Elements of the epic composition. It is necessary to take the text of the epic and look for what is there of these elements.
As a rule, the epic begins with the beginning. In very rare cases, the beginning is preceded by a sing-along.
Sometimes the beginning of the epic is an exposition that precedes the plot.
The exposition prepares and enhances the drama of the plot.
However, the beginning as an exposition appears very rarely in epics. As a rule, the beginning is the beginning of the plot. The most common type of epic beginnings-strings is a picture of a feast at Prince Vladimir.
The second type of beginning-string is the description of the departure of the hero. For example, Ilya Muromets leaves for Kyiv from Murom, Dobrynya Nikitich from Ryazan, Dkzh Stepanovich from Galich, etc.
The third type of initiation-string is the image of the arrival of enemies on Russian soil.
V. Ya. Propp notes: “The events of the classical epic always take place in Rus'. The events of a fairy tale can be localized "in a certain kingdom", "in a certain state"
The beginnings of epics immediately seek to emphasize the historical authenticity of their content.
After the beginning-tie in the epic, the action develops. Of paramount importance is the image of the main hero-hero, which determines the features of the plot. “The epic develops according to the principle of the greatest emphasis on the protagonist,” writes D. S. Likhachev, “and therefore the action of the epic is concentrated around the hero, his fate.” The images of heroes, along with the general ones, also have certain individual features. This is reflected in the specifics of epic stories. So, for example, the social conflict is most acutely expressed in the epics, the hero of which is Ilya Muromets (for example, the epics “Ilya in a quarrel With Vladimir" and "Ilya and the Goli of the Tavern").
The plots of epics are different in their specific content, but they are also characterized by some common, typological features. One of such genre-typological features is the one-dimensionality, or one-linearity, of plot development. As a rule, one develops story line, associated mainly with the disclosure of her main image - the hero-hero. So, for example, the plot construction of the epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber", recorded from T. G. Ryabinin, has the following form. In the morning, Ilya Muromets left "From that city of Muroml, From that village and from Karachirov", intending to "lunch" in time for Kyiv. However, this path to Kyiv was very difficult. According to the hero, his "track hesitated." Near Chernigov, Ilya Muromets defeats the "great power" and liberates the city from the enemy. The Chernigovites ask him to be their governor, but he does not agree and, being true to his decision, continues on his way to Kyiv. On the way, he is met by the Nightingale the Robber, from whose whistle, according to the Chernigov peasants,
Then all the grasses and ants gobble up,
All the azure flowers fall asleep,
Dark woods all bow to the ground,
And that there are people, then all are dead.
But Ilya Muromets defeats the Nightingale the Robber and brings him to Kyiv. He tells Vladimir about what happened on the way. The prince does not believe that Ilya Muromets could defeat the "great power" of the enemy, standing near Chernigov, and the Nightingale the Robber. But when he enters the courtyard, he sees with his own eyes that Ilya Muromets really won and brought the Nightingale the Robber to Kyiv. The epic ends with the message that Ilya Muromets took the Nightingale the Robber "into the open field" and "cut off his wild head."
The climax in the plot of the epics is the description of the battle or other competition of the hero with the enemy. In the epic, the description of the battle (competition) of the hero with the enemy is always very short, the victory of the hero is always very easy, the enemy is always defeated by the hero himself without any outside help.
As in any epic work, the plot in the epic ends with a denouement, which to some extent emphasizes the reality and historical authenticity of the epic.
The most important compositional principle of epics is opposition principle (contrast or antithesis), which manifests itself primarily in the construction of the plot of epics. The basis of the epic plot, as a rule, is the clash of heroes with their opponents. This is often reflected in the very name of the epics (“Dobrynya and the Serpent”, “Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber”, “Vasily Ignatievich and Batyga”, etc.). However epic heroes and their foreign enemies are contrasting primarily in their spiritual appearance, moral qualities. The hero, as a rule, is kind, fair, honest, peaceful, noble and modest. Conversely, his opponent is angry, dishonorable, belligerent, self-confident and cunning.
Reception antitheses, opposition is also used when creating an external portrait of the hero and his opponent. If, for example, Ilya Muromets is a man of ordinary height, then his opponent is of frightening proportions.
Epics use compositional selection technique Main character. This is often done at the very beginning of the epic.
in the epic “Ilya in a quarrel with Vladimir”, the beginning tells that Vladimir called all the princes, boyars and heroes to a feast.
Yes, he forgot to call, but what’s better,
And what is the best and best hero,
And the old Cossack Ilya Muromets.
It is Ilya Muromets who will later become the main character of the epic.
Everyone is sitting at the table, silent,
All the good guys calmed down.
In the epic, everything is subordinated to the creation of the image of a hero.
In the epic “The Nightingale the Robber”, Chernigov residents, despite the fact that Ilya defeated the whole army and liberated their city, still do not believe that he will cope with the Nightingale the Robber, and do not advise him to go along the road, where he meets everyone and destroys with his whistle omnipotent monster Nightingale the Robber. Prince Vladimir, until he was convinced of this with his own eyes, does not believe the message of Ilya Muromets that he defeated the Nightingale the Robber.
the initial underestimation of the strength of the hero is necessary for his greater triumph later. In order to defeat such a terrible enemy as the enemy, the hero must have incredible physical strength. For these purposes, the reception of g is very widely used in epics. hyperbolization. The epic speaks of the strength of the main Russian hero Ilya Muromets with such a hyperbolic expression:
From the earth, the pillar (would) be yes to the sky,
There was (would be) a golden ring in the pillar,
I would take Svyatorusska by the ring and turn!
Hyperbolization is the most important principle of creating epics. They exaggerate the strength of not only heroes, but also their opponents. And the greater this strength of opponents, the more significant is the victory of the heroes over them, the more glorification they deserve.
A significant role in the epic is played by dialogues that dramatize the plot, help to more fully characterize the characters, reveal their thoughts and experiences.
an example showing the significant role of dialogue in the epic. Kalin-Tsar invites the captivated Russian hero Ilya Muromets to come to terms with his position, sit down with him “at a single table”, eat his “sugar food”, drink “honey drink”, “keep the golden treasury” and become a traitor to the Motherland, Prince Vladimir:
Don't serve Prince Vladimir
Yes, you serve the dog Tsar Kalin.
To which Ilya Muromets defiantly replies:
And I won’t sit down with you at the same table,
I will not eat your sugary meatballs,
I will not serve you the dog Tsar Kalin,
And I will stand for the capital city of Kyiv,
And I will stand for the church for the Lord,
And I will stand for the prince for Vladimir
This dialogue with extraordinary power conveys the drama of the situation, deeply reveals to us the greatness of the image of the main Russian hero, speaks of his courage, courage, boundless devotion to the Motherland.
An important compositional role in epics is played by the reception of repetitions of individual episodes, speeches of heroes, etc. Most often this repetition is three times, but it can also be twice.
It is sometimes argued that the purpose of epic repetitions is to achieve slowness of action. However, slowing down the action is not an end in itself, but only a means to achieve some other goals. The main purpose of such repetitions is to most clearly express a thought that is especially important for the epic, to focus the listener's attention on some episodes that are very significant in terms of meaning, certain actions of the characters, etc.
The so-called " common places". “Common places” are stable verbal formulas that are almost verbatim repeated by storytellers in one or different epics in similar episodes of the narrative or pictures of the description. Common places are the boasting of a hero at a feast, drinking wine, saddling a horse, a description of the terrible appearance of the enemy or the large number of his troops; the description of how the hero enters the prince's chambers is very stable: Most often, “common places” in epics are used when depicting a feast at Prince Vladimir, expressing enemy threats, showing enemy strength, describing the hero saddling a horse, showing his trip, battle With enemies, etc.
"Common places" facilitate the creation of an epic: the narrator in known cases does not re-create the text, but uses ready-made formulas that perform important ideological and artistic functions in the epic.
The construction of the epic (composition),
chant
the main part of the epics is a story about a feat.
The action develops slowly up to its peak, the highest tension - CULMINATION.
The denouement of the action comes instantly, it depicts the defeat of the enemy.
Bylina, as a rule, is crowned with an ending, for example:
One of the indispensable artistic means of epics is REPETITIONS. Separate words, lines, descriptions of events are repeated - the arrival and reception of guests, fights, cries, ominous omens and prophetic dreams. So, in the epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" four times there is a description of the terrible whistle of the Nightingale, and from these repetitions the strength of the robber seems even more powerful. The road of Ilya Muromets to Kyiv seems even more difficult when we meet the repetition of the word "bewildered":
The straight-traveling path has choked up, The path has choked up, it has stumbled...
Repetitions create a special melodiousness and smoothness of epic speech:
Into his takes Into white he IN hands ... Yes At the glorious By the river By the Currant ...
retardation - slowing down the action as a result of a detailed description, for example, saddling a horse or repeating situations, for example, an exact repetition of the prince's instructions by the ambassador.
Epics are characterized by HYPERBOLES, which, as it were, enlarge the image, help to show the strength and feat of heroes more vividly, more expressively. The strength of the hero is incredibly exaggerated: for example, Ilya Muromets easily, like a swan's feather, raises a club weighing 90 pounds. Ilya's heroic horse gallops "above a standing tree, a little lower than a walking cloud." Enemies are also exaggerated in epics. Usually the hero is faced with countless hordes, which "a gray wolf cannot jump in three days", "a black crow cannot fly around in a day".
With the help of EPITHETS, a special - epic, heroic - poetic world was created. The hero is defined as holy Russian, mighty; Prince Vladimir is like a gentle, glorious, bright sun, a red sun. The enemy is called filthy, evil, accursed, godless. The word being defined is often used with the same epithet. Such epithets are called PERMANENT. For example: violent head, zealous heart, damask sword, frisky legs, hot blood, combustible tears.
Even suffixes play big role in the picture poetic world epics, they also determine the attitude of the performer to their heroes. Diminutive suffixes were awarded to favorite heroes - Ilyushenka, Dobrynyushka, Aleshenka; derogatory and magnifying their opponents - Idolishche, Serpent.
Bylina "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber"
The epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" is a complex work. There are several main episodes in it: Ilya's liberation of Chernigov from the enemy force that besieged him, after which the inhabitants of the city ask Ilya to be their governor, but he refuses, as he is going to serve in Kyiv; meeting with Nightingale the Robber, who closed the road from Chernigov to Kyiv for 30 years; arrival in Kyiv, where Prince Vladimir does not believe Ilya that he brought the Nightingale the Robber, then the hero shows the Nightingale and tells him to whistle: the boyars fall dead from the whistle, and the prince and princess "crawl". So that the Nightingale the Robber does no more harm, Ilya kills him.
(Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber)
He accomplishes his first feat on the way from home to Kyiv. This feat is the destruction of the Nightingale the Robber. The story of this meeting is often preceded by a story about how Ilya was healed of a serious illness in his parents' house. The epic about the healing of Elijah can be performed as an independent song, but very often it is combined with a song about a meeting with the Nightingale the Robber.
Ilya always is thought of as old, even in cases where there is no epithet "old". His old age is an expression of his wisdom, experience and calm strength. Ilya Muromets cannot be imagined young at all. The epithet “good fellow” is applied to him, but the word “well done” in these cases does not mean age, but daring and strength.
Not a white dawn was engaged, Not a red sun rolled out: I left here good fellow, Good fellow, Ilya Muromets, On his heroic horse.
His little head turned white, His beard turned gray.
Ilya Muromets, before accomplishing his feats, “sits in a seat”, “sat with a gray hair” for 30 years. He sits on the stove because he is sick, paralyzed. It is sung about him that he “had neither arms nor legs,” that is, he could not move them. “For thirty years he was sick, sitting on a pus” (Mark 91). Often he sits on the stove, where the sick sit or lie in the village. “I did not get up from the oven for thirty years” (Kir. IV, 1). At what age this disease happened to him, nothing is reported about this. Sometimes he is depicted as old from the very first lines, sometimes (rarely) it is reported that he is crippled from birth. The listener is transferred to the atmosphere of a real Russian peasant hut, which is very rare in the epic, but very common for a fairy tale. We understand why people in this case prefer prose. The epic verse of the epic was developed on high heroic plots. Here we have an everyday picture from the everyday life of a peasant family.
Parents leave for work. Their work is the clearing of the forest for sowing, which is characteristic of northern arable farming, in which the forest was burned or cut down, and the stumps were uprooted. “And how thirty years passed, in the very summer time, in the days of haymaking, and then the father and mother with the family left to clean the harvest, and they left him alone at home” (Rybn. 190). So, with varying degrees of thoroughness and realism, it is reported in many records.
Elijah is left alone. Strangers come to the house. These wanderers are described very differently. These are “passing people”, “an old beggar”, “two kaliks who are passing, fermenting”, two old men, an orphan, in one case - two young men, etc. These are beggars who so far do not expose their extraordinaryness. They knock on the window and ask for a drink or alms. These wanderers were undoubtedly created not without the influence of a legend where wonderful wanderers knock first on the rich, who drive them away, and then on the poor, who receive them. But something else is happening here. Ilya cannot get up, cannot give them a drink.
Hey you good people! I can't get you drunk: I don't have arms or legs.
“I can’t get up”, “I can’t control my arms or legs,” Ilya replies.
I would be glad to give you all the alms saved... I can't get off the brick stove.
“And stand up, stand up, good fellow,” “Get on your frisky feet,” “Let your frisky feet off the stove,” - this is how the wanderers offer with particular insistence. Ilya overcomes himself, and a miracle happens: “The frisky knives stretched out” (Mark 42). Ilya, who has not stood up for thirty years, begins to walk. “Ilya stood up on frisky feet, opened the wide gates and let the kalik into his house” (Rybn. 51). On some occasions, he expresses his jubilation. His gait immediately turns out to be heroic. He steps so that "the beams scream" and the viburnum floor under him falls.
Now Ilya goes for water or kvass and brings it to the wanderers. But they “turn away” him, that is, they do not drink themselves, but offer him to drink, or, having drunk a little, offer him to drink the rest. A second miracle happens: Ilya not only recovers, but feels a surge of enormous, inhuman strength. "What do you feel in yourself, Ilya?" Ilya beat with his forehead, the kalik congratulated: “I hear a great power in myself” (Rybn. 51). “Now, good people, I have a body in myself” (Rybn. 139). The wanderers give him a second drink, and now his strength is so great that if
From the earth the pillar was yes to the sky, To the pillar there was a gold ring, I would have taken it by the ring, turned to the Holy Russian.
Strangers are afraid of such power. They give him a third drink, and his strength is reduced by half. We already know that physical strength does not yet define the hero in the Russian epic. A hero must be strong, but heroism is determined by where the strength is directed. In one of the options, Ilya, when asked about how he feels, answers:
If there was now a ring of filthy power, I would let it beat.
The moment Ilya receives strength is the moment the peasant Ilya turns into a hero. The seat of Ilya in this respect takes on special significance: he becomes a hero, a hero miserable man of the people. Here the aesthetics of the epic and the aesthetics
fairy tales match. The poorest, the last of the peasants, sick, infirm, becomes the savior of his people.
The wonderful wanderers are disappearing, out of sight. In some versions, at the moment of disappearance, they pronounce a foreshadowing, a prophecy. They say:
Death is not written for you in battle.
In an open field, yes, death is not written for you, Don't be afraid, drive across an open field.
The words of the wanderers are only an artistic form for expressing the consciousness of Elijah himself. He cannot say about himself: “Death in battle does not exist for me,” this would contradict the whole poetics of epics. They mean that Ilya has forever ruled out the question of his death. This question was resolved for him once and for all, and he decided when Ilya realized that he was a hero. This is the complete absence of fear of death, its complete exclusion from his consciousness and makes him immortal in the eyes of the people.
It is typical for Ilya, as for a peasant hero: his first impulse, his first thought after recovery and gaining strength belongs to his parents, who are in the field at hard work. Peasant work, the peasant essence is so inextricably linked with the whole being of Ilya that he immediately goes to the field to help his parents. Parents are overjoyed, but their joy is replaced by fright and horror when they see how he works. To clear the field, he uproots the oak trees and throws them into the water. “Dubye then tears from the mother of damp earth with everything with the root” (Mark 67). “And the dube began to uproot” (Onch. 19). At first, the father thinks that Ilya will be a good peasant worker, that he "will be a great worker." But soon the parents realize that Ilya is no longer a worker in the field, that with such strength his calling is in another; mother, seeing how he works, says:
It can be seen that the child will not be a nurse for us, He will begin to ride, apparently, across a clean field.
The father says the same: “This, apparently, my son will ride in an open field, he will be a Pole in an open field, and there will be no fighter for him” (Mark 67). Sometimes the father himself invites him to go to Kyiv, more often he blesses Ilya to leave at his own request with extremely interesting instructions for us. In the shortest and most apt form, the father's instruction is expressed as follows:
And have pity on the field of a Christian, And do not spare on the field all of you Tatar.
Ilya himself quite accurately determines the purpose of his departure. Its purpose is to devote oneself to the service of Kyiv and Vladimir. He realized himself as a hero not only in strength, but also in his life's work. He is driving " Kyiv prince to bow”, “to pawn for the prince for Vladimir”, “I’m going to stand up for Kyiv”, etc. We already know that the idea of serving Kyiv and Vladimir is one of the main ideas of the early Russian epic. This is the idea of national and state unity in the era of feudal fragmentation.
This is how the epic ends. Its individual terms come from fairy tales and legends. A seat on the stove, a drink that gives strength, farewell to parents - all these are fabulous motifs. In some versions, Ilya chooses or finds a horse for himself, as is narrated about the fabulous Ivanushka. But although the constituent parts are mostly of fairy-tale origin, the epic itself is by no means a fairy tale. Ilya, straight from the hut or from the field, goes not for the sake of adventure, but to protect the homeland and serve it.
The continuation of this epic is the epic about Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber.
The epic about the Nightingale the Robber in some of its components is earlier than the epics we have already considered about Dobrynya, Alyosha and Ilya, according to others, on the contrary, it turns out to be later. In general, it can be considered later, since it is not archaic elements, not the presence of a mythological monster in it, but those motives that testify to the overcoming of the most ancient heritage and give it a completely new content. We consider this epic as the last one about the fight between heroes and monsters.
In the development of the epic, there comes a moment when the heroic battle with the monster can no longer fully satisfy the artistic needs of the people. The fight with this kind of monsters starts to lose its heroic character. She begins to take on an adventurous and entertaining character. This is exactly what is observed in the epic about the Nightingale the Robber. Its plot, the narration, has extraordinary amusement for the people.
Ilya in this epic performs not one feat, but two. One feat is that he strikes an inhuman monster - the Nightingale the Robber. This feat belongs to a waning tradition, it has its roots in the past. Another feat is that Ilya liberates Chernigov from the besieging enemies, and this feat already indicates the future development of the epic, he is the first of Ilya's own military exploits. The people call this epic "the first trip", and such a name should be recognized as more correct. In the epic about Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber, Ilya already fully manifests his heroic qualities. True, the epic about the Nightingale is of an adventure nature, and this can explain that not in all versions the details of the song are subordinate to the main idea. There are options in which Ilya is not going to serve Kyiv; its goal is to, after standing for matins in Murom, to be in time for early mass in Kyiv. It is sometimes mentioned that he travels on the day of Passover. He wants to take the straight road so that he can be on time. Since he travels on the day of Passover, he sometimes makes a vow not to bleed his hands along the way, not to take out arrows, not to bleed his sword, etc. How much this commandment will actually be observed will become clear later.
Ilya travels to Kyiv with all possible speed. Elijah's horse is never winged. This is not a magic horse that flies through the air. Ilya's horse is a heroic horse, not a fabulous one, although he is sometimes supplied with external fairy-tale attributes.
Events do not develop in the way that Ilya and the listener of the song expect with him, but in a completely different way, and this unexpectedness is one of the artistic features of the epic.
Rushing towards Kyiv, Ilya, quite unexpectedly for himself, sees an obstacle, and from this, in fact, the action begins to develop. He drives up to Chernigov to ask there for a direct road to Kyiv, but then he sees that
Near Chernigov, the silushki are black-black, Black-black, like a black crow.
Quite often, Ilya directly runs into the Nightingale the Robber. We must recognize this form of song as defective, incomplete. Outwardly, the Chernihiv adventure easily falls out of the song, but internally it is a necessary part of the narrative and cannot fall out without damaging the ideological and artistic integrity of the song. The name of the city is subject to some fluctuations (Bezhegov, Beketovets, Turgov, Orekhov, Obalkov, Kidosha, Chizhenets, Smolyagin and others, in the written tradition - Sebezh), but Chernigov prevails. The enemies that have besieged the city are of the most uncertain character. Most often they are called "strength". Sometimes, though not too often, they are called Tatars, even more rarely - Lithuanians, sometimes both together:
He came to the city in Beketovets, And the cursed filthy Lithuania ran over, Here the filthy Tatars overcame Tyih Beketov's peasants.
These enemies are not Tatars. How concretely and historically true the Tatars are depicted in the epic, we will see below. The force that besieged Chernihiv does not threaten the state as a whole. Vladimir in Kyiv often does not even know what happened in Chernigov. We also cannot allow this episode to reflect any of the internecine wars, because, as we know and as Dobrolyubov emphasized, specific wars are not reflected in the epic at all. The significance of this episode lies in the fact that the hero of the song is no longer only a serpent fighter, but a deliverer from the enemy army. That is why the main national hero of the epic, Ilya Muromets, was made the hero of the song. Ilya cannot remain indifferent to the fate of Chernigov.
A heroic heart is quarrelsome and indefatigable: More than a fire-little heart will play out.
The peaceful, pious intention to hold Matins in Murom and Mass in Kyiv is relegated to the background. Ilya Muromets very easily refuses the commandment not to bloody weapons.
How forgive me, Lord, in such a fault! I will no longer lay great commandments.
Or more ironically:
Every man bequeaths a covenant, but not every covenant keeps.
This means that church morality crumbles to dust when it comes to what constitutes the highest morality of the people, about how to save their native land.
Combat is always described very briefly and purely "epic".
How he began to beat the filthy Tatars, With a horse to trample and prick with a spear, He nailed the filthy ones in a single hour, He did not leave the filthy ones for seeds.
Such brevity in the description of the battle is typical for this song. We will have a more detailed description of the battles in the epics about the reflection of the Tatars from Kyiv.
Having liberated the city, Ilya enters Chernihiv. Sometimes he finds all the townspeople in the church, and they do not even suspect that the city has already been liberated.
He drove into the city of Smolyagin, How are the peasants and Smolyagin? Everyone goes to the cathedral church From the first to the last. They repent, take communion, Say goodbye to the white light, In the open field they are equipped for war.
While the people of Chernigov were praying in despair, Ilya saved the city thanks to the fact that he did not think about disregarding the church commandment. When the singer sings that the Chernigovites, instead of thinking about protection, "repent and take communion, equip themselves for the death penalty" (Rybn. 189), this is not only a description of the confusion that has gripped the city, but also sounds like an expression of regret for the Chernigovites, who do not found nothing better than to pray and repent. Despair and despondency reign in the city, sometimes described extremely vividly. Ilya tells the people of Chernigov the joyful news. They do not believe, they go out to the city wall, look into a fist or a tube and really see a field strewn with corpses.
The Chernigov episode ends with a detail that is very important for understanding the meaning of this episode, as well as for understanding the psychology of Ilya Muromets. Chernihiv residents offer Ilya voivodeship, but Ilya always refuses him.
Chernigovians were helpless in the face of the enemy, not because they did not have courage. They were preparing for defense, they were ready to die as one for their native city, they did not think about surrendering the city to the strongest enemy, preferring death. They were inactive because there was no power that could lead the people's movement. Therefore, the Chernigov peasants offer Ilya the voivodeship, that is, power. The keys of the city are brought to him on a golden platter.
The epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" is one of the works of the epic cycle about the exploits of the most revered hero in the Russian people. The bylina tells about two heroic events in which Ilya Muromets participates: a battle with the enemy's army - "Silushka", which was "black-black", and the victory over the Nightingale the Robber.
Story
The work has no copyright and is a sample folk epic. The time of creation of the epic can be determined approximately - it was laid down by the people in oral up to the 14th century. The epic has undergone many changes throughout its history, acquiring new characters, enriched with poetic images. The first mention of Ilya Muromets, as a defender of Russian lands, was found in the 16th century in correspondence between one of the subjects of the Commonwealth and his king. The hero in it is called Ilya Muravlenin. Twenty years later, a traveling foreigner mentioned in his notes that he saw the relics of the Russian hero Ilya Morovlin in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. This indicates that at that time the epic, like her main character, was already widely known among the people.
Analysis of the work
Description of content
The action of the epic begins with the fact that Ilya Muromets is going on a journey: after standing for "Minning in Murom", he wants to be in time "to capital Kyiv-grad" by mass. Before Chernigov, he meets an enemy army, which he defeats. Chernihiv "peasants" ask him to become a governor in the city, but Ilya Muromets refuses and goes further along the dangerous straight road to Kyiv, despite warnings about the Nightingale the Robber living there - he kills travelers with "whistles of a nightingale" and "screams of beasts."
The hero wounds and captures the robber, and then, having arrived in Kyiv, leaves him for princely court connected. Prince Vladimir does not believe in the story that the guest traveled along a straight road to Kyiv and defeated the Nightingale the Robber. Surprised that the formidable enemy is really captured, the prince asks him to whistle indicatively. When he produces destruction in the city with his whistle, Ilya Muromets takes him out into the open field and executes him.
main characters
The two main characters of the work personify one - absolute good, the other - evil. Ilya Muromets is fearless and reasonable. Warned of the danger lurking on the way, he does not turn off him, but boldly enters into battle with the robber and defeats him. The hero appoints himself the defender of the Russian land and people from enemies and responsibly, skillfully carries out his service. The image of Ilya Muromets is partially written off from fairy tales, fictional characters, but also has historical prototype- St. Ilya Pechersky Chebotok. Many features of the hero speak of his connection with the mythical Perun and Veles.
The origin of the image of the enemy of the protagonist Nightingale the Robber is not entirely clear. If we talk on a large scale, then he replaces in the epic another famous villain, the offender of the Russian people, the snake. However, it can also be assumed that this is not mythical image, but an ordinary robber, distinguished by outstanding power to produce a whistle.
There is another hero in the work - Prince Vladimir. Judging by the time of action, Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko is depicted. The prince is shown to be absurd and not very reasonable person. He suddenly becomes angry at the suspicion that in the words of Ilya Muromets there may be a mockery of him, he asks the robber to whistle, although he has heard about the destructive power of his whistle. The image of the prince is described in the mocking tone of the description of kings, traditional for the folk epic.
Analysis of the structure of the work
The action of the epic develops progressively sequentially. A lot of attention is paid to the details and conversations, the description of the characters and the circumstances of the actions. The action itself is conveyed in laconic and precise, but figurative expressions: “stretched a silken string”, “put a red-hot arrow”, “shot” and “knocked out the right eye”.
The epic conveyed the dream of the people about a faithful defender, formidable for the enemy, faithful and just for his own. Ilya Muromets is equally independent of the requests of the people if they do not answer him main goal- to protect the whole Russian land, and not individual cities, and from the attitude of the prince towards him - he is polite and respectful to him, but is not afraid to argue and defend his human dignity.
The work is written in a kind of "epic" style, with repetitions and a leisurely flow of the plot. All the characters have a pronounced individuality, the motives of their actions are explained by the direct speech of the characters, and not by the narrator. Direct speech itself is poetic, replete with figurative expressions.
The epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" is one of the best examples of the epic epic. The characters and the plot are reflected in some non-Slavic epics.
Epics are built according to a certain plan.
Most epics begin with a beginning. It usually refers to the place of action or where and from where the hero went (see the first six lines of the epic “Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber”).
Events in epics are presented in a strict order, sequentially. The story is told slowly, slowly. Since epics lived in oral transmission, their performer said to focus the attention of listeners on especially important, in his opinion, places. For this, repetitions are widely used in epics, usually three times. So, in the epic about Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber, the description of the power of the Nightingale the Robber is repeated three times.
In order to give melodiousness to the epic, to make its presentation more expressive, musical, individual words are often repeated in the epics.
For example:
The straight road is jammed,
The path was choked up, muddied.
In the capital city in Kyiv,
At the affectionate prince at Vladimir.
Repetitions are found not only in the text of the same epic. In different epics, similar actions and phenomena are described in the same way, for example, saddling a heroic horse, a feast at Prince Vladimir, an enemy force, a battle between heroes and enemies, etc.
Such similar descriptions found in different epics (and in fairy tales) are called common places.
Sometimes epics end with a special ending - a conclusion from the entire content of the epics:
Either old, or deed,
that is, it was so in the old days, this is a true story.
The main character of the epics is a Russian hero. To more clearly represent the strength of the hero, the technique of hyperbole (exaggeration) is used. For example, this is how the battle of the hero with the enemy force is described. If the hero waves right hand, a street is formed among the enemy camp, a lane is formed on the left. The club (sword) of the hero weighs forty or even ninety pounds.
If the hero falls asleep, then "a heroic dream for twelve days" (days). To match the hero and his horse: "the first lope of the horse - for many miles, and the second lope - and you can not find it." To emphasize the strength of the Russian hero, his enemy is depicted hyperbolically. The innumerable forces of the enemy gray wolf... do not skip a day, a black crow does not fly around a day.
In epics, as in general in works of oral folk poetry every word is precise and expressive. Over the centuries, folk singers and poets have perfected the language of their poetry, achieving the most accurate and vivid, expressive disclosure through the word of the most essential qualities of the characters and their actions. So, epithets are very rich and diverse in oral poetry - colorful definitions that indicate the most significant feature of people, objects, phenomena of life.
Often the same epithets constantly characterize certain heroes, objects, phenomena of life, nature, etc. Therefore, they are called permanent epithets. In epics, for example, there are such constant epithets: a burly good fellow, great strength, glorious capital Kyiv-grad, a tight bow, a silk string, red-hot arrows.
Comparisons are often used in epics:
Caught up with something black-black,
Black-black, like a black crow.
Pike-fish walk Volga in the blue seas,
Volga fly like a falcon under the shells,
Like a wolf to prowl in open fields.
Negative comparisons are used:
Not a damp oak bends to the ground,
Not paper leaves spread out,
The son bows before the father ...
Wishing to emphasize any shade of the meaning of the word, important, according to folk singer, to understand the narrative, the narrators of epics widely use synonyms: “Volga began to grow and mother”; "And to yell and plow and peasant,"; “Here Ilya felt for trouble, for great annoyance it seemed ...”
An important role in the language of epics is played by nouns with diminutive and endearing suffixes. They express the people's assessment of the heroes of epics. Bogatyrs are often called pet names: Ilyushenka, Dobrynushka Nikitich, Mikulushka Selyaninovich, etc. Suffixes pet meaning are also used in words denoting objects belonging to the hero. He has “hot arrows”, “saddle”, “bridles”, “felt”, “potniki”, etc.
The epic is pronounced in a singsong voice. Obeying the tune, the narrator puts stresses on certain words, while other words, without stresses, seem to merge into one word (“mother earth”, “field-clean”). In this regard, sometimes the word has different stresses in the same one. epic ("Nightingale-Nightingale", "young", "young", "young").
In ancient oral folk poetry there are epics telling about the peaceful, working life Russian people. These are household epics. The most important of them is the epic about Volga and Mikul. It glorifies folk labor. In Ilya Muromets, the people sang the peasant-warrior, the hero - the defender of the motherland. In the image of Mikula, he glorified the peasant farmer, the hero - the breadwinner of the country.
Write a story about Ilya Muromets. First, answer the questions and make a plan1. When did the events described in the epic take place?2. What are the features of that time?
3. When and how did Ilya Muromets become a hero, thanks to what? What did he look like?
4. What character traits of Ilya Muromets are mentioned in epics. What convinces us that Ilya Muromets loved his Motherland and selflessly served her?
5. What actions did the hero do?
6. What are the features of the hero's speech?
Start the story like this:
"Ilya Muromets is the most beloved epic image of the Russian people. No wonder the people themselves say about him:
Like a red sun in the sky,
And one in Rus' Ilya Muromets!
window clerk and did not interfere with him, and he did not notice us at all, but continued to play himself, and from under his fingers very quickly jumped out different sounds. They splashed, and it turned out something very friendly and joyful. I really liked it, and I could have sat and listened like that for a long time, but Boris Sergeevich soon stopped playing. He closed the lid of the piano, and saw us, and cheerfully said: - Oh! What people! Sitting like two sparrows on a branch! Well, so what do you say? I asked: - What are you playing, Boris Sergeevich? He replied: - This is Chopin. I love him so much. I said: - Of course, since you are a singing teacher, you love different songs. He said: - This is not a song. Although I love songs, but this is not a song. What I played is called a much bigger word than just "song". I said: - What is it? In a word? He answered seriously and clearly: - Mu-zy-ka. Chopin - a great composition He composed wonderful music. And I love music more than anything. Then he looked at me carefully and said: - Well, what do you like? More than anything? I answered: - I like a lot of things. And I told him what I love. And about the dog, and about planing, and about the baby elephant, and about the red cavalrymen, and about the little doe on pink hooves, and about the ancient warriors, and about the cool stars, and about the horse's faces, everything, everything ... He listened to me attentively , he had a thoughtful face as he listened, and then he said: - Look! And I didn't know. Honestly, you're still small, don't be offended, but look - you love how much! Mishka intervened at this point. He pouted and said: - And I love Deniska even more different varieties! Think! Boris Sergeevich laughed: - Very interesting! Come on, tell me the secret of your soul. Now it's your turn, take the baton! So get started! What do you love? The bear fidgeted on the windowsill, then cleared his throat and said: - I love rolls, buns, loaves and cake! I love bread, and cake, and cakes, and gingerbread, even Tula, even honey, even glazed. I love drying too, and donuts, bagels, pies with meat, jam, cabbage and rice. I really love dumplings, and especially cheesecakes, if they are fresh, but stale is also okay. You can oatmeal cookies and vanilla crackers. And I also love sprats, saury, pike perch in marinade, gobies in tomato, a part in their own juice, eggplant caviar, sliced zucchini and fried potatoes. I love boiled sausage right madly, if it’s doctor’s, I’ll bet that I’ll eat a whole kilo! And I love the dining room, and tea, and brawn, and smoked, and semi-smoked, and raw smoked! I love this one the most. I really like pasta with butter, noodles with butter, horns with butter, cheese with holes and without holes, with red or white rind - it doesn't matter. I love dumplings with cottage cheese, salty, sweet, sour cottage cheese; I like apples grated with sugar, and then the apples alone, and if the apples are peeled, then I like to eat an apple first, and only then, for a snack - the peel! I love liver, meatballs, herring, bean soup, green pea, boiled meat, toffee, sugar, tea, jam, borzhom, soda with syrup, soft-boiled eggs, hard-boiled, in a bag, mogu and raw. I love sandwiches with just about anything, especially if you spread it thickly mashed potatoes or millet porridge. So ... Well, I won’t talk about halva - what fool does not like halva? I also love duck, goose and turkey. Oh yes! I love ice cream with all my heart. For seven, for nine. Thirteen, fifteen, nineteen. Twenty-two and twenty-eight. Mishka looked around the ceiling and took a breath. Apparently, he was already very tired. But Boris Sergeevich looked at him intently, and Mishka drove on. He muttered: - Gooseberries, carrots, salmon, pink salmon, turnips, borscht, dumplings, although I already said dumplings, broth, bananas, persimmons, compote, sausages, sausage, although I also said sausage ... The bear was exhausted and fell silent. It was clear from his eyes that he was waiting for Boris Sergeevich to praise him. But he looked at Mishka a little displeasedly and even seemed to be stern. He, too, seemed to be waiting for something from Mishka: what else Mishka would say. But Mishka was silent. It turned out that they both expected something from each other and were silent. The first could not stand Boris Sergeevich. “Well, Misha,” he said, “you love a lot, no doubt about it, but everything you love is somehow the same, too edible, or something. It turns out that you love the whole grocery store. And only ... And the people? Who do you love? Or from animals? Here Mishka was all startled and blushed. “Oh,” he said embarrassedly, “I almost forgot! More kittens! And grandma! 1 task. What more than anything else Deniska loves 1. Animal world. 2. Mom and dad. 3. People, animals, books and much more - the whole world. 2 task. How do you understand the words of the author Mishka went on? 1. He began to list further what he would love. 2 Continue on your way. 3. I went to the next stop. 3 task. Did Deniska like the game of Boris Sergeevich? Write down the words that helped you answer.
one). Name the feelings that Fedya experiences when he hears the third song about the bell. 2). Write out sentences from the text that support your answer.here is the story itself: Fedin's task Once, one winter, Fedya Rybkin came from the skating rink. There was no one at home. Younger sister Fedi, Rina, has already managed to do her homework and went to play with her friends. Mother also went somewhere. - That's good! Fedya said. “At least no one will interfere with doing homework.” He turned on the radio, took out a task book from his bag and began to look for a task assigned to him at home. “We are transmitting a concert by request,” a voice announced on the radio. “A concert is good,” Fedya said. - It will be more fun to do homework. He adjusted the loudspeaker so that it was louder, and sat down at the table. - Well, what is it for us at home? Problem number six hundred thirty nine? So ... "Four hundred and fifty sacks of rye were delivered to the mill, eighty kilograms each ..." The sounds of the piano were heard from the loudspeaker and someone's voice sang in a rumbling thick bass: Once upon a time there was a king
A flea lived with him.
Mile brother
She was to him.
The use of constant epithets also characteristic of epics: dark woods, blue rivers, red sun. Many of them are well known to us - we often meet them in Russian folk tales. But some epithets require further clarification.
Meeting in the epic expression red girl, we understand that it is not the red color that is meant, but the beauty of the girl. But open field- it's a foreign land. It was also called the space outside the city, village or forest. In the old days, people called the southern steppes a field, where Russian soldiers fought with nomads. Proverbs related to this have survived to this day: "One man in the field is not a warrior"; "Whose field, that will"; "You can't travel the whole field with one horse"; "Do not brag in the field when you go, but brag when you return from the field."
Use of hyperbole (exaggeration) - also a feature of epics. Russian heroes are extraordinary characters. They have a huge physical strength and incredible, amazing abilities and opportunities. Enemies with whom the heroes fight are also endowed with incredible power: Tugarin Zmeevich, Nightingale the Robber, Poganoe Idolische, Kalin Tsar.
Reality and fiction in epics are closely intertwined. For example, in the epic "Sadko in the underwater kingdom" a description of Veliky Novgorod and the life of Novgorodians is given - this is a reality. But when Sadko falls into the possession of the sea king - this is fiction.
Heroic epics tell about military exploits glorious Russian heroes: Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich and others. They tell about the struggle against the enemies of the Russian land. Historical and household epics talk about heroes folk tales: Svyatogora, Sadko, Vasily Buslaev, Mikula Selyaninovich. They convey the love of Russian people for the land and agricultural labor.
The construction of the epic, the use of constant epithets and other artistic means in it
In literature, epics are also called epic songs, that is, such songs that tell about some events united by the same heroes.
Usually the epic begins with a short introduction - conception, which indicates the time and place of epic events.
For example:
As in glorious city in Kyiv,
At the affectionate prince at Vladimir
It was a feast - an honorable feast ...
After the beginning, the main part follows - narration about the feat. The action in the epic always develops slowly, until it comes climax – highest voltage in the turn of events. denouement action is to defeat the enemy. Crowns the epic always ending. Here is her example:
A special epic poetic world is also created by special artistic means. One of the main features of epics is frequent repetitions. In the epic about the feat of Ilya Muromets, for example, the description of the terrible whistle of the Nightingale the Robber is repeated four times. From this, the robber force seems more powerful, which means that the victory of Ilya Muromets is more significant. Descriptions of ominous omens, prophetic words are also repeated.
In epics, repetitions of both individual words and several lines are used. When in the description of the road along which Ilya Muromets traveled to Kyiv, we meet the repetition of the word bogged down(that is, the road became impassable, impassable), the path of the hero seems to us even more difficult:
The straight road is choked up,
Blocked up the path, walled up ...
Often repetitions create a special melodiousness, smoothness and musicality of epic speech:
Yes, By the glorious River By the Currant ...
In his takes IN his white hands, he IN ruchenki ...
Another notable feature of epics – permanent epithets: wild head, frisky little legs, white hands, sugary lips, burning tears. The field is always clean, the grass is green, the sea is blue, and the sun is red. It is interesting that in all works of oral folk art the sun is said to be red even if it is a cloudy autumn day. The sea is also always blue, even if a storm is depicted: the blue sea has turned black. The girl is characterized by the epithet red, and the good fellow is kind. Bogatyr - Holy Russian, mighty. Mother Holy Rus', mother earth cheese - this is how the heroes of epics affectionately call their homeland.
The enemy in epics is characterized by negative epithets: filthy, evil, damned, godless. Often it is called a dog, a thief.
And here are some more constant epithets that we often find in epics: honey drink, white-stone chambers, damask sword, furry gusels, silk string, straight road, tight onion torn, slanting window, brick floor.
Epics also often use hyperbole - exaggeration. Hyperbolas enlarge the image, help to show the strength and exploits of the heroes brighter and more expressively. The strength of heroes is always extremely exaggerated. For example, Ilya Muromets easily, like a swan's feather, raises a club weighing ninety pounds and with one wave of his hand knocks down entire hordes of enemies. And the heroic horse of Ilya Muromets gallops "above a standing tree, a little below a walking cloud." Dobrynya Nikitich plays the harp in Kyiv, and this tune is heard in Constantinople.
The hero is faced with countless hordes of enemies, whom "a gray wolf cannot jump in three days, a black crow cannot fly around in a day."
And even suffixes play a big role in creating the poetic world of epics and determine the attitude of the narrator to epic heroes. Diminutive suffixes are used in the names of favorite characters: Ilyushenka, Dobrynyushka, Alyoshenka. And derogatory-magnifying suffixes are awarded to the names of their opponents: Idolishche, Serpent.
So bright and varied artistic means epics were created.
Epic bogatyrs
Main characters of all epics - Russian heroes. Each hero is a bright and memorable image. Each of them has its own name and its own biography.
In the epic narrative, the hero usually appears first as the most ordinary person. At a princely feast, among princes, boyars and merchants, he stands out neither by nobility, nor by wealth, nor by special power. But there always comes a moment when it is discovered that the Russian hero has fantastic strength, which allows him to defeat his enemies.
For example, in one of the epics about Ilya Muromets, it is told how Ilya dressed in the dress of a beggar wanderer. I did not recognize the hero in this guise, Idolishe Poganoe, shouted, got angry, pulled out a sharp sword, and threw it at the beggar. Here Ilya Muromets showed his strength - he cut off the head of the Pogany Idol.
The discrepancy between ordinary human size and the ability to wield a many-pound club in epics is never explained. And heroic power, while there is no need for it, also does not manifest itself in any way. And the huge physical strength of the heroes, and the wonderful weapon that is always at hand at the right time - all this is directed to one main goal - the fulfillment of their great duty to protect the Fatherland.
All military affairs of Russian heroes are connected with Kyiv. But they were born and raised in different parts of the Russian land. Ilya Muromets - near the city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo, Dobrynya Nikitich - in Ryazan, Alyosha Popovich - in Rostov.
Russian heroes have their own moral code. They stand up for the weak, unfair offended people. But sometimes epic heroes appear not only powerful, but also merciful, even to their enemies. They are trusting and ingenuous.
Let us recall the epic about Dobryn Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych. Defeated in the first battle, the Serpent Gorynych asks the hero for mercy and promises not to fly to Holy Rus', and he immediately breaks his promise and kidnaps Zabava Putyatichna.
Why did Dobrynya believe him? Because in Rus' the violation of the contract was considered a great shame and was severely punished. Has come down to our days famous proverb, which reminds: "A deal is more valuable than money." Dobrynya could not even imagine that the Serpent might not fulfill his promise. And even when the hero convicted the enemy of this, he offers the Serpent to give the girl voluntarily in order to avoid bloodshed. But the Serpent refuses. The heavy battle lasted three days and three nights, and then Dobrynya finally dealt with the evil Serpent.
In epics, Ilya Muromets personifies wisdom and life experience - he is the eldest at the heroic outpost. The main properties of Dobrynya Nikitich are education, upbringing. Alyosha Popovich is the youngest of the heroes. His most important and striking features are sharpness, cunning, intelligence.
