Epics are a type of oral folk art in a song-epic manner. Their plot, as a rule, is based on a description of an extraordinary event from the past or a notable historical episode. The heroes of the epic epic are diverse in character, but their power is always turned to fight evil. Enemies of the heroes are described no less colorful, each character is a characteristic villain. Examples of epics are numerous, but some need to be highlighted, this will be discussed in this article.
How did the literary term "bylina" appear
The current name was proposed in 1839 by philologist Ivan Sakharov, who published his essay in the publication "Songs of the Russian People." The scientist used the expression "according to epics", which means "according to the facts." "Dust", "past", "bylina" - the linguistic choice was successful.
Traditionally, epics are divided into two broad cycles: Kiev and Novgorod. The main number of characters is associated with the first, and plots dominate in it, which feature the capital city of Kiev and the courtyard of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, and later Vladimir Monomakh.
The epic heroes-heroes are: Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, Stavr Godinovich, Churilo Plenkovich, Mikhailo Potyk. Novgorod's epic heroes are Sadko the gusher-merchant and the hero Vasily Buslaev. The "older" Kiev heroes are Mikula Selyaninovich, Svyatogor and Volga.
Research scientists
Examples of epics are characterized by the fact that no one wrote them down until the 18th century. The first collection in the authorship of Kirsha Danilov was created in Moscow only in 1804. And only after that did the updated reprints follow. In the wake of interest in the epic epic in 1830-1850, the Slavophile Kireyevsky Pyotr Vasilyevich organized a universal collection of folklore works. In a short time, he and his assistants recorded several hundred epic tales in the Volga region and northern provinces, and then in Siberia and the Urals. The result of the work of a group of researchers was 80 subjects.
In general, examples of the epic epic were completely systematized in a short time, and philologists got the opportunity to work with extensive epic material. The result of this was the use of folklore in dissertations and scientific works. The most significant examples of the epic work of the Russian people were brought to the international level.
Most of the legends of the past had a mythological basis with a description of elemental phenomena of an extreme nature and heroes overcoming their consequences. Moreover, this has always been done successfully. Over the course of several centuries, the epics in every possible way were remade, redrawn, and reduced. At one time, legends were mixed with oral folklore of the West, but this ended with profanity, and such attempts were stopped in the future. In the end, the epic epic streamlined.
Characteristic signs
Gradually, the epics took on a stable folklore and literary form, and thus a very definite poetic style appeared, consisting of a combination of dactyl with chorea, and later of anapaestas. There was practically no rhyme; everything was based on the harmony of the verse and its musicality. The poetic epics differed from the "wanderings", primitive expositions in prose, which as art were not accepted by the public. The syllable of genuine epic is always rich in poetic turns, saturated with epithets, allegories and comparisons. At the same time, the verses are clear and logical in their sound.
Usually the poetic epic was divided into two parts. The narrator, according to the first, had to improvise, present the texts as if from himself, and the second part obliged him to follow a certain scheme, typically convey the content in an exact presentation, without changing a single word. Thus, a verbal mosaic was obtained, which did not always look organic. Much depended on the talent of the narrator.
Ilya Muromets, epic hero
"... He lived near the city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo, a peasant of a heroic growth, but could not walk, everything was lying on the stove. Ilya saddened that his legs didn’t go. He heard robbers rob people on the roads, Zmey Gorynych in Russia atrocities, the girls have completely wiped out all. How to help my native land, Ilya was still sad.
Wanderers helped that they came to drink water. They conjured and corrected the legs of Ilya Muromets, he stood up, and he gained a power that had never been seen before. I bought a good horse for myself, groomed, slept in the morning dew, and Ilya began to catch a horse, strong and fast.
Ilya gathered, saddled Burushka, but galloped around to restore order in Russia, only they saw him. "
Sadko
Russian folklore is distinguished by a variety of plots and decorativeness. Heroes fall either on the island where the monsters live, or in the depths of the ocean, where they are waiting for the king of the sea with mermaids.
Bylina "Sadko" - one of the best epic works. Based on her motives, the Rimsky-Korsakov opera of the same name was created. In addition, the epic "Sadko" served as the plot for the film directed by Alexander Ptushko with Sergei Stolyarov and Alla Larionova in the lead roles.
“... In glorious Novograd, there lived as a merchant Sadko, rich, handsome. Previously, only gusli were at his place, they invited him to play at feasts, so he lived. Yes, but they didn’t call him more than once, not two, or three, Sadko thought, went out to Ilmen Lake, sat down on a white-combustible stone, touched the strings.
Water rose in waves, the king of the sea appeared. "You play well, Sadko! How to thank you? Al treasury of gold? Come on to Novograd and strike a great mortgage. Lay a wild head against the merchandise of a red merchant, exorbitant share. Yes, tell me: there is gold fish in Ilmen Lake. How hit a mortgage, go ashore with a silk net. I'll give you three gold fish-feathers. "
Novogradsky merchants lost all their goods to the red gusli Sadko, he began to bargain, receive great profits. He got rich and returned the merchants their red goods. And he began to live on his new wealth. And how Sadko sailed over the seas and brought his wife - that's another story ... "
Bogatyrs Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich
Among the Russian epic images there are heroes whom the storytellers endow with unprecedented power, and at the same time they live in an unusual environment, to match their fabulous power.
Bylina “Volga and Mikula” is a magnificent example of a folklore work, which shows how the heroes of the Russian epos unite to fight the atrocities in Russia. At that time of troubles, the bureaucracy in Russia went wild, all issues were resolved only for bribes. A simple plowman Mikula Selyaninovich suffered from the unlawful actions of the "sovereign services", and the epic "Volga and Mikula" tells about this.
“... The night scattered the stars across the sky, and a young hero Volga Vseslavievich was born in the morning in Mother Russia. The infant slept for one hour, stretched out, and all the diapers, gold belts burst. And so Volga said to his mother: "Ma'am, don’t swaddle me, put on armor in iron, with a helmet and hand, give a stopudovaya club." Mother got scared, and Volga grows by leaps and bounds, grows and learns to read and write. As he turned six, he went for a walk, the earth shook. The animals hid, the birds flew away, and Volga let us think up all kinds of fun: either it will become a falcon and will fly up into the sky, then it will jump around a deer, or it will turn into a gray wolf. And as the hero knocked for 15 years, then he did good deeds. And which ones is another story ... "
Mikula Selyaninovich
“... In the early sun Volga and his squad gathered their taxes across the cities to collect, they drove, maybe a mile and a half, as they hear - someone nearby plows, plows them on pebbles with a plow. We went to the plowman, but they couldn’t reach, by the evening they didn’t, the next day they didn’t, we can only hear the ploughshare plowing and the plowman whistling. We arrived on the third day, at sunset. Volga got off his horse, bowed to the plowman in his belt: "Hello, good man, a laborer in the field!" "Be healthy, Volga Vseslavovich! Where are you going?"
How long, briefly, they talked about this and that, and together we went robbers on the big road to frighten. One hundred cities and a thousand villages were liberated, and there was that plowman - Mikula Selyaninovich, the Russian hero. They became friends with Volga, and rightly the next day there was all evil spirits, they brought out clean. And what a feast they had on oak tables and in the forest - another bylina will tell about this ... "
Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber
Most of the works of the Russian epic are textbook, time is not dominant over them, and their popularity is growing from year to year. Masterpieces are included in school curricula, and research is carried out on them. Bylina "The Nightingale the Robber and Ilya Muromets" is just such a work.
“... The Nightingale sits on a raw oak, a robber, Odikhmantiev son. It will whistle like a nightingale, or it will scream like an animal. Either from a whistle, or from a roar, the grass-murava died, the azure flowers fell, the dark forest bent to the ground, and who are of the people - all the dead are lying. A five-hundred-mile straight road died down, and a thousand roundabouts.
A Cossack Ilya Muromets drove here, he takes a bow tight, pulled a string of silk, put a red-hot arrow. Shot at that on the raw oak of the Nightingale of the Robber. Yes, he knocked out an eye and lowered it to the ground, tied it to a stepladder and drove it across a clean field past a nest and a nightingale ... "