetitions with an increase in drama ... The action of the ballad is reduced to one conflict, to one central episode, and all the events preceding the conflict are either set out extremely briefly .. or completely absent...” The images of ballad characters are also revealed according to the dramatic principle: through speech and actions. It is the attitude to action, to the disclosure of a personal position in conflict relations that determines the type of the hero of the ballad. “The creators and listeners of ballads are not interested in personalities. They are primarily concerned with the relationships of the characters among themselves, transferred, epically copying the world of consanguinity and family relations. The actions of the heroes of the ballads have a universal meaning: they determine the entire plot basis of the ballad and have a dramatic tense character, setting the stage for a tragic denouement. "Events are conveyed in the ballad in their most intense, most effective moments, there is nothing in it that would not relate to action." “The action in a ballad, as a rule, develops rapidly, in leaps and bounds, from one peak scene to another, without connecting explanations, without introductory characteristics. The speeches of the characters alternate with narrative lines. The number of scenes and characters is reduced to a minimum ... The whole ballad often represents, as it were, a preparation for the denouement.

Scientists note the incompleteness of the ballad genre, almost any ballad can be continued or expanded into a whole novel. "Mysteriousness or innuendo, resulting from the compositional properties of the ballad, is inherent in the ballads of all peoples". As a rule, the ballad has an unexpected and cruel denouement. The heroes do things that are impossible in ordinary, everyday life, and they are prompted to do such actions by an artistically constructed chain of accidents, usually leading to a tragic ending. "Motives of unexpected misfortune, irreparable accidents, terrible coincidences are common for a ballad". The presence of these features allows us to assert that "ballads have such a specific character that one can speak of them as a genre." Currently, there are four theories for defining the genre of the ballad. 1. Ballad is an epic or epic-dramatic genre. The supporters of this position include N. Andreev, D. Balashov, A. Kulagina, N. Kravtsov, V. Propp, Yu. Smirnov. "Ballad is an epic (narrative) song of a dramatic nature". The source of the emotionality of the narration is the dramatic beginning, the author's presence in the ballad is not expressed, which means that the lyrics as a generic feature of the genre are absent. The lyrical beginning is understood as a direct expression of the author's attitude to reality, the author's mood. 2. Ballad - a lyrical form of poetry. At the moment of the development of science, such a point of view should be considered abandoned. Its origin dates back to the 19th century. It was believed that the ballad in its literary form reflects the folk form and easily correlates with such lyrical genres as romance and elegy. Pavel Yakushkin, one of the well-known collectors of folk poetry, wrote: “The ballad so easily turns into an elegy and, conversely, an elegy into a ballad, that it is impossible to strictly distinguish between them”33. They differ only in the number of options presented more in the ballad34. Such a theory does not withstand serious criticism, much earlier V.G. Belinsky wrote about the belonging of the ballad, which arises in the Middle Ages, to epic works, although in general it should be considered, according to the critic, in the section of lyric poetry35. 3. Ballad - lyrical-epic genre. This point of view is shared by A. Veselovsky, M. Gasparov, O. Tumilevich, N. Elina, P. Lintur, L. Arinstein, V. Erofeev, G. Kalandadze, A. Kozin. Until recently, this theory was considered classical. There is every reason to believe that it arises from the assumption about the lyrical warehouse of the ballad, which was widespread in the 19th century. Scientists note the peculiar lyricization of the folk ballad: “If for epics the main path of transformation is the transition to prose, in the form of a wide range of prose forms ... then for the ballad, the main path of transformation is the transition to lyrics, in the form of, perhaps, a wider set of lyric -epic and lyrical forms"36 . Considering such lyrical-epic ballads of the 18th - 19th centuries, researchers come to the rightful conclusion that the leading principle in the structure of the genre is precisely the lyric. Unfortunately, in the definition of a specific manifestation of the lyrical principle, the very term lyricism, general, mostly non-genre grounds are given. We are talking about a special emotional perception, lyrical empathy of listeners to the content of ballads, their sympathy for the suffering and death of heroes. Also, as a drawback of this concept, one should point out the lack of works devoted to the genre evolution of the ballad: perhaps the ancient form of ballad songs is not constant, changes over time and does not quite correspond to the modern form of ballads. 4. Ballad - epic-lyrical-dramatic genre. This approach to the definition of a ballad is now entering the leading positions. Supporters of this concept are M. Alekseev, V. Zhirmunsky, B. Putilov, A. Gugnin, R. Wright-Kovaleva, A. Mikeshin, V. Gusev, E. Tudorovskaya. "A folk ballad is an epic-lyrical song with pronounced dramatic elements"37. In principle, Russian folklore studies have been moving towards such a definition for a long time and independently, but it is possible to establish connections with the analytical works of German poets and collectors of folk poetry of the 18th-19th centuries, who created the type of romantic ballad. I.V. Goethe believed that "the singer uses all three main types of poetry, ... he can start lyrically, epicly, dramatically, and, changing forms at will, continue ...". In the definition of a ballad as a symbiosis of three poetic genera, I.G. Herder added another mythological element. The dramatic beginning is one of the leading elements that form the ballad genre. The dramatic presentation of the series of events, the dramatic conflict and the tragic denouement determine not the lyrical, but the dramatic type of emotionality of the ballad genre. If the lyrics in folklore mean the subjective attitude of the author to the events depicted, then the dramatic beginning is the attitude of the characters to the events taking place, and the ballad genre is formed in accordance with this approach39. The last group of scientists believes that the dramatic beginning is an indispensable feature of the genre and has an equal role with the epic and lyrical. In a particular song of the epic-lyric-dramatic type, they can be involved to varying degrees, depending on the needs of the historical time and the ideological and artistic setting of the work. Such a position, in our opinion, seems to be the most promising and fruitful in relation to the study of the folk ballad genre. Unfortunately, we have to admit that there are only a few works devoted to the origin and development of the Russian folk ballad genre. V.M. Zhirmunsky, in his article "The English Folk Ballad" in 1916, proposed dividing ballads into genre varieties (epic, lyrical-dramatic or lyrical)40, thereby removing the question of the problem of the evolution of the ballad genre as such. In 1966, the study “The History of the Development of the Russian Folk Ballad Genre” by D.M. Balashov, in which the author, using specific material, shows the thematic nature of the change in the ballad in the 16th - 17th centuries, and in the 18th century notes signs of the destruction of the genre as a result of the development of an extra-ceremonial lyrical lingering song and "the absorption of the epic fabric of the ballad by lyrical elements"41. N.I. Kravtsov summarized all the available experience and proposed to approve four groups or cycles of ballads in the educational literature: family, domestic, love, historical, social42. In 1976, in the scientific work "Slavic Folklore", the scientist noted the evolutionary nature of these groups43. In 1988 Yu.I. Smirnov, analyzing East Slavic ballads and forms close to them, presented the experience of an index of plots and versions, where he subjected reasonable criticism to the artificiality, conventionality of dividing ballads into fantastic, historical, social, etc. “Such an artificial division breaks the natural connections and typological relationships between the plots, as a result of which forms related or close to them are separated and are considered in isolation”44. The scientist clarifies the rules for constructing an evolutionary chain45 in relation to ballad material, highlighting five derivatives of the genre (from a drawn-out or “vocal” song intended for choral performance to literary ballad songs common among the people)46. In general, there is a general picture of the evolution of the folk ballad genre from epic to lyrical form. In this work, private and practical questions about the ways and reasons for modifying the genre elements of the ballad are solved, connections between disparate plots are established, and the genre specificity of specific texts is determined. In our work, we use the method of text reconstruction, the foundations of which were laid in the works of the historical-typological school of V. J. Propp and B.N. Putilov. With regard to the ballad genre, it has its own specifics and is realized in the following aspects. It is assumed that the ballad genre is organized in certain cycles that contribute to the maximum disclosure of all genre features of the ballad. The cyclization of the ballad genre is primarily a plot-variative realization of one conflict. In the ballad cyclization, the dramatic element will be fundamental, which in practice consists in creating a) variants of a dramatic situation (early cycles), then ending the conflict; b) versions of a dramatic situation, conflict. A variant of a ballad cycle is a song that repeats a given conflict model, but aims to reveal it as fully as possible in the plot. The version is a qualitative change in the text, the creation of a new conflict on the basis of a developed cycle or a separate ancient ballad (“Omelfa Timofeevna rescues her relatives” and “Avdotya the Ryazanochka”, “Tatar full” and a cycle about Polonian girls). Cycles are studied in their direct interaction, internal evolutionary connections, it is also traced how the very principles of folk cyclization change over time. The study of the composition of the cycle involves a genre analysis of the plot-variative series of songs. Particular attention is paid to the study of the main components of the genre specificity of the ballad. The type of cyclization and formulary, the type of hero and the level of conflict, the nature of the folk / author's assessment and the dialogic / monologue speech of the characters, the use of folklore and intra-genre traditions, the type of conventionality and the reflection of the aesthetics of the artistic / direct case are analyzed, the role of formal plot logic, the category of miraculous and symbolic is established. . The features of the poetic language and artistic techniques of the style of ballads are studied. The impact on specific plots of the tradition of adjacent ballad forms and ritual, epic, lyrical, historical songs, as well as spiritual poems is especially noted. All the results of the analytical work are brought into line with the requirements of historical time, this is how the approximate time of demand for ballad cycles is determined. Ultimately, the typological features of the ballad genre are established at each historical stage. The nature and features of the genre changes of the ballad in its generic and artistic aspects, the general principles of its evolution are revealed. The ballad cycles are considered in their direct connection and are more or less accurately dated. As a result of the analysis of the ballad material in the Russian region, it is established that the ballad is a flexible, mobile unit of epico-lyrical-dramatic character, which has certain stable typological features at each historical stage of its development from the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th centuries. to the 18th - 19th centuries Initially, the lyrics are involved in the form of tradition and do not have a significant role in the genre structure of the ballad. Gradually, the lyrical beginning changes the genre appearance of the ballad, which ultimately leads to the lyricization of the genre or its transformation into literary analogues. The ballad worldview, as it were, prepares the ground and contributes to the emergence of personal and historical artistic consciousness, which led to the development of forms of extra-ceremonial lyrical and historical poetry. Subsequently, the ballad genre cannot fully reflect the conflicts of the new era. Competing with historical and lyrical songs in the 16th-17th centuries, strengthening the role of the lyrical element in its genre structure, the ballad gradually, as it were, dissolves into the lyrical element, which is more in line with the reflection of all the depth and inconsistency of the new era. At best, what remains of a genuine ballad is an external form, a kind of ballad style of presentation or ballad plot (a type of petty-bourgeois ballads). The original genre of the folk ballad was conserved in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most famous, topical ballad plots for a particular locality are preserved. They are given a lyrical form, they are lyrically processed, but certain stable typological features remain unchanged (cf. a similar process that began earlier in epic creativity). Such ballad songs are gradually disappearing as the literacy of the population grows, the distribution of books and the disappearance of the ballad narrators and performers themselves.

Avdotya Ryazanochka

With the invasion of Batu and the ruin of Ryazan in 1237, two outstanding artistic images created by the genius of the people are connected - Yevpaty Kolovrat and Avdotya Ryazanochka. The legend about Avdotya Ryazanochka, composed, apparently, in the middle of the 13th century, was preserved in the oral song tradition, it was preserved and carried through the centuries by the people's memory. One of the songs about Avdotya Ryazanochka was recorded on August 13, 1871 at Kenozero by A.F. Hilferding from the sixty-five-year-old peasant Ivan Mikhailovich Lyadkov. Known for "Avdotya Ryazanochka" and arranged by the wonderful Russian writer Boris Shergin.

According to its genre characteristics, as well as its content, "Avdotya Ryazanochka" can be attributed both to ballads (it has a plot), epics (it "suggested" like an epic), and historical songs (it is historical in its essence, although specific historical realities were not preserved in it).

But its main advantage lies in the fact that it is in this work of oral folk art that the heroic image of a Russian woman is created.

The song begins with a picture of the Tatar invasion.

Glorious old King Bahmet Turkish

He fought on the Russian land,

He mined the old Kazangorod undergrowth.

He de stood under the city

With your force-army

There was a lot of this time, time,

Yes, and ruined Kazan "the city of undergrowth,

Ruined Kazan-de-city for nothing.

He cut down all the princes-boyars in Kazan,

Yes, and the princess-boyar

He took those alive.

He captivated the people many thousands,

He led the Turkish to his land.

There are at least two anachronisms here. The first one is “Turkish king” and “Turkish land”, the second one is “Kazan under the forest”. These are late replacements for the Tatar tsar and the Tatar land and Ryazan. The ancient song was a response to the invasion of the hordes of Batu and the ruin of Ryazan in 1237. Ryazan was the first to take the blows of the invasion, suffered a terrible defeat - this event was described in the book "The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu", where, along with accurate chronicle details, folk songs also found a place. The story ended with a story about the revival of Ryazan: Prince Ingvar Ingorevich "renew the land of Ryazan, and put up churches, and protect monasteries, and comfort strangers, and gather people." In a folk song, the same feat is performed by a simple “young woman” Avdotya Ryazanochka (by the way, the name “Ryazanochka” speaks of the places where the events took place). But she does it in a completely different way. There is a lot of fantastic, extraordinary in the song. The enemy king sets up “great outposts” on the way back: deep rivers and lakes, “wide open fields, thieves-robbers” and “dark forests” filled with “fierce beasts”. Avdotya Ryazanochka was left alone in the city. She goes to the "Turkish land" - "full to ask." She manages to almost miraculously overcome obstacles. “She lays the cross according to the written one, And bows, you know, in a learned way,” and turns to Bakhmet:

I stayed in Kazan alone,

I came, sir, to you myself, yes,

Would it not be possible to release a captive to me to the people,

Would you like your kind-tribe?

Further dialogue between the "king" and the "young woman" develops in the spirit of the old epics. The tsar marveled that Avdotya passed all the “great outposts”, overcame all obstacles and was not afraid to appear before him, and the tsar gave her a task:

“- Oh, you, young wife Avdotya Ryazanochka!

Yes, she knew how to speak with the king,

Yes, know how to ask the king for a full de head,

Yes, which little head will not be amassed for more than a century. ”-

The “young woman” copes with this task, showing the properties of a fairy-tale or epic “wise maiden”.

“And don’t make me that little head,

Yes, dear beloved brother.

And I’ll never see my brother forever and ever.”

Here is the key to solving a difficult problem: all relatives can be "acquired" - except for a sibling. Avdotya's answer is not only correct, but also, it turns out, affects Bakhmet himself: he admits that his beloved brother died during the invasion of Russia. The Tatar tsar was surprised by a courageous woman from the land of Ryazan, her ability to speak, reason, he let go of all the husbands of Ryazan: “Yes, you, young wife Avdotya Ryazanochka,

You take your captive people,

Yes, take them to Kazan to the last.

He let go on the condition that a song about Avdotya be composed and the Horde would be mentioned in it in a good way. The heroism of a simple defenseless woman who came to the Horde, famous for bloody raids, devastation and cruelty, made the Tatar king imbued with respect for her, and her wisdom conquered the storm of Russian lands. Not a male warrior, but a female worker "won the battle" with the Horde. She stood up for her family, and thanks to her courage and intelligence

“Yes, she built Kazan-city anew,

Yes, since then Kazan has become glorious,

Yes, since then Kazan has become rich,

Is it here in Kazan that Avdotyino's name was exalted ... "

The image of Avdotya-Ryazanochka is the immortal image of a woman-savior, ready to overcome any obstacles for the sake of her neighbors, to go through any trials, showing complete selflessness and fearlessness in the face of danger. She combines the wisdom of a woman and the courage worthy of a warrior, and embodies the ideas of the people about women's feat, about women's heroism, and about the possibility of defeating the enemy not by physical strength, but by spiritual strength, dedication and love.

The heroism of a Russian woman in the epic "Avdotya Ryazanochka"

The epic "Avdotya Ryazanochka" is a folk tale about the courage of a simple Russian woman who has been doing housework all her life, raising her son, loving her husband, weaving, spinning, washing, cleaning. There are millions of such women in Russia. But trouble came: the "Blue Horde, with fires, with deaths" flew into their native lands, demanding from the Russian princes to pay tribute to the Tatar Khan.

The Ryazans fought hard, But the Tatars could not repulse, The cities of Ryazan could not be defended. The river carried away the dead, the Horde carried away the living.

For three days Avdotya Ryazanochka walked through the ashes, crying out for her husband, son and brother, captured by the Tatars. And she went to the Tsar of the Tatars "to the midday countries." She walked for more than a year, starved, experienced many hardships. She appeared before the Tatar tsar small, dirty, emaciated, in bast shoes, and around were armed soldiers, herds of horses well-fed, golden tents. She was not afraid of the terrible king, she only asked to be allowed to see her relatives. The Tatar tsar was surprised by a courageous woman from the land of Ryazan, her ability to speak, reason, he released all the husbands of Ryazan, on condition

we see that a song will be composed about Avdotya and the Horde will be mentioned in it in a good way.

The heroism of a small defenseless woman who came to the Horde, famous for bloody raids, devastation and cruelty, made the Tatar tsar imbued with respect for her, and her wisdom subdued the storm of Russian lands.

This epic is remarkable in that not a male warrior, but a female worker "won the battle" with the Horde. She stood up for her relatives, and thanks to her courage and intelligence, "Ryazan went out of the crowd."

VASILIY ANDREEVICH ZHUKOVSKY

Poetry and life in ballad"Svetlana" V. A. Zhukovsky

V. A. Zhukovsky is a famous poet, a master of the poetic word, a fine connoisseur of Russian culture and folklore.

The life of a Russian person used to be closely connected with traditions and rituals. According to the signs of fate or nature, the life and activities of one person or an entire family were corrected.

Once on Epiphany evening, the girls wondered ...

Fear of the unknown, curiosity, the desire to know the fate of loved ones pushed for fortune-telling. Wealth or poverty, marriage or loneliness, life or death, eternal wandering or settled life in the family circle - fortune-telling on holidays will tell everything.

V. A. Zhukovsky, the son of the landowner Bunin and the captive Turkish woman Salkha, knew the Russian soul, loved the Russian outback, felt nature. In the ballad "Svetlana" all this merged

together, and as a result, the sadness of the soul, the fear of loss, was exposed. The poet's verse is filled with music, rich in halftones and nuances.

It is not for nothing that A. S. Pushkin considered Zhukovsky a great poet who paved many paths for Russian poetry. Zhukovsky had a rare gift to cover the anxiety of a Russian person in a short poem or ballad, color them with music and sound, reveal their secret without violating integrity.

The ballad "Svetlana" is dedicated to Sashenka Protasova, with whom Zhukovsky was in love. Fortune telling on the mirror of a girl, worried about the fate of her fiancé, is traditional for Russian Christmas rites. Svetlana peers into the mirror, and a phantasmagoria of images passes before her: a robber's den, and a "replacement" groom, who turns out to be a murderer. But romantic horrors are resolved with a bright and clear smile: this is just a bad dream.

O, do not know these terrible dreamsYou are my Svetlana.

The future of the real Svetlana turned out to be tragic, the marriage was unsuccessful. But the light, poetic beauty of the ballad has remained in the history of literature.

ALEXANDER SERGEEVICH PUSHKIN

What is the mood of the poem?A. S. Pushkin "Prisoner"?

The poetic work of A. S. Pushkin is permeated with a longing for freedom and sadness because of the existence of invisible bars that hold him back all his life.

The poet was 23 years old when he wrote the poem "Prisoner". In such years, a person, more than ever, is free, he is full of strength and has every chance to realize his plans and dreams. But

A. S. Pushkin saw that the society in which he lives, which brought him up on their worthless and empty ideas, is nothing but a general deception, a dungeon. The fate of the hero is depicted by the poet as a process of alienation from his native world, as the destruction of ties with him. In line:

"I'm sitting behind bars, in a damp dungeon."

Pushkin writes about himself, about hopeless longing, about freedom, which is nearby. You just need to try to escape, but either the routine life has shackled the eagle, or satiety and security are not worth freedom ... There is no development of action in the poem, there is a sentence:

...Let's fly away/

We are free birds, it's time, brother, it's time!There, where the mountain turns white behind a cloud, Where the sea edges turn blue, Where only the wind walks ... yes I! ..",

but no answer.

What to do, "if the life of you deceive..."?

(An essay-miniature based on the poem by A. S. Pushkin "If life deceives you ...")

Fate. How much hope we place on her. We have our plans, she has hers. There are only two stanzas in this poem, but both the bitter present and the hope for a blessed future are intertwined in it. Frustration from failure should not be oppressive. An unknown future should keep a person "in a string." Many anecdotes about fate are invented by wits, and from them it is funny to tears. The tears will dry, but the laughter will remain. And the joy of victories and success will replace the former bitterness. You will think: "God, how stupid I was!" And you go on, overcoming the next step of the skyscraper of life.

MIKHAIL YURJEVICH LERMONTOV

death for honor

(According to the work of M. Yu. Lermontov

"Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich,

young oprichnik and daring merchant Kalashnikov")

The cruel times of the oprichnina are known to us from history. In fiction, we also meet them, for example, in "The Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov" by M. Yu.

Arbitrariness and lawlessness were the "calling card" of the op-richs. The common people were afraid of them, noble people avoided meeting with them. Lermontov very accurately managed to describe the atmosphere of the reign of Ivan the Terrible:

The red sun does not shine in the sky,

Blue clouds do not admire them:

Then at the meal he sits in a golden crown,

The formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich is sitting.

The king noticed that his faithful servant Kiribeevich was saddened: he did not eat, did not drink. The king was angry, "... he struck with a stick, / And the oak floor was half a quarter / He pierced an iron eye with an ovary ...". The tsar found out that the faithful oprichnik was in love with the beautiful Alena Dmitrievna, but Kiribeevich did not say that she was the wife of the merchant Kalashnikov.

Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich advised:

"...Here, take my yakhont ring, take a pearl necklace...

... And the precious gifts went

You to your Alena Dmitrievna:

As you fall in love - celebrate the wedding,

If you don't love it, don't be angry."

He disgraced the guardsman Kiribeevich Alena Dmitrievna in front of the neighbors. He confessed his love, caressed, kissed, veil Bukhar-

skuyu, donated by her husband, plucked. The merchant Kalashnikov was indignant and decided to punish the guardsman in a fistfight on the Moscow River in the presence of the tsar. He called on the merchant and his brothers in the event of his death to defend the honor of the family. The next day the barkers called out:

"Oh, where are you, good fellows? .... JCmowhoever is beaten, the king will reward him, and whoever is beaten, God will forgive him!"

The crowd spread in both directions - the merchant Kalashnikov came out ready to fight not for life, but for death. Kiribeevich turned pale when he heard the name of his opponent. The "heroic battle" began, and Kalashnikov won in it. He defended the honor of his wife, for which he paid with his own head, by order of the king he went to the block for the deliberate murder of a "faithful servant." From the royal point of view, Ivan Vasilievich restored justice after the death of Kiribeevich and the execution of Kalashnikov.

"Song about the daring merchant Kalashnikov" was written by Lermontov in the style of a song-narration by guslar singers who sing glory to the executed Kalashnikov and condemn the tsar's decision, which disagreed with the opinion of the people.

NIKOLAI VASILYEVICH GOGOL

The image of Taras Bulba - the embodiment of the military spirit of the Cossacks

(Based on the novel by N.V. Gogol "Taras Bulba")

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol studied history a lot. The Zaporizhzhya Sich, the first democratic "state" in Europe, attracted the writer's special attention. Gogol's story "Taras Bulba" is dedicated to depicting a complex and contradictory period in Ukrainian history.

We get acquainted with Taras Bulba in a peaceful home environment, during a short respite between the protagonist's feats of arms. The pride of Bulba is caused by the sons Ostap and Andriy, who came home from school. Taras believes that spiritual education is only a part of the education necessary for a young person. The main thing is combat training in the conditions of the Zaporizhzhya Sich.

Taras Bulba - Colonel, one of the representatives of the command staff of the Cossacks. He is the embodiment of the military spirit of the Sich. Bulba treats his fellow Cossacks with great love, deeply respects the customs of the Sich and does not deviate from them one iota. The character of Taras Bulba is especially clearly revealed in the chapters of the story, which tell about the military operations of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks against the Polish troops.

Ostap and Andriy are the embodiment of two sides of the soul of the old Bulba. Ostap is a real mblodets, from whom a good Cossack will grow. Andriy is softer, but also promises to become a good warrior. However, the dreams of Taras Bul-by were not destined to come true. Ostap dies like a hero at a flourishing age. Andriy, on the other hand, falls into the net of a clever Polish temptress, betrays his homeland and goes over to the side of the enemy.

In the scene of sonicide, we see the greatness of the character of Taras Bulba. Freedom of the fatherland and Cossack honor for him are the most important concepts in life, and they are stronger than paternal feelings. Therefore, defeating his own love for his son, Bulba kills Andriy. Now no one can reproach Taras for neglecting the knightly ideals of the Zaporizhian Sich. But Bulba himself had to die soon after. The reader is deeply touched by the scene of the death of the protagonist: dying in the fire, Taras turns to his fellow Cossacks with parting words. He calmly watches how his Cossacks swim away. Here Taras Bul-ba is seen in all the integrity and mighty strength of his character.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was an ardent patriot of his native Ukraine. The whole creative life of the writer

went to the era of the reign of Nicholas I. It was a time of brutal suppression of any manifestation of free thought, any manifestation of the national spirit. Last but not least, this concerned Ukraine. In the story "Taras Bul-ba" \, which was supposed to become a hymn to love of freedom, Gogo-lu, despite the most severe censorship, still managed to say a lot. Taras Bulba for decades became the embodiment of the image of a fighter for independence, faithful to Zaporozhye traditions, unshakable, confident in the final victory over the enemy.

The image of Taras Bulba can also be interpreted allegorically: old Taras is the embodiment of the ancient ideals of Sich chivalry, Andriy is the embodiment of the views of the unstable part of the Cossacks, prone to compromise and outright betrayal, and Ostap is the embodiment of the young Zaporizhian force, ripening in the Ukrainian people.

Comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andriy

N.V. Gogol was deeply interested in the history of Little Russia, although the attitude to the political and cultural role of the Ukrainians was ambiguous in different periods of his work: from admiration and high hopes to pessimism, attributing all achievements and merits to the depths of time.

Brilliant intuition, combined with excellent knowledge of the national character, allowed Gogol to create many-sided and expressive images of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, a true legend of the stormy, wartime, heroic time. Two brothers Ostap and Andriy, who grew up and brought up in the same conditions, are polar opposite human types. Ostap is what is called an impeccable fighter, a reliable comrade. He is silent, calm, reasonable. Ostap continues and honors the traditions of his fathers and grandfathers. For him, there is never a problem of choice, moral duality, hesitation between feelings and

debt. He is amazingly wholesome. Unconditionally accepts Ostap Zaporizhzhya way of life, ideals and principles of senior comrades. Respectfulness never turns into obsequiousness, he is ready to take the initiative, but he respects the opinions of other Cossacks. At the same time, he will never be interested in the opinion, the view of "strangers" - infidels, foreigners. Ostap sees the world as harsh and simple. There are enemies and friends, our own and others. He is not interested in politics, he is a straightforward, brave, loyal and stern warrior. Ostap is as if carved from a single piece of stone, his character is given ready-made in its basis, and his development is a straight line, at the highest point of the feat, breaking off with death.

Andriy is the complete opposite of his brother. Gogol showed differences not only human, but also historical. Ostap and Andriy are almost the same age, but they are types belonging to different historical times. Ostap is from a heroic and primitive era, Andriy is internally close to the later time of a developed and refined culture and civilization, when politics and trade take the place of war and robbery, Andriy is softer, more refined, more flexible than his brother. He is endowed with great sensitivity to the alien, "other", greater sensitivity. Andriy Gogol marked the rudiments of fine taste, a sense of beauty. It cannot, however, be called weaker. He is characterized by ytvaga in battle and a much more important quality - the courage to make an independent choice. Passion leads him to the camp of the enemy, but there is a big neck behind this. Andriy now wants to fight for his own, what he himself found and called his own, and did not receive by inheritance, by tradition.

The two brothers must become enemies. Both perish, one at the hands of enemies, the other at the hands of his father. You can't call one good and the other bad. Gogol gave a national character in development, showed people who by nature belong to different historical eras.

MIKHAIL EVGRAFOVICH SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN

The fable beginning in the fairy tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are called fables in prose; they clearly trace folklore and Russian satirical literary traditions.

In his tales, the problems of the people are truthfully revealed. The satirist angrily denounces autocracy, liberalism and the ruling class, clearly emphasizes the stupidity, laziness, inability of the ruling elite to think and work.

In the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin there is no positive hero, even in "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals" a man who knows how to work, shows ingenuity, no situation can confuse him, is not that hero which should be an example. And why? Because he is always ready to obey, to work for someone who does not deserve it, he is indifferent to himself, his "I", ready to bend his back under the constant reproaches of lazy and frivolous generals. He cannot appreciate his work. Why, then, should two worthless people appreciate him?

The Russian peasant deserves what he "earned": "a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver."

In the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, human vices are depicted in the images of animals. For example, in The Wise Gudgeon, a century-old minnow, who lived his life in solitude, did not trust anyone, was afraid of everyone and everything, did not dare at least once to commit any worthwhile act, he, sick and dying, without friends and relatives, who lived his life meaninglessly, disappears to no one knows where. Did this gudgeon ever live at all? No one talked to him, did not see him, no one needs the advice of the "wise one". His life was gray and dull, and no one is interested in living a hundred years, buried in his own hole. Let life flow stormily, brightly, interestingly, but it is better to die in the teeth of a pike, knowing that someone will sigh or cry about you.

In the fairy tale "The Bear in the Voivodeship" Saltykov-Shchedrin adheres to traditional roles: the Bear-voivode is a major, Donkey is an adviser, Cuckoo is a fortune-teller, Parrots are buffoons, Magpie-thief is a housekeeper, Woodpecker is a scientist- chronicler, Nightingale - singer, etc. His animals are fully associated with the "profession" laid down by nature and human perception.

The satirist laughs at the vices of society that suit the same society, at the surrounding reality, which is real and does not cause laughter at all.

IVAN ALEXEYEVICH Bunin

Perception peace child adults in the storyI. Bunina "Numbers"

Such a subtle analysis of child psychology, the complex threads connecting adults and children, as in this story, speaks of a deep understanding of the nature of childhood.

Children and adults are people of different races. They live together, in the same space, use the words of the same language, but rarely understand each other. Bunin showed the tragedy of such misunderstanding. Man, growing up, strangely forgets about his childhood. He remembers the events, but can no longer return to the childish look at them. Adults with intelligence and a sense of justice understand this and try to re-learn the language of childhood.

In the story "Numbers", the author gives two points of view on the same conflict between an uncle and a little nephew. He accurately describes his feelings at the time of the conflict, explains in detail the details of what is happening and at the same time analyzes the situation as if from another time, when he was able to understand the motives of his own and other people's actions, give them the right

assessment. He speaks bitterly of his pride, the irritation that extinguished the joy of a little boy. Bunin finds the exact epithets that convey the emotionality of his nephew, his curiosity, energy, lively character. And mercilessly analyzes his behavior, not trying to hide behind the words about education, that children should not be spoiled. Yes, these words are spoken in the story by the author, mother, and grandmother, but in the context of the story, all these theories look like a mockery of the mysterious process of knowing the world.

It is sad that a person is tormented for many years by the memory and shame for his mistake. But after all, most adults do not even think about how much pain they in passing inflict on children, how little true love and desire to understand the other in their relationship. Bunin's story "Numbers" unobtrusively, but firmly leads to the conclusion: real education is education with happiness. It is only important to understand what makes a child happy, and not to replace education with pressure and the imposition of one's views on life and happiness.

List of textbooks

H609101 (0); H613550 (0) 800 contemporaryessays in Russian and World Literature... (0) Dronyaeva, T.S. Stylistics contemporary Russian language: Practicum: For... --- Н609101 (0); H613550 (0) 800 contemporaryessays in Russian and world literature...