The fundamental study "The Slavic Poetic Views of Nature" belongs to the famous scientist, folklorist and fairy tale collector Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev. A three-volume work is devoted to the analysis of folklore and philology of the Slavic language in comparison with the folklore sources of other Indo-European nationalities.
We will open the door to the world of this book and after the scientist we will learn the secrets of the Slavs' perception of nature, its poetic reflection in the images of mythology.
Nonrandom author
The famous storyteller and folklorist A.N. Afanasyev was born on July 11, 1826 in the county town of Boguchar, in the south of the Voronezh province. After graduating from high school, he entered the law faculty of Moscow University in 1844. In addition to compulsory lectures on jurisprudence and jurisprudence, he attended lectures on history, folklore, and linguistics. These additional classes influenced the further choice of professional activity. Under the influence of the work of the linguist scientist Buslaev, he begins to study the rites and myths of the ancient Slavs.
As a student, in 1847, he published in the journal Sovremennik an article entitled The State Economy under Peter the Great, which played a fatal role in the life of a future scientist. The article seemed too freethinking to the Minister of Education, and Afanasyev was deprived of the right to teach. Therefore, after graduation, he was sent to the Moscow archive, where he served for more than 13 years.
This was the time of the formation of a new approach to the study of myths in science, and for Afanasyev it was the most fruitful and determining stage of formation as a scientist. He writes works and studies on the history of the culture of the ancient Slavs: "Grandfather Brownie", "Vedun and the Witch", "Religious and pagan meaning of the hut of the Slav" and many others, including the famous "Pagan traditions about the island of Buyan".
All works written during this period will later be included in the scientific work “Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature,” crowning the scientific work of A. Afanasyev.
This book has become not only a valuable, deep and systematic study, but also turned into a source of inspiration for artists, poets, writers.
A live study of the word, its origins, made him turn to Alexei Tolstoy, Sergei Yesenin, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky .... Why? The author of the book will answer this question.
A. N. Afanasyev, "Poetic view of the Slavs on nature", quote:
The rich and, one might say, the only source of diverse mythical representations is the living human word, with its metaphorical and consonant expressions.
History of the book
From 1855 to 1859 Afanasyev published "Folk Russian Tales" and the collection "Folk Russian Legends", books in which the scientist analyzes and comprehends the elemental nature of folk art.
Here is what was written in the preface to the first edition:
The purpose of this publication is to explain the similarity of fairy tales and legends among different peoples, point out their scientific and poetic significance and present examples of Russian folk tales.
The next publication of Russian Treasured Tales caused a scandal and was banned by censorship along with a book about legends. For this publication, Afanasyev was accused in 1862 of anti-religiosity and the harm of research (at the same time they remembered the connection with Herzen), in connection with which the scientist was forbidden to be in the public service.
In spite of such a dramatic development of his creative biography, the tireless scientist continues his research and combines all the material collected from previous research into the fundamental work “Slavic Poetry on Nature”.
Based on the collected material, Afanasyev built a theory of the emergence of Slavic myths, methods of studying them, and also drew parallels between the historical and linguistic roots of the beliefs of other peoples of the world.
Mythology Plastic
According to the author, myths during their existence undergo changes in semantic content, which are associated with a number of circumstances. There are several such reasons.
"Poetic views of the Slavs on nature" (Afanasyev) and analysis of the development of myths:
- The fragmentation of the myth based on the fact that phenomena in nature become the basis for their mythologization, the invention of metaphorical legends. But the forms of the images could be held in different ways in the people's memory: in some sections of the population some deities aroused sympathy, in other regions other legends were held. The fragmentation of the myth took place, its partial extinction, oblivion on the basis of domestic or geographical differences.
- The loss of the original meaning of the myth. The poetic imagery of folk oral art drew inspiration from the elements that surrounded the person, but over time, the origins of the metaphoric language were lost or forgotten, the gods more and more acquired human features. So, thunderous battles are replaced by human wars, the gods descend to earth, turning into shepherds and blacksmiths forging lightning from heaven. Then they completely turned into heroes - people endowed with divine features of courage, strength, foresight. Based on this, a fusion of myth and history took place. Mythology acquired historical features, tied to dates and events in people's lives.
- Canonization and generalization. The spiritual development of peoples and the strengthening of the state led to the fact that myths adopted as evidence of the life of the gods were literary processed in accordance with the laws and logic of the current time, put in chronological order, and then in the doctrine of the birth of the world, its development and the life of the gods. Everything dubious and inexplicable was removed, a canon was formed with the hierarchical order of the gods, with the ruler at the head. New ideas in the life of society, the acquisition of new knowledge by people polish myths, spiritualizing them, endowing them with new properties of the former rulers-gods. For example, cloud maidens become prophetic and wise fortune tellers who endow mortals with the gifts of foresight, poetic inspiration, creative creativity, etc.
Poetic views of the Slavs on nature, quotes:
From these mythical foundations a whole series of legendary legends was created ...
Poetics of the sun and transformations in nature
In the 19th century, a turning point in the methodology of studying the Slavic mythology passed, a tradition was formed for a new reading of myths from the standpoint of "natural mythology", that is, a fundamentally new one was that the basis of mythology is peoples' attempts to explain natural phenomena.
A.N. Afanasyev not only shared these views, but also founded the so-called solar-meteorological school for the study of Slavic myths. In his book, he repeatedly emphasizes and gives examples of the fact that myth is the oldest poetry, filled with a metaphorical and figurative perception of the world and natural phenomena.
The collective poet and creator of mythology was the people who created both language and myths.
Thanks to the quotation from Afanasyev, from the "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature", you can understand how the scientific meaning of the word characterizes the creation of myths:
Until now, in our regional dialects and in monuments of oral folk literature, one can hear that figurative expression, which shows that a word for a commoner is not always just a sign indicating a well-known concept, but that at the same time it paints the most characteristic shades of the subject and bright, picture features of the phenomenon.
Alexander Afanasyev and his work "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature"
Reflecting on the poetics of the word, the author takes out the deepest meanings of the words, many of which are now forever gone or altered beyond recognition. Accordingly, the mythological roots of tales and legends underwent changes.
Here are some examples from the remarkable book of A. Afanasyev "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature" of the old meanings of words that are now almost never found or have received simple and not as beautiful images and meanings as before:
- zybun - loose soil in a swamp;
- run - running water;
- lei (from the verb pour) - heavy rains;
- hayfoot - light but continuous rain;
- listoder - autumn wind;
- crawler - a blizzard that spreads low on the ground;
- odran - a skinny horse;
- lizun - cow tongue;
- kurotsap - hawk;
- karkun - the raven;
- chilly frog;
- ponura - a pig;
- izeduha - an evil person;
- babble - a dog;
- Lepetailo - language;
- Zhivulechka is a child.
All these old ideas, expressed in words, tell about the imagery and perception of the surrounding world by our Slavic ancestors, their idea of objects, pictures of nature, which became a source of information. In this context, nature is the most lively and visual participant in the life of peoples.
Slavic mythology - a documented history of the poetry of the people
Three volumes of the publication of the original scientific research, built on fairy tales, legends, myths and stories, are divided into three global channels of study.
- The first volume tells the reader about the direct identification of the animal world with natural phenomena. Here are legends about the Slavic gods of different hierarchies, tales of living and dead water, the existence of self-swallowing wolves instead of the usual tales with the participation of the Gray Wolf. The reader will get acquainted with the Pig-golden bristle, which in ancient times was the keeper, a kind of home charm, a symbol of well-being; with the dream of the ancient Slavs about conquering heaven with the help of flying ships.
- The author devoted the second volume to unusually exciting stories about the history of the island of Buyana, about the sacraments of fortune telling, about the role of brownies in daily help to people. The second volume also contains many stories about treasures, giants and dwarfs, orchards with young apples and love stories about the abduction of beautiful women.
- The mystical myths and legends are devoted to the third volume of Afanasyev's "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature." To the rustle of pages, the reader will visit the most unusual worlds: among cloudy maidens-swans, he will learn about the baptism of cuckoos, an evil watch. There are terrible tales about ghouls and werewolves, about sorcerers and trials over them, about mermaids, calling a person to another world of eternal peace and happiness.
Holidays and traditions, ceremonies and everyday life - all the curious reader will find in the third volume of the collection.
Book value
A characteristic feature of this fascinating collection is the fact that the author analyzes the information of myths and fairy tales from the point of view of their modification on the basis of modern scientific research.
Having arisen “in the sky” under the influence of poetic images of light, darkness, rainbow, rain, sun or wind, the good and evil elements descended to the earth, penetrating the human world in the form of evil dwarfs or witches, water and wood goblin. The images of natural elements in the popular mind took the most bizarre forms, telling about events in the world around them. Often legends tell about the struggle of people with all kinds of evil spirits.
When creating the book, Afanasyev investigated the epos of various nationalities, the works of linguists and dialectologists, extracting material from folk tales, the provincial press, in ancient manuscripts, etc.
The grandiose plan for the application of the new methodology, the huge amount of material attracted brings the work "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature" into the category of encyclopedic and at the same time interesting literature for a wide range of readers.
The book is unique in its significance and contribution to the world science of folklore, it is considered unsurpassed in revealing the living connections between the development of language and the history of traditions; resurrects and explores the secrets of Russian thinking, chimerical fantasies and mysteries of the development of the Slavs.