Features of the literary ballad. Modern scientific understanding of ballads

In this article we will talk about such a literary genre as a ballad. What is a ballad? This is a literary work written in the form of poetry or prose, which always has a pronounced plot. Most often, ballads have a historical connotation and you can learn about certain historical or mythical characters in them. Sometimes ballads are written to be sung in theatrical productions. People fell in love with this genre, first of all, because of the interesting plot, which always has a certain intrigue.

When creating a ballad, the author is guided either by the historical event that inspires him, or by folklore. In this genre, specially fictional characters are rarely present. People like to recognize the characters they liked before.

The ballad as a literary genre has the following features:

The presence of the composition: introduction, main part, climax, denouement.
Having a storyline.
The attitude of the author to the characters is conveyed.
The emotions and feelings of the characters are shown.
A harmonious combination of real and fantastic moments of the plot.
Description of landscapes.
The presence of mystery, riddles in the plot.
Character dialogues.
A harmonious combination of lyrics and epic.

Thus, we figured out the specifics of this literary genre and gave a definition of what a ballad is.

From the history of the term

For the first time, the term "ballad" was used in ancient Provençal manuscripts as early as the 13th century. In these manuscripts, the word "ballad" was used to describe dance movements. In those days, this word did not mean any genre in literature or other forms of art.

As a poetic literary form, the ballad began to be understood in medieval France only at the end of the 13th century. One of the first poets who tried to write in this genre was a Frenchman named Jeannot de Lecurel. But, for those times, the ballad genre was not purely poetic. Such poems were written for musical performances. The musicians danced to the ballad, thus amusing the audience.

In the 14th century, a poet named Guillaume fe Machaux wrote more than two hundred ballads and quickly became famous as a result. He wrote love lyrics, completely depriving the genre of "dancing". After his work, the ballad became a purely literary genre.

With the advent of the printing press, the first ballads printed in newspapers began to appear in France. People really liked them. The French loved to gather with the whole family at the end of a hard day's work in order to enjoy the interesting plot of the ballad together.

In classical ballads, from the time of Machaux, in one stanza of the text, the number of verses did not exceed ten. A century later, the trend changed and ballads began to be written in square stanzas.

One of the most famous balladists of that time was Christina Pisanskaya, who, like Masho, wrote ballads for print, and not for dances and dances. She became famous for her work The Book of a Hundred Ballads.

After some time, this genre found its place in the work of other European poets and writers. As for Russian literature, the ballad appeared in it only in the 19th century. This happened due to the fact that Russian poets were inspired by German romanticism, and since the Germans of that time described their lyrical experiences in ballads, this genre quickly spread here as well. Among the most famous Russian ballad poets are Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Belinsky and others.

Among the most famous world writers, whose ballads, no doubt, went down in history, one can name Goethe, Kamenev, Victor Hugo, Burger, Walter Scott and other outstanding writers.

In the modern world, in addition to the classical literary genre, the ballad has also acquired its primary musical roots. In the West, there is a whole musical direction in rock music, which is called "rock ballad". The songs of this genre sing mainly about love.

I. Andronnikov. "Why am I so hurt and so sad ...". And sullenly You concealed what the thought languished about, And came out to us with a smile on your lips. An immortal and always young poet. Childhood of the poet. Arakcheev. Loneliness is socially conditioned, generated by a gloomy and suffocating era, early orphanhood. “No, it’s not you that I love so passionately.” “Abandon vain worries.” "When the yellowing field is agitated." About nature. About the motherland. Purpose: to understand what are the origins of Lermontov's work. "Don't trust yourself..." Philosophical Poems. “I love my homeland, but with a strange love…”.

"V.A. Zhukovsky ballad Svetlana" - Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. V.A. Zhukovsky ballad "Svetlana". Characteristic features of the ballad genre. The presence of a plot basis, a plot. Moral outcome. A tense dramatic, mysterious, or fantasy story. Symbolic character of space and time. Exposition Outcome Development of action Climax Decoupling. Literature lesson in grade 9 Author: teacher of Russian language and literature Kirpitneva L.B. A.S. Pushkin. Often (but not necessarily) the presence of a folklore element.

"Gogol Dead Souls Lesson" - Story. A.P. Chekhov. Tale. Let's check our knowledge. Svetly, 2009. Chapter? Literature lesson for grade 9. A.S. Pushkin. Lesson plan. Working with a table. Novel. Travel notes.

"Dante Alighieri" - Love ... Life and work. Last years. Dante Alighieri. Target. Birth. @ OU secondary school No. 23, the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, 2007. What was the name of Alighieri's love of life? The years of Dante Alighieri's life… Creativity. Studies. In what year was Dante sentenced to exile from the country and the death penalty? Born in May or June 1265 in Florence. Harsh sentence. World fame.

"S.P. Sysoy" - I remember everything that my mother said, And I simply cannot live otherwise. S. Sysoy. "Milder than all the native land." With firm faith in the victory of their beloved country, the soldiers marched forward against the enemy. "My prayers and my love." You are a gift of fate to me, The fragrance of delicate roses. "About love, fate and eternity, "The Fatherland remembers by name." To study the principles of analysis and interpretation of a poetic text.

"Tyutchev and Fet" - What other feelings are expressed in the poem? What kind of person is each poet? "What a night!" Grade 9 What are the features of the poetic language of each poem? Consider the theme, idea, composition, movement of poetic thought in works. Before us are two landscape sketches. Note the time of writing. Reading poetry. What feelings do you get after reading the poem? Comparative analysis of the poems "Summer Evening" by F.I. Tyutchev and "What a Night" by A.A. Fet.

Trying to give a clear and complete definition of the term ballad in English, one may encounter considerable difficulties. They are due to the fact that the range of its meanings is very wide. The reasons for this lie in the peculiarities of the history and development of those poetic genres that were designated by this word.

The term ballad comes from the Latin verb ballare (to dance). Therefore, the song that accompanied the dance was called balada in Provence, and balata in Italy (XIII century). Over time, the term ballad changes its meaning: in the XIV century. the French ballade is a genre of court poetry that required sophisticated skill from the author. This is a poem of three stanzas with three through rhymes (usually in the pattern ab ab bc bc) with an obligatory refrain followed by a shorter “parcel” (envoi) repeating the rhymes of the second half of each stanza. The number of verses in a stanza had to match the number of syllables in a line (8, 10 or 12). Male rhymes had to alternate with female ones. It was very difficult to follow all these rules.

Already in the XIV century. the English borrow the ballad genre from French literature. Karl Ormansky (XV century), who spent 25 years in English captivity, wrote ballads freely in both French and English. Naturally, along with the genre, the word denoting it is also borrowed. It is spelled differently: ballades, balats, ballets, ballets, balletys, ballads.

In the XIV-XVI centuries. the term ballad was not used to refer to that oral genre of English and Scottish folk poetry, which is now called in English literary criticism: popular ballad, ancient ballad, ballad of tradition, traditional ballad. These old folk ballads at that time (in the XIV-XVI centuries) were known as songs (sometimes tales or ditties). The performers did not distinguish them from the mass of other songs in their repertoire.

At the same time, from the XVI century. the word ballad was widely used in relation to the artless, usually anonymous poems on the topic of the day, which were distributed in the form of printed leaflets on city streets. This genre was called: street ballad, stall ballad, broadside or broadsheet.

In dictionary Longman Dictionary of English. Longman Group UK Limited 1992 broadside and broadsheet are generally considered synonymous, but in highly specialized bibliographic terminology broadside is text printed on one side of a sheet, regardless of its size, and broadsheet is text continued on the back of the sheet. In domestic literary criticism, the term “lubok” was proposed for this urban street ballad.

It is hard to imagine two more different than the refined, stylistically complex French court ballad and the rough street ballad of the London common people. Scientists have long been occupied with the mystery associated with the transfer of the name from one genre to another. The explanation offered by some scholars for this transfer, that both the French and the English ballad were connected with dance, is now recognized as untenable.

Folklorist D.M. Balashov writes about the English ballad: “It would be erroneous to associate the origin of other genres with the name “ballad” with this genre. Balashov D.M. Folk ballads - M., 1983. It is possible that this statement is too categorical. The American scientist A. B. Friedman offered a convincing explanation for the paradox in question. He considers the link between French and English street ballads to be the so-called “pseudo-ballad”, which was one of the main genres of English poetry of the 15th century. (Gasparov M.L., 1989, 28). The fact is that in England the French ballad is undergoing significant changes. Justified by the lack of equally rhyming words in the English language, poets increase the number of rhymes, and also abandon the “sending” (envoi). The number of stanzas increases from three to 10-20.

The strict form is blurred. With an increase in the circle of readers, the pseudo-ballad is democratized. Simplifies her style. Increasingly used "ballad stanza" (ballad stanza), widespread in English folk poetry. This is a quatrain in which lines of four-foot and three-foot iambic alternate with rhyming according to the ab ac scheme (some other options are also possible). It is characteristic that one of the first printed street ballads that have come down to us, “A ballade of Luther, the pope, a cardinal and husbandman”, circa 1530) reveals traces of a connection with a pseudo-ballad.

This is a possible way of turning a French court ballad into an English street ballad.

During the XVI-XVII centuries. there is a gradual expansion of the meaning of the word ballad. So, in 1539, in the so-called “episcopal” translation of the Bible (Bishop's Bible), King Solomon’s “Song of Songs” was translated: “The ballet of bollets”, although there was some inappropriateness of the term “ballet” in relation to the text of the sacred And in 1549 the first poet-translator W. Bolvin (William Baldwin) published Canticles or Balades of Salomon, phraslyke declared in Englyshe Metres.

After 16th century the French ballad was long forgotten in England. However, by the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. imitation of this genre can be found in the works of some English poets (A. Lang, A. Swinburne, W. Henley, E. Goss, G.K. Chesterton).

The English street ballad existed from the 16th century until almost the 20th century, when it was supplanted by the tabloid newspaper, which borrowed from it the subject matter, the noisy manner of presenting the material, and even some design details (the use of Gothic font in the titles of English newspapers comes from the ballad) (English folk ballads, 1997 , 63).

The theme of the street ballad was extremely diverse. First of all, this is all kinds of sensational news: various miracles, omens, catastrophes, criminal stories, detailed descriptions of the execution of criminals. A variety of street ballad called “Good night” was very popular, which was a description of the last night of a criminal before execution. He remembers all his sins and calls on good Christians not to follow a bad example. In 1849, the circulation of two such ballads amounted to 2.5 million copies.

The street ballad did not lack plots, borrowing them from everywhere: from chivalric novels, historical chronicles (for example, T. Deloni's ballads), fablio, etc. Personal scores could be settled in ballads: Falstaff in Shakespeare's Henry IV (1596) threatens his drinking companions to compose for each “a ballad with music to be sung at all crossroads” (part I, act II, sc.2, lines 48 -49). The ballad could tell a touching love story. There were also comic ballads, rough to the point of obscenity.

The attitude to the street ballad was ambivalent. A contemporary of Shakespeare, the poet and playwright Ben Jonson wrote: “The poet must abhor the writers of ballads” Jonson Ben Dramatic works: trans. from English / ed. I.A. Aksenova - M. Academy, 1931. And at the same time, ballads were an integral part of the urban culture of that time. The dramas of the Elizabethans are full of allusions to contemporary ballads. John Selden (1584-1654), a scholar and friend of Ben Jonson, notes: “Nothing captures the zeitgeist like ballads and lampoons” (Questions of English Contextology, Issue 1).

The street ballad served as a powerful weapon of struggle and invariably accompanied all the political crises of the 16th-18th centuries. During the years of the revolution and the civil war (40-60s of the 17th century), the printing of ballads was prohibited by parliament, and special spies monitored the observance of this ban. In 1688 King James II was exiled to the accompaniment of the ballad "Lilliburleo". In 1704, the poet J. Fletcher of Saltown wrote: “... if anyone were allowed to write all the ballads in the country, then he would no longer care who makes the laws” (Questions of English Contextology, Issue 2).

The number of ballads has steadily increased. From 1557 to 1709, more than 3,000 titles were printed, according to the far from complete data of the London Booksellers' Register. The printed ballad is also conquering rural England, displacing the old oral songs. However, much of this oral poetry ends up in print.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the word ballad came to mean any song that was sung by the people, regardless of whether it was printed or transmitted orally. Thus, ancient songs of a narrative nature that have existed for many centuries also began to be called ballads. Domestic literary critic M.P. Alekseev understands English and Scottish ballad as a lyric-epic or lyrical-dramatic story, which has a strophic form, intended for singing, often accompanied by playing musical instruments (Alekseev, 1984, 292).

Scholars rightly consider the old traditional ballad and the printed street ballad to be genres. The main feature of the first is that, as a result of a long process of oral transmission, it has acquired a number of high artistic merits: brevity, expressiveness, drama, dynamic narration, etc. its figurative system, motives, plots, serious tone, depth of feelings sharply distinguish it from a cheeky, cynical, superficial, wordy street ballad, which is bound by printed text and is not able to improve in the process of oral transmission.

However, the two genres have a lot in common. Both belonged to the common people and were felt as something different from the fiction of the upper classes of society. For four centuries they were closely interconnected and influenced each other. Both were a specific combination of narrative, lyrical and, sometimes, dramatic elements (with the former predominating). They shared a common ballad stanza (with a few exceptions). And finally, all the ballads were closely connected with music and were often sung to the same old tunes.

As noted above, the ballad is a short folk song with narrative content. It is the plot that is the special feature that distinguishes the ballad from other poetic genres. The sources of ballad plots were Christian legends, chivalric romances, ancient myths and works of Greek and Roman authors in medieval retelling, the so-called “eternal” or “wandering” plots, as well as genuine historical events stylized on the basis of ready-made song schemes.

The development of ballad plots followed two main directions: the plots of the heroic-historical genre turned out to be extremely productive; in parallel, they intensively developed plots related to love themes. In fact, there was no sharp dividing line between these two groups. Heroic and love plots were often intertwined with each other within the framework of one ballad, absorbed fairy-tale folklore motifs, were sometimes interpreted in a comic way, acquired some specific features associated with the place of origin or existence of a particular ballad, but beyond the boundaries of the two named plots. -themed folk English and Scottish ballads never came out.

Heroic ballads, which are predominantly epic in nature, are based on specific historical events that can be traced to a greater or lesser extent in each of them, which gives the right to call them heroic-historical.

But not only historical events underlie the plots of such ballads. Ancient folk songs not only supplement the meager facts of history with information about events unknown to the chronicles, but give a vivid idea of human relations, how the distant ancestors of modern Englishmen and Scots thought and spoke, experienced and felt. From history, readers first of all learn what people did, and from ballads - what they were. Having directly become acquainted with the way of life, manners and customs of long-gone generations with the help of ballads, we can better understand the writings of the chroniclers.

Heroic-historical folk ballads depict the wars between the English and the Scots, heroic deeds in the struggle for personal and national freedom. "Frontier" ballads were formed in the border zone between England and Scotland in the era of frequent clashes between these countries. Some of the ballads can be dated fairly accurately, as they probably appeared shortly after the events they are told, taking listeners and readers back to the 14th century.

Such, for example, is the ballad "The Battle of Derham" (Durham field), which tells how King David of Scotland wanted to take advantage of the absence of the English king, who fought in France, and conquer England; he gathers an army, leads him to the English borders. There is a bloody battle at Durham (1346); the Scots are defeated, their king is taken prisoner; he is taken to London, and here he meets not only with the English king Edward, but also with the king of France, who was captured by the Black Prince and also brought to London: according to the composers of the ballad, the battle of Crescy (mixed here with the battle of Poitiers) in France and at Derham in northern England took place on the same day. The tendency of this "military" ballad betrays its English origin.

Another bloody episode in the history of the Anglo-Scottish clashes, dating back to 1388, is captured with almost chronicle accuracy in the ballad "The Battle of Otterburn" ("The Battle of Otterbourne"). The Scots, led by the successful and fearless Douglas, make daring raids on the English borderlands. Once, in a skirmish with a detachment of the British, commanded by Percy, Douglas captured the battle flag. Percy vowed to take revenge on Douglas and return the banner. Not far from Otterburn, a fierce battle takes place between them. As in most battles of this kind, there were no winners: Douglas died and Percy was taken prisoner. But in the ballad (because it is of Scottish origin) it is stated that the victory was with the Scots.

Widely known (judging by the abundance of options in which it has come down to us) was the ballad "The Hunting of the Cheviot Hills" ("The Hunting of Cheviot", in the later edition of "Chevy Chase"), the main characters of the ballad are still the same Douglas and Percy . The latter once hunted near the Cheviot Hills, located along the ever-changing line of the Anglo-Scottish border. Douglas felt that Percy had invaded his domain and decided to defend his rights. Another fierce battle ensued: Douglas died, Percy died. The news of the death of glorious heroes reached London and Edinburgh. "The Scots no longer have such military leaders as: Douglas," the Scottish king sighed. "There were no better warriors in my kingdom than Percy," said the English king. And, with the logic inherent in those times, he gathered the army belonging to the narrator, the final military and moral victory was asserted either for the British or for the Scots.

Along with the "Hunting at the Cheviot Hills" in the XIV-XV centuries. other ballads connected with the border strip between England and Scotland were also known; most of them are dedicated to the same bloody raids, battles, struggles and are just as epic in nature. Such, for example, is the "Battle of Garlo" (The battle of Hag1aw). In most other historical ballads, the events of the 15th century, the Anglo-French wars, the feudal feuds of the English barons, etc. are meant. All these events were idealized, epic generalizations, the influence of traditional song legend. Wandering epic motifs were attached to some of them; some have been subjected, perhaps even to book influences.In the ballad "The Conquest of France by King Henry V" (King Henru the Fifth's Conquest of Fganse), for example, there is a motif also known from the legends of Alexander the Great: the French king does not pay attention to Henry's threats and; to caustically emphasize youth and inexperience in battles, sends him three balls instead of tribute; exactly the same is told in the pseudo-Kallisthenian "Alexandria" about Tsar Darius, who sends several children's toys to Alexander along with a mocking letter.

Some clashes between the English and the Scots, long since effaced in popular memory and insignificant in themselves, served as the basis for such ballads as "Kinmont Billy", "Katherine Johnston" (Katherine Johnston), "Lady Maesri" (Lady Maisry) and a number of others. The deep causes of the clashes between the English and the Scots are not touched by the nameless authors of the ballads, but they were hardly clear to them. In their minds, each collision had its own separate and only reason: someone wandered off to hunt in the wrong forest, someone kidnapped the bride, someone just wanted to "amuse the right hand" and made a robbery raid on a nearby neighbor, etc. .

Perhaps the greatest poetic charm was preserved by those ballads that tell not about military exploits, but about their sad consequences for human destinies. Remarkable in this regard is the ballad Bold George Campbell (Bonnie George Campbell). A young and brave young man goes to fight for no one knows why and no one knows where (however, according to the general mood of the ballad, it is not difficult to guess that we are talking about the same Anglo-Scottish border). But soon the horse returns without a rider:

High upon Highlands

And low upon Tay,

Bonnie George Cambell

Ride out on a day.

saddled and bred

And gallant rade he;

Hame cam his guid horse,

But never cam he.

The mother weeps bitterly, the bride cries. But such is the fate of women on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border. One of the most celebrated Scottish ballads, A boardeline widow, is also devoted to this theme.

Among the heroic-historical ballads that have an epic character are the ballads about Robin Hood, which were most popular for many centuries. Robin Hood with his retinue of dashing people, an "outlaw" - (outlaw) and enemy of the feudal lords, but a friend and protector of the poor, widows and orphans, became a beloved folk hero. He is sung in a large number of ballads, which make up one of the most important cycles, which is represented by four dozen separate works that tell about the various adventures of the hero and his comrades.

Robin Hood was at the head of hundreds of free shooters, who were powerless to cope with government units. He and his gang robbed only the rich, spared and rewarded the poor, did no harm to women; the deeds and adventures of this man “all Britain sings in their songs” (“The Ballads of Robin Hood”, 1987).

In their early development, the Robin Hood ballads did not provide a coherent account of his life; they told only about some of his adventures. A large place in them was occupied primarily by stories about the formation of his squad. Many ballads are based on a simple plot scheme: some craftsman, for example, a tanner, boilermaker, potter or forest ranger, at the behest of the king, sheriff, or on his own impulse, tries to capture Robin Hood as standing “outlaw”, fights with him, but, having experienced his strength and courage, voluntarily, joins his retinue. Thus begins Robin's acquaintance and friendship with the most faithful of his comrades and assistants - "Little John" (Little John), a daring and strong man, whose nickname - "little", "small" - is ironic, since he is seven feet tall. A dashing fight begins Robin Hood's friendship with the defrocked monk, brother Tuck, who does not take off his cassock, even joining the squad of daring men, and does not use other weapons in battles with enemies, except for his weighty club. The ballads also name other members of the squad (Scath-locke, Mutch, etc.), who freely and cheerfully live in Sherwood Forest. They are united by hatred for the feudal lords and all oppressors of the people.

In many ballads, one can recognize the features of this particular time - the anti-feudal moods of the peasant masses, acute hatred of the highest church authorities, provincial administration, etc. The socio-historical situation of the 15th century, with outbreaks of peasant uprisings, feudal wars, growing military taxes, etc. etc., contributes to the further development of the same legends, finally crystallizes them, completes the process of epic idealization of the main character.

Generous, generous, courageous persecutor of all injustice, Robin Hood gives a helping hand to everyone who needs it; he is tireless, dexterous, skillfully eludes all the traps that lie in wait for him, runs away from any pursuit, knows how to get out of any trouble and take good revenge on his enemies.

The story of Robin Hood has left a noticeable mark in world fiction. In England, Shakespeare's contemporaries: Robert Green, Mondey and Chetl processed ballad motifs in their dramatic works. These ballads have been known in Russian literature since the 1930s; some of them exist in Russian translations by N. Gumilyov, V. Rozhdestvensky and others.

Ballads dedicated to love and having a lyric-dramatic character make up the largest group among all ballad cycles. They tell about the sorrows of love, about the innumerable dangers and obstacles that lay in wait for lovers in those distant times. It would probably be possible to group love plots on the basis of an equal kind of misfortunes and obstacles. There would be a fair list: feuds between Scots and English, feuds between clans, feuds between families, feuds within families, jealousies, envy, kidnappings, misunderstandings. Many ballads sound tragic, for example, in “Annie of Loch Royan”.

... A young woman hurries to her lover, the father of her child, but she is not allowed into the castle: her lover is sleeping and does not hear the call, and his mother drives the young woman away. She sets off on her way back and dies in the depths of the sea along with her child. Sensing something unkind, the father hurries to the seashore… the raging surf brings the corpse of his beloved to his feet.

Perhaps the consciousness of the impossibility of happy love in those years poisoned by blood and hatred gave rise to numerous motives for otherworldly love. In the ballad “Billy” (“Billy”), unconditional and unshakable fidelity was affirmed, which even death cannot shake. This, apparently, the most important idea of love and fidelity for the moral consciousness of that era, is realized in English and Scottish ballads not only in fantastic plots, but also quite real ones, in some cases supplemented by a symbolic ending. Thus ends the plot of love and fidelity in the already mentioned ballad “Lady Maisry” (“Lady Maisry”, William throws herself into the fire to die like his beloved) or in the ballad “Clyde waters” (“Clyde waters”, the girl throws herself into water that killed her beloved, to perish with him).

In the ballads "Edward" (Edward), "Prince Robert" ("Prince Robert"), "Lady Isabel" ("Lady Isabel") women are not inferior to men in hatred, enmity or revenge; ballads depict an evil mother, stepmother, wife, mistress, mad with envy, jealousy, despair.

In some old ballads, the motif of conscious or unconscious incest is often found, perhaps an echo of song plots from the era of ancient tribal relations, such as in the ballad Sheath and Knife and Lizie Wan.

Tragedies of jealousy are frequent in ballads. But even stronger than jealousy is the feeling of spontaneous, endless love, which delivers not only boundless grief, but also the greatest happiness. In the ballad "Child Waters" (Child Waters), to which Byron refers in the preface to "Child Harold", Ellen follows her lover, disguised as a page, endures all the hardships of the campaign, guards and cleans his horse, is ready to accept even his new mistress and make a bed for her; at night, in the stable, in terrible agony, abandoned and ridiculed, she gives birth to a baby, and then only her love is rewarded: Waters marries her. If fate haunts those who love until the end of their lives, then they unite behind the grave; the symbol of love, which knows no barriers even in death itself, becomes a rose, wild rose or other flowers that grow on their graves and intertwine with their branches.

Thus, most ballads have an ominous flavor and end in a fatal outcome. The drama of the situation and dialogues, the lyrical excitement reach great tension here. Feelings of revenge, jealousy and love rage in the hearts of the characters; blood flows in torrents; follies, crimes, murders are as frequent as the lyrical ups and downs of the greatest, completely captivating love.

In the minds of most people, a ballad is almost synonymous with devilry: supernatural events are piled one on top of the other, coffins are torn off their chains, ghosts scurry through castles, forests and glades are inhabited by goblin and fairies, the waters are teeming with mermaids. These representations, inspired by the romantic literary ballad, do not fully correspond to the actual content of the folk ballad. Of the more than 300 English and Scottish folk ballads currently known, hardly 50 - that is, about one in six - contain supernatural events.

It is rather difficult to explain this, given that the medieval consciousness was literally permeated with faith in miracles and accepted the existence of devils, brownies and goblin as a self-evident element of everyday life.

Mythologism as a worldview is preserved only in the most ancient ballads, as well as in ballads, where their archaic basis emerges in one form or another. used as a poetic device or for allegorical purposes.

In the ballad "The Boy and the Cloak" (The Boy and the Cloak) magic motifs - a mantle that has the miraculous property of detecting a woman's infidelity; the head of a boar, against which the braggart's knife breaks; a magic horn splashing wine on a coward's dress - all this is used by the nameless author of the ballad for a more vivid and convincing moral assessment of real human vices.

Especially often, magical motifs are used as an extended poetic metaphor in stories about the test of loyalty, courage, and nobility. In the ballad The Young Templane, the hero's bride, true to her love, courageously goes through difficult trials.

The test of the moral qualities of the heroes can be not only purely physical suffering, but also moral suffering associated with negative aesthetic emotions. For example, the noble Evain had to go through such trials, who saved the girl, whom the evil stepmother turned into an ugly beast (“Knight Evain” - The Knight Avain). A peculiar version of the fantastic motif of the "test of fidelity" is also the story of the bride following her beloved to the grave. Another variation of the same motive is plots where, in response to the call of a woman (usually a mermaid), a man with boundless courage rushes after her into the depths of the sea (ballad "Mermaid" - Kemp Oweyne).

It is fantastic ballads that will attract the attention of European romantics, including English ones (Coleridge, Southey, Scott), who will bring them to the fore among the entire ballad heritage; however, in the heyday of ballad creativity, fabulous, fantastic ballads do not occupy such an exclusive place and their fantasy does not bear an ominous imprint.

In the popular mind, the tragic and the comic always go hand in hand. In the funniest comic stories, it is not uncommon to find hidden elements of tragedy. It is pointless to find out which ballads - tragic or comic sounding - appeared earlier: the origins of both are lost in the depths of time and are practically inaccessible to rigorous research. They probably appeared almost simultaneously, although, perhaps, in a different social environment. The point of view is hardly fair, according to which comic ballads appeared much later than tragic ones, in the course of ballad evolution towards "simplification" of plots and the penetration of everyday elements into them. Everyday details are also characteristic of the earliest ballads; the fact that people were able to see the funny and laugh at all times is evidenced by numerous comedies, satires, fables, comic songs, medieval farces and fablios.

Take, for example, the famous "Ballad of the Miller and His Wife". The game's comic dialogue is clearly farcical in nature. The tipsy miller, returning home in the evening, is still not so drunk as not to notice some signs of his wife's infidelity: men's boots with copper spurs, a raincoat, etc. But the lively and crafty "hostess" is by no means inclined to give up and with enviable resourcefulness tries to dissuade the "master" of his suspicions. But even the miller is not a fool: in every explanation of his wife, not without humor, he finds some detail that destroys all her ingenious constructions; and finally, the miller discovers a man in bed.

Equally comical is the dialogue between husband and wife in the ballads Get up and Bar the Door, The Old Cloak, or the dialogue between a knight and a peasant girl in the ballad Deceived knight".

Comic ballads are diverse in content and are by no means confined to everyday subjects. They affect the social sphere, complex psychological relationships between people, love topics ("The Tramp", "The Shepherd's Son", "A Trip to the Fair"). In a number of ballads, which in terms of content it would be wrong to classify as "purely" comic, the comic element is nevertheless unusually strong ("The King and the Bishop", "Two Wizards", etc.)

Genre definition.
Classification of ballads.
Tragic in ballads.
Types of tragic heroes.
The structure of the folk ballad and the system of artistic means.
Features of poetic language

Genre Definition. The ballad is a poetic genre. This is an epic (narrative) song, which is characterized by family and everyday themes and frequent tragic conflict resolutions.

Putilov B.N. notes: “The main content of ballads is a story about dramatic individual destinies, about family conflicts caused by social and domestic circumstances ... When such stories grow on the basis of political history, a historical ballad arises.

Thoughts are often expressed that the ballad is a lyrical-epic genre. A.V.Kulagina highlights the epic features of the ballad: an objective and consistent depiction of events and characters; the presence of objectively epic images; the image of characters in their actions, speeches and thoughts; the dominance of typification of the phenomena of reality, and not the expression of attitude towards it. Thus, the Russian folk ballad belongs to the epic genre of poetry.

^ Classification of ballads. The generally accepted classification of a folk ballad is the classification according to the thematic principle (although the classification according to the chronological principle is also known: ballads of the 11th - 16th centuries; 17th century and the end of the 18th - the beginning of the 20th century).

According to the thematic principle, 4 groups of ballads can be distinguished: historical, love, family and social.

In historical ballads, a person or family members find themselves in a tragic situation in special historical conditions (enemy invasion, war). B.N. Putilov divides the plots of historical ballads into 2 cycles: about the Tatar or Turkish crowd (“The girl is fleeing the Tatars”) and about the tragic meetings of relatives (“Husband-soldier visiting his wife”).

The plots of the love ballads are built on the relationship between a good girl and a girl, and only one ballad "Vasily and Sophia" tells about the mutual love of the heroes ruined by Vasily's mother. Family ballads are divided into groups depending on the relationship of family members: husband - wife, mother-in-law - daughter-in-law, brother - sister, parents - children. The largest and most popular group of ballads about the tragic conflicts between husband and wife. Usually the wife dies at the hands of her husband ("Slandered Wife").

In social ballads, social conflict is usually intertwined with family conflict. They distinguish 4 cycles: 1) about tragic conflicts as a result of social inequality (“Prince Volkonsky and Vanya the Keymaster”), 2) anti-clerical ballads (“Prince and old women”), 3) ballads about grief and poverty; 4) ballads about robbery and its tragic consequences (“Sister and robbers”).

The specificity of ballads is manifested not only in their subject matter, but also in the various plots and motifs that make them up. Motives can be defined as realistic (reproducing events that took place or could take place in reality) and fantastic (depicting supernatural events).

The central motif of a ballad is usually the motif of a crime (murder, suicide).

^ Tragic in ballads. The theme of the ballads is the tragic fate of a person in a feudal society, suffering from enemy raids, social inequality, and family despotism. The tragic in historical ballads is manifested in the disclosure of the plight of the people.

The social ballads reveal the tragic contradictions between those who hold power and the disadvantaged.

The basis of the tragic in family ballads is, on the one hand, the despotism of parents, husband, brother, mother-in-law, and, on the other, in the lack of rights and obedience of children, wife, sister, daughter-in-law.

In a group of love ballads, the victim is usually a girl. The behavior of people in ballads is regarded from the standpoint of an ideal family. Tragic occurs when sharp contradictions are created between strict moral principles and human behavior.

^ Types of tragic heroes. Destroyer. Victim. Suffering character. In the tragic outcome is the poetic essence of the ballad, and the people are aware of this.

In life, tragic conflicts are possible both between strangers and between relatives, but it is more shocking when the participants in the conflict are close people. The characters in ballads who encounter such a conflict are usually family members.

The impact of the tragic in ballads is compassion for the heroes, fear for their fate leads to purification, to spiritual enlightenment.

By the nature of the development of the plot, three types of ballads are distinguished:

^ Open action move- in those ballads where its development begins with the central episode-atrocity ("Vasily and Sophia"). The predicted fatal outcome. tragic recognition. Such plots are built on an unexpected meeting of relatives, according to signs or from inquiries of those who recognize each other.

^ The structure of the folk ballad and the system of artistic means. The structure of the folk ballad and the system of its artistic means are subject to the ideological purposefulness of the genre - the condemnation of evil, violence, untruth, slander, hatred, injustice. This condemnation can be most clearly expressed by contrast. The composition of the genre is determined by the antithetical nature of the plot and the antithetical grouping of images. Features of poetic language. In the system of poetic means of the ballad, the main role is played by the epithet. Permanent epithets often define the personal relationships of the characters. Pictorial epithets are more common than expressive ones. Both simple epithets (formed from single-root words) and double epithets are revealed - less often - triple ones (thin is a pale red maiden).

Main literature

Russian folk poetry. Reader / Comp. Kruglov Yu.G. –M., 1993.- S.369-378
Russian folk poetry. Epic poetry./Comp. Putilov B.N. – L., 1984
Kravtsov N.I., Lazutin S.G. Russian oral folk art. – M., 1983.- S.189-199.
Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore. Textbook for higher educational institutions. - M., 2002. –S.267-277.

additional literature

Balashov D.M. The history of the development of the Russian ballad genre. Petrozavodsk, 1986
Kulagina A.V. Russian folk ballad. - M., 1977
Propp V.Ya. Poetics of folklore. –M., 1998.- P.92-139

The literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts gives us the following interpretation of the ballad: Ballad (French ballade, from Prov. balada - dance song)

1. A solid form of French poetry of the 14th-15th centuries: 3 stanzas with identical rhymes (ababbcbc for an 8-syllable verse, ababbccdcd for a 10-syllable verse with a refrain and a final semi-stanza - a “premise” addressing the addressee). Developed from the crossing of the northern French dance "balleta" and the Provencal-Italian semi-canzone.

2. Lyric-epic genre of Anglo-Scottish folk poetry of the 14th-16th centuries. on historical (later also fabulous and everyday) topics - about border wars, about the folk legendary hero Robin Hood - usually with tragedy, mystery, jerky narration, dramatic dialogue Literary Encyclopedia of Terms and Concepts / Ed. A.N. Nikolyukin. Institute of Scientific Information on the Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. M., 2003. S.69..

V.E. Khalizev in "Theory of Literature" also speaks of the belonging of the ballad to the lyric-epic Khalizev V.E. Theory of Literature. M., 1999. S. 316.

Such a definition of the concept of a ballad is given by scientific literature. To this we can add a description of this genre given by T.I. Vorontsova in the article “Compositional and semantic structure of pictorial and narrative ballads of a lyrical nature”: “The ballad is small in size, it describes events that have a plot, a climax and an end. This shows the epic nature of the ballad. Its plot is unreal, symbolic, not clearly defined in space and time” Vorontsova T.I. Compositional-semantic structure of figurative-narrative ballads of a lyrical nature.//Text and its components as an object of complex analysis. L., 1986. S. 12. . R.V. Iezuitova in the article “The Ballad in the Age of Romanticism” says that “the ballad also gravitates toward a philosophical interpretation of its plots, is characterized by a two-dimensional construction, when behind the plot there are hints of mysterious forces that gravitate over a person.” According to this researcher, “the main structural tendencies of the ballad genre in the era of romanticism are expressed in the strengthening of the dramatizing beginning, in the choice of an acute conflict situation, in the use of the method of contrasting character building, in the concentration of ballad action on a relatively small spatio-temporal interval. At the same time, the ballad intensively forms new principles of lyricism, refusing didactics and moralization” Iezuitova R.V. Ballad in the era of romanticism//Russian romanticism. L., 1978. S. 160.

Formation of poetic features of the ballad genre

The very diversity of intra-genre tendencies, the non-differentiation of the elements of ballad poetics, the mixing of the ballad with other genre forms - all this taken together explains the reasons why the process of formation of the ballad genre in Russian literature of the late 18th century, which was sufficiently intense and gave considerable aesthetic results. remained unfinished in a number of significant points.

The genre structure of a work is a certain artistic system of organizing a work, which is an organic fusion of the general, typological principles of the genre and the individual, unique forms of their manifestation in a given writer. The artistic text of the ballad is a concrete and direct realization of the genre structure of the ballad. Mikeshin A.M. On the question of the genre structure of the Russian romantic ballad.//From the history of Russian and foreign literature of the 19th-20th centuries. Kemerovo, 1973. P.5

V.V. Znamenshchikov, one of the scientists involved in ballads, cites the main features of this genre in his article "On the question of the genre features of the Russian ballad." In his opinion: “In the study of the poetics of a literary ballad, one can use some of the provisions of folklore. For a literary ballad, certain genre signs of a folk ballad are indisputable, while others are modified (for example, “one-conflict and conciseness”); the literary ballad has only its inherent features. Commonality is already found in aesthetic categories. It is based on the image of "tragic" and "wonderful".

The folk ballad, which is included in the system of epic genres of folklore, obeys the laws of building an epic work. Her epic setting complicates the ways of direct expression of the feelings of the characters. A dialogic form of development of the action appears, in which the story of the event and its depiction merge. In the dialogue, the leading role of one of the characters is felt. In the structure of the folk ballad, this is manifested in the variability of the statements of the second character while maintaining a single theme (“hidden” questioning; with the consistent implementation of this trend, direct questions appear).

The literary ballad also highlights the central character, whose efforts determine the development of the conflict. The second character may not appear. The motivation of the actions of the central character arises as a result of the use of new means: a dialogized monologue appears, hence the self-characterization of the characters. The widespread use of the genre in the mid-20s. The 19th century created a "conventional motivation": the reader knew the direction of the conflict, its participants, etc. At this time, Zhukovsky reduces the author's characteristics of the characters.

In both literary and folk ballads, the conflict is often defined by the clash of "high" and "low" heroes. As a rule, the "low" character is especially mobile in the structure of the work. He is given to enter into "familiar contact" with the characters of another world. With the advent of fantasy, his mobility becomes even more obvious: only he experiences the influence of "higher" forces. The movements of the central character determine the ballad space and time.

One can also notice the general compositional features inherent in the folklore and literary ballad. The work is clearly divided into two unequal segments: the development of the action and the finale (climax and denouement). They are opposed in time and space. The final makes you rethink the storyline. Events, initially perceived as insignificant, acquire semantic and emotional richness. In this construction of the ballad, apparently, the manifestation of the tragic orientation of the ballad aesthetics is reflected. A folk ballad, devoid of an author, makes the tragedy irreversible (as happens in dramatic works, where the intervention of the author is excluded). In a literary ballad, the author, by his participation, can relieve the tension of the action - sometimes Zhukovsky does this (“Svetlana”, “Alina and Alsim”).

The ballad often assigns appropriate spatial localizations to plot situations. The denouement in folk ballads usually takes place "in public". If the denouement is due to the intervention of fantasy, "otherworldly forces", the action is transferred to where they are possible - in the field, in the forest.

At the same time, the plot is easily divided into separate segments - scenes. This division is reinforced by temporal shifts. The flow of time within each scene also changes. For example, in the denouement, time is compressed.

Ballad time is always unidirectional. There are parallel descriptions in literary ballads, but there is no return to the past. However, the characters can talk about past events - as happens in the dramaturgy of classicism. Thus, the state of the characters is explained and further actions are motivated: the ballad appears as the last link in the series of events that remains “behind the text” ”Znamenshchikov V.V. To the question of the genre features of the Russian ballad//Questions of plot and composition. Interuniversity collection. Gorky, 1980. S.118-119.

The ballad genre is characterized by the presence of a specific and poetic (so-called ballad) world, which has its own artistic laws, its own emotional atmosphere, its own vision of the surrounding reality. It is based on history, heroism, fantasy, life, refracted through the prism of legend, tradition, belief.

The author looks at the surroundings through the eyes of his heroes, sharing their "naive-innocent" faith in the reality of the wonderful, fabulous, fantastic. Thus, a specific atmosphere of mystery, understatement, forebodings and prophecies arises, which cause the reader to think about something fatal, predetermined, with which the heroes of ballads sometimes try to fight.

The epic beginning is associated with the presence of a pronounced event-narrative plot and an objective hero. The plot is usually one-conflict and one-event, in this sense the ballad approaches the story. At the same time, the originality of the ballad plot lies not only in greater generalization compared to the plot in a prose work, but also in a special cult of the Event with a capital letter. The fact is that the plot and compositional basis of the ballad is not an ordinary event, but an exceptional case, an outstanding incident that takes the ballad action beyond the boundaries of the everyday world of reality - into the world of legendary fantasy. This event is the core of the ballad action. In this sense, the plot is closer in character to the mythological than to the novelistic narrative. Therefore, the ballad tends to historical tales, folk legends and beliefs.

The ballad action is characterized by a special conciseness, swiftness, dynamism of the development of the event, fragmentation, which manifests itself in the focus of the author's and reader's attention on individual, most often the most intense moments.

There is no lyrical hero in the ballad; the story comes from the perspective of an outside observer. The lyrical beginning of the genre structure of the ballad is associated with the emotional mood of the narration, reflecting the author's feeling of the depicted era and expressing the poet's lyrical self-awareness. The active attitude of the artist to the event is manifested in the entire emotional atmosphere of the ballad, but most of all it usually comes out in the beginning or in final ballads, as if framing its eventful plot and thereby supporting one or another emotional mood of the work.

The dramatic beginning of the genre structure of the ballad is associated with the intensity of the action, usually emphasized by a special, impetuous, poetic rhythm. In fact, each ballad is a small drama. The underlying conflict is always acutely dramatic. denouement on the other hand, being the plot conclusion of the conflict of the ballad, it is not only unexpectedly spectacular, but often tragic. To a certain extent, the dramatic nature of the ballads is also associated with that atmosphere of fear and horror, without which it is generally impossible to imagine the artistic nature of the traditional romantic ballad. Sometimes this is purely religious in nature, but it also represents a kind of philosophical recognition of the existence of some incomprehensible and beyond human power. In most ballads, this is simply the realization that external, objective circumstances often turn out to be stronger than the internal, subjective motives of an individual human person. Hence the gloomy coloring so characteristic of ballads.

Of the whole range of problems, perhaps the most important problem is the confrontation between personality and fate. In a Russian romantic ballad, the idea of justice appears: if the hero does not follow the dictates of fate, he is punished. The ballad hero often consciously challenges fate, resists it despite all predictions and forebodings.

Sometimes the dramatic beginning is so strongly expressed that because of this the author's story is pushed aside or completely replaced by a monologue or even dialogic form of narration (“Lyudmila”, “Forest King”, “Smalholm Castle”).

Historicism in the ballad is conditional, close to the historicism of legends, legends, epics, that is, it has a somewhat mythologized character. In Zhukovsky's historical ballads, the conditional Middle Ages are created by the author's creative imagination, almost liberated from everyday and historical plausibility.

The closing situations are typical of ballads. One of the main plots taken from folk ballads and folklore is the plot about the appearance of a dead lover to his bride. There are folk beliefs that are rooted in pagan faith, which is based on the legend of the existence of the afterlife. Some Russian fairy tales are known, which describe how a dead man walks around the village or gives a voice and takes revenge on the offenders.