"The Word of Igor's Campaign": analysis. "A word about Igor's regiment": summary

"The Word of Igor's Regiment" is an outstanding monument of Old Russian literature, written in the 12th century. Reading this work still positively affects people, opens up new horizons for them.

"The word about Igor's regiment." History of the work

“The Word of Igor’s Regiment” is a literary masterpiece, a work created in Ancient Russia. This work was written closer to the beginning of the twelfth century, and in 1795 it was found by Count Alexei Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin. In 1800, it was printed. The original “Words” disappeared in a fire in 1812, during the Great Patriotic War of the Russian people with the French.

Summary of the work

Analysis of "The Word of Igor’s Regiment" shows that this work has a composition that is quite typical for the creations of ancient Russian literature. In its composition there is a beginning and the main part, as well as a toast.

Zachin is a greeting of the author to readers, and also slightly reveals the opinion of the author about the events that he will describe. The author wants to tell everything about the campaign of Prince Igor honestly, without hiding, without unnecessary speculation. A model for him is the famous artist Boyan, who always not only followed the ancient epics, but also poetically praised the princes contemporary to him.

The analysis “The Word about Igor’s Regiment” briefly shows that the author outlined the chronological boundaries of the narrative in this way: he talks about the life of Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kiev, and then gradually goes on to describe the life of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich.

The plot of the work

The Russian army is sent to fight the formidable enemy - the Polovtsy. Before the start of the campaign, the sun closes the sky, a solar eclipse begins. Any other resident of Ancient Russia would be horrified and abandon their plans, but Prince Igor is not like that. He and his army nevertheless go forward. This happened on the first of May 1185. Igor’s intentions are supported by his brother, Bui Tour Vsevolod.

Having passed a certain interval of the way, Igor meets an ambush of Polovtsy. Their number far exceeds the number of Russian people. But the Russians still start the battle.

Igor and Bui tour Vsevolod triumph in the first battle over the Polovtsy. Satisfied, they allow themselves to relax. But they do not see and do not feel that their forces are exhausted, and the number of Polovtsian troops still exceeds the number of Russians many times over. The next day, the Polovtsian troops attack the Russian army and defeat it. Many Russian soldiers were killed, Prince Igor was taken prisoner.

All over Russian land there is a cry for the dead, and the Polovtsy, who won the battle, triumph. The victory of the Polovtsy over Igor’s army caused the Russian land a lot of misfortune. Many soldiers were killed, and the Polovtsians continued to plunder the Russian land.

Svyatoslav of Kiev

The analysis "The Word about Igor's Regiment", the composition of which is attributed to an unknown author, tells about a strange dream of Svyatoslav of Kiev, in which he saw himself on a funeral feast. And his dream came true.

When Svyatoslav learned about the defeat of the Russian troops, he fell into grief. Prince Igor was captured. He lived under the supervision of the Polovtsy, but once one of them, Laurus, invited him to hide. This was due to the fact that the Polovtsy decided to kill all the Russian prisoners. Igor agreed to run. Under cover of night, he saddled a horse and secretly rode through the Polovtsian camp.

He made his way to the Donets River for eleven days, and the Polovtsy pursued him. As a result, Igor managed to get to the Russian land. In Kiev and in Chernigov he was greeted with joy. The “Word” ends with a beautiful poetic paraphrase addressed to Prince Igor and his squad.

Characters "Words about Igor's Regiment"

The main character of “Words about Igor’s Regiment” is, of course, Prince Igor Svyatoslavich. This is an outstanding commander, for whom the main thing is to defeat the enemy and protect the Russian land. Together with his brother and with his victorious army, he is ready for anything for the glory of the motherland.

By the way, if you look for the analysis "The Word of Igor's Regiment", grade 9, you can find it in the libraries of our schools.

Igor Svyatoslavich makes a mistake due to which his army is defeated, Russian wives remain widows, and children are orphans.

Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev is a man who wants peace and quiet for Russia, he condemns Igor and his brother Vsevolod for the haste in making decisions and for the sadness that they brought to the Russian land. Svyatoslav stands for the unification of the princes, for their joint action against the Polovtsians.

The image of Yaroslavna in the work

Yaroslavna - the wife of Igor - is the central female character of "Words about Igor's Regiment". If we carry out the analysis “The Word about Igor’s Regiment”, Yaroslavna’s crying will turn out to be the most expressive part in the whole work. Yaroslavna cries on the highest defense tower of Putivl (this city was closer to the Polovtsian steppe). She speaks with the elements. By the power of her words they get inspiration. She reproaches the wind for dispelling her fun on a feather grass, turning to the Dnieper and the sun.

The analysis “The Word about Igor’s Regiment”, a summary of which you can read in the articles of linguistic researchers, shows that Yaroslavna aroused much more interest in subsequent generations than the main character of the work, and her Lament was translated into many languages. The author of the Word believes that the Crying Yaroslavna had an impact on natural forces, and therefore Igor Svyatoslavich managed to escape from captivity. The most famous embodiment of the image of Yaroslavna is in the opera of A. B. Borodin “Prince Igor” (written from 1869 to 1887).

Polovtsy in the "Word of Igor's Regiment"

The main opponents of Prince Igor and the Russian army in the work are Polovtsy. These are the inhabitants of the field, that is, the endless steppe, the Russian plains

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The relations of the Russian people with the Polovtsy were different, they could be friends, they could be at war. By the 12th century, their relationship is becoming hostile. If we analyze the “Words about Igor’s Regiment”, Svyatoslav’s golden word warns Igor against friendship with the Polovtsy. But his relationship with the Polovtsy remains generally not so bad. According to historical studies, Igor Svyatoslavich had good relations with the Polovtsian khans Kobyak and Konchak. His son even married Konchak's daughter.

The cruelty of the Polovtsians, which was emphasized by all subsequent historians, was no more than the customs of that time demanded. Prince Igor, being held captive by the Polovtsy, could even confess in the Christian church. In addition, the interaction of the Russians with the Polovtsy benefited the Russian people, who did not fall under the influence of the Catholic Church. In addition, Russian goods were sold in the Polovtsian markets, for example, in Trebizond and Derbent.

Historical background "Words about Igor’s regiment"

Analysis of "The Word of Igor's Regiment" shows that this work was created in those years when Russia was divided into separate parts.

The value of Kiev as the center of the Russian land by that time almost disappears. Russian principalities become separate states, and the separation of their lands is fixed at the Lyubech Congress in 1097.

The agreement concluded between the princes at the congress was violated, all major cities began to strive for independence. But few noticed that Russia needed protection, that enemies were already coming from all directions. Polovtsy rose and began to fight with the Russian people.

In the middle of the 11th century, they already constituted a serious danger. The “Word about Igor’s Regiment”, the analysis of which we are trying to conduct, is a story about the tragic clash between Russians and Polovtsy.

The Russians could not effectively resist the Polovtsy for the reason that they could not agree with them in any way. Constant squabbles weakened the power of the once great Russian state. Yes, at this time in Russia there was an economic upsurge, but it was leveled due to the fact that the links between various farms were weak.

At this time, there is a gradual establishment of contacts between Russian people. Russia is soon preparing to unite into a single whole, but at this time there are too many problematic factors.

The author of this work writes not only about the military operations of Russians against Polovtsy. He admires the beauty of the native steppes and forests, the picturesque nature of nature. If you analyze the "Word of Igor’s Regiment", nature plays one of the main roles in it. She helps Prince Igor to escape from captivity and return to Russia. Wind, sun and the Dnieper River become its main allies on the way from the Polovtsian kingdom home.

The authenticity of "Words about Igor's Regiment"

Almost immediately after the "Word of Igor's Regiment" was printed, doubts began to arise about its authenticity. Since the manuscript of this work burned down in a fire in 1812, only the first printed edition and manuscript copy were left for analysis and study.

Researchers doubted that the work is genuine, for various reasons. The fact is that it was not possible to find out the identity of the author, and secondly, against the background of the rest of the works of that era, the Word was very beautiful, it seemed unrealistic that such a thing could be written in the 12th century.

In 1963, a prominent historical figure A. A. Zimin suggested, after analyzing "The Word of Igor's Campaign", the golden word of Svyatoslav in which it seemed to him suspicious that the work in the 18th century was written by Joel Bykovsky, then archimandrite of the Spaso-Yaroslavl monastery.

But soon new evidence of the authenticity of the "Words about Igor's Regiment" appeared. An irrefutable proof of this was the “Codex Cumanicus”, a dictionary of the Polovtsian language, which was compiled at the end of the 13th century. It was somehow bought by the great Italian poet Francesco Petrarch. It is known that in the “Word” there are often borrowings from the Polovtsian language, that is, Polovtsian words. The same words can be found in Codex Cumanicus. It is reliably known that the Polovtsian people as such ceased to exist in the Middle Ages. Therefore, fraud in this case can not be. Already in the eighteenth century, no one in Russia knew the Polovtsian speech, and therefore could not insert the Polovtsian words into the text of the work.

The analysis "The Word of Igor's Campaign", a golden word about which academician Likhachev once said, with the help of Codex Cumanicus, made an invaluable contribution to the study of Russian literature. It was also impossible to fake Codex Cumanicus: the fact is that this dictionary was bequeathed by Petrarch in 1362 to the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, where it was stored until 1828. This year, German orientalist Julius Heinrich Klaprot found this book and published it. And in the second half of the nineteenth century, Russian Orientalists got acquainted with Codex Cumanicus.

Place of writing "The Word of Igor's Campaign"

The analysis “The Word about Igor’s Regiment” suggests that this work is filled with love for the Russian land and its people. The place of writing of this work is, most likely, Novgorod. And he created it Novgorod. This can be judged by the dialect phrases that come across in the "Word", and which were then used in Novgorod. These are words such as "Karna, Osmomysl, Haraluzhny, Goreslavich."

"The Word of Igor's Regiment" - an analysis of this work clearly indicates that the author is from Novgorod. He mentions the city of Dudutki, which was then near Novgorod. Monetary units, which the analysis “The Word of Igor’s Regiment” mentions, legata and rezan, researchers find only in one of the oldest chronicles - in Novgorod. There are no such words in the Ipatiev and Lavrentiev annals . Patronymics Goreslavich and Osmomysl mentioned in the "Word on Igor's Regiment" were also found by researchers in Novgorod manuscripts and birch bark letters.

The northern origin of the author of the Word is also confirmed by the fact that the northern lights are mentioned in the composition. With his help, God showed Prince Igor how to get home from captivity. Probably, the author of the "Word" was beyond the Arctic Circle and saw the northern lights there.

Studying the "Words about Igor's Regiment"

The “Word about Igor’s Regiment”, the analysis of which is very interesting for all readers of this literary work, has been carried out since the end of the eighteenth century, that is, from the time when the manuscript was found by Count Musin-Pushkin. At first, it was difficult to work with the Word. Firstly, it had to be translated. Secondly, it was necessary to interpret all obscure places, all difficult metaphors. Especially many prominent scientists studied the "Word" in Soviet times, among them - Academician A. Likhachev and O. Tvorogov. They sought to restore the original version of the "Word" and give it a correct interpretation.

Studying the “words about Igor’s regiment” at school

“The Word of Igor’s Regiment” has long been studied in high school and in universities. His study in grades 7, 8, 9. For a better study of the work, various means are used, including the disk on which the plot of the ancient Russian work is captured. The Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve specializes in the study of the Word, and schoolchildren have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with various materials related to this topic.

Mysteries of the work

Despite the fact that the “Word on Igor’s Regiment” was studied carefully and for a long time, researchers still do not understand everything in the text of the work.

The analysis of the “Words about Igor’s Regiment”, the nature of which is still not fully explained, still shows that much remains to be explored. So, it is unclear whether the author of the Word wrote about ordinary animals, or whether they meant Polovtsy, which had the names of animal ancestors. It is still unclear why Prince Igor visited Pirogoshaya Church in Kiev. All these puzzles are still waiting for their researchers.