The literary heritage of A. Pushkin is extremely large and varied, but an appeal to history has always occupied a special place in his work. This also applies to the famous "Song of the Prophetic Oleg," defined by experts as a ballad.
What does this genre suggest and why is the poet referring to it, creating a story about the famous prince?
Features of the genre
Pushkin wrote “The Song of the Thing Oleg” on the basis of the Old Russian annals. It is the appeal to the historical plot that often determines the creation of a ballad, in particular, a historical one. In general, the ballad is a lyro-epic work written in poetic form and characterized by a tense plot. In the case of the “Song ...” Pushkin is a prediction to the prince of death from his beloved horse, and then his death is already from the dust of a faithful friend.
Other signs of a ballad are a strict composition with a string, climax and denouement; strong personality heroes; a mystical or mysterious event that affects the fate of the main character; the feelings of the author are intertwined with the mood and experiences of the images created by him.
How are the features of the ballad in the work of A. Pushkin?
"Song of the Prophetic Oleg": genre and plot
At first glance, the poet simply tells of the exploits of a real historical figure. The Russian prince Oleg, nicknamed the prophet for his sharp mind, wisdom, foresight, ability to withstand even the most insidious enemies - Pushkin in "Song of the Prophetic Oleg", whose genre is a ballad, recalls, for example, a glorious trip to Constantinople - meets a magician who predicted he died from a horse with which the prince never parted. The meeting can hardly be called accidental, since the protagonist is concerned about his future fate. And already here we see signs of a ballad as a genre: a glorious warrior, a really strong and heroic person, is trying to look into the future.
After talking with the magician, Oleg tries to deceive fate and orders to remove the horse from himself. After a few years, having learned that the faithful friend is no longer alive, the prince grumbles at the wizard and goes to the place where the ashes of the fighting friend rest. Here he takes death from a snake crawling out of the skull. Most likely, this episode from the life of a historical figure is mystical, but its essence is that the prediction, once heard from a magician, is completely fulfilled, and, accordingly, the presence of mysticism, rock, randomness inherent in the ballad as the genre “Songs about the Prophetic Oleg” Pushkin, fully justified.
Form of work
In literature, there is the concept of a ballad stanza, when the number of feet in odd and even verses varies. The poet in his work resorts to three- and four-foot amphibrachia with cross (1-3, 2-4) and paired (5-6) rhymes. This gives the narrative an even, calm tone and fully confirms that Pushkin's work “A Song about the Prophetic Oleg” belongs to the ballad genre.
Noteworthy are the trails, which play a large role in creating images. Thus, epithets (“Oleg - prophetic”, “Khazars - unreasonable”, etc.) give expressiveness and lyricism to the narrative, comparisons (the snake is likened to a “black ribbon”), personifications (“wash the rains”), metaphors (about the prince - “Years are sparing the winner”). Relatives of the work with a ballad are also archaisms (ax, trisen), obsolete designs.
The main idea of the ballad
Unlike the annalistic source, the poet pays little attention to the description of the exploits of the prince. For him, the main thing is the meeting of the hero with the sorcerer, suggesting the destiny of man and his inevitable fate. This is precisely what the genre points out in the work of A. S. Pushkin, “A Song about the Prophetic Oleg”.
The theme of rock, as noted above, is a distinctive feature of the ballad. But with Pushkin, it is closely connected with another idea no less important for the author - about the appointment of the poet and his relationship with the authorities.
Oleg could not resist fate: abandoning his horse, he obeyed her will. But even in this case, the rock overtook him, so the prince, who won many military battles, can not be considered the winner in this difficult and somewhat mystical battle with his own destiny.
Another thing is the wizard. During the conversation, he does not bow before the great Oleg, personifying power and strength, but emphasizes that the magi always and everywhere tell only the truth, since they are submissive only to the gods. It is the proud answer of the magician that attracts Pushkin in “The Song of the Thing Oleg” - her genre is defined as a ballad, and the main idea is the true purpose of poetry. The correctness of this is emphasized by the fact that the predictor ultimately turned out to be right: no matter how Oleg tried to avoid fate, she still overtook him, and mystically and at the most unexpected moment. And this gives the final answer to the question, what is the genre of “Songs about the Prophetic Oleg” by Pushkin.