Examples of epics. Heroes of Russian epics

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Epics - a kind of oral folk art in a song-epic manner. Their plot, as a rule, is built on the description of some extraordinary event from the past or a significant historical episode. The heroes of the epic epic are diverse in character, but their power is always turned to the fight against evil. The enemies of the heroes are described no less colorfully, 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 "epic" appear

The current name was proposed in 1839 by the philologist Ivan Sakharov, who published his abstract in the publication "Songs of the Russian People". The scientist used the expression "according to epics", which means "according to the facts." "Real story", "bylina", "epic" - the linguistic choice turned out to be successful.

Traditionally, epics are divided into two extensive cycles: Kyiv and Novgorod. The main number of characters is connected with the first, and plots dominate in it, in which the capital city of Kyiv and the court of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, and later VladimirMonomakh.

Epic heroes-heroes are: Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, Stavr Godinovich, Churilo Plenkovich, Mikhailo Potyk. Novgorod epic heroes are the merchant Sadko and the bogatyr Vasily Buslaev. "Senior" Kyiv heroes - Mikula Selyaninovich, Svyatogor and Volga.

Scientific research

Examples of epics are characterized by the fact that no one wrote them down until the 18th century. The first collection authored by Kirsha Danilov was created in Moscow only in 1804. And only after that followed the supplemented reprints. In the wake of interest in the epic epic in 1830-1850, the Slavophil Kireevsky Petr Vasilyevich organized a widespread 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 plots.

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 works in dissertations and scientific works. The most significant examples of the epic creativity of the Russian people were brought to the international level.

Most of the epic tales had a mythological basis with a description of extreme natural phenomena and heroes who overcome their consequences. And it has always been successful. For several centuries, epics in every possible way altered, redrawn and shortened. At one time, stories were mixed with oral folklore works of the West, but this ended in profanity, and such attempts were subsequently suppressed. In the end, the epic epic was streamlined.

Characteristics

Gradually, epics took on a stable folklore and literary form, and thus a quite definite poetic style appeared, consisting of a combination of dactyl with trochee, and later of anapaests. There was practically no rhyme, everything was based on the harmony of the verse and its musicality. Poetic epics differed from "visits", primitive presentations in prose, which, as art, were not accepted by the public. The syllable of a true 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 a poetic epic was divided into two parts. The narrator, in accordance with the first, had to improvise, present the texts as if on his own, and the second part obliged him to follow a certain scheme, typically convey the content in an accurate 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 storyteller.

Ilya Muromets, epic hero

… He lived near the city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo, a peasant of heroic growth, but he could not walk, he was lying on the stove. Gorynych in Russia is outrageous,already wiped out all the girls. How to help the native land, Ilya was sad.

The wanderers who came in to drink some water helped. They conjured and straightened the legs of Ilya Muromets, he got up, he gained an unprecedented strength. I bought a good horse for myself, groomed it, softened it in the morning dew, and the horse began to match Ilya, strong and fast.

Ilya got ready, saddled Burushka, and galloped to restore order in Russia, only they saw him."

Sadko

Russian folklore is distinguished by a variety of plots and decorativeness. The heroes find themselves either on an island where monsters live, or in the depths of the ocean, where the king of the sea with mermaids is waiting for them.

Epic "Sadko" is one of the best epic works. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera of the same name was created based on her motives. 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 the glorious Novograd, how the merchant Sadko lived, rich, stately. Previously, he had only gusli yarovchaty, they invited him to play at feasts, and that was how he lived. Yes, but they didn’t call him more than once, or twice, or three, Sadko thought, went out to Ilmen Lake, sat down on a white-flammable stone, touched the strings.

The water surged up in waves, the king of the sea appeared. "You play well, Sadko! How can I thank you? Al with a golden treasury? Go to Novograd and hit the big mortgage. Pawn a wild little head against the goods of the red merchant, for an exorbitant share. Yes, tell me: there is golden fish in Ilmen Lake. How you'll hit the betgo ashore with a silk net. I will give you three golden fish feathers."

The merchants of Novogradsky lost all their red goods to Sadko, he began to trade, to get great profits. He got rich and returned the red goods to the merchants. And he himself began to live on his new we alth. And how Sadko sailed across the seas and brought his wife is another story …"

Bogatyrs Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich

Among Russian epic images there are heroes whom the narrators endow with unprecedented power, and at the same time they live in an unusual environment, a match for their fabulous power.

The epic "Volga and Mikula" is a great example of a folklore work, which shows how the heroes of the Russian epic unite to fight the atrocities in Russia. At that troubled time, the bureaucracy in Russia was unrestrained, all issues were resolved only for bribes. The simple plowman Mikula Selyaninovich suffered from the illegal actions of the "state services", and the epic "Volga and Mikula" tells about this.

“… The night scattered the stars across the sky, and by the morning in Mother Russia the hero young Volga Vseslavievich was born. The baby slept for one hour, stretched, and all the diapers burst, golden belts. And so Volga said to mother: “Madame mother, don’t swaddle me, dress me in iron armor, put a helmet in my hands and put a hundred-pound club in my hands.” Mother was frightened, and Volga grows by leaps and bounds, grows and learns to read and write. When I was six years old, I went for a walk, the earth shook. The animals hid, the birds flew away, and Volga, come on all sortscome up with fun: it will become a falcon and take off into the sky, then it will jump like a deer, or it will turn into a gray wolf. And when the hero turned 15 years old, it was then that he did good deeds. And which ones - this is another story …"

Mikula Selyaninovich

“… In the early sun, Volga gathered with his retinue to collect taxes in the cities, drove, maybe a mile away, as they hear - someone is plowing nearby, scratching the pebbles with a plow. We went to the plowman, but they couldn’t get there, we didn’t get there in the evening, we didn’t get there the next day, you can only hear how the plowshare strikes and the plowman whistles. We arrived on the third day, at sunset. Volga got down from his horse, bowed to the plowman from the waist: "Hello, good man, worker in the field!" "Be he althy, Volga Vseslavovich! Where are you going?"

For a long time, for a short time, we talked about this and that, but let's go together to frighten the robbers on the high road. A hundred cities and a thousand villages were liberated, and there was that plowman - Mikula Selyaninovich, a Russian hero. They became friends with Volga, and rightly so the next day there was all sorts of evil spirits, they brought them out clean. And what a feast they had on oak tables and in the forest - another epic will tell about this …"

Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber

Most of the works of the Russian epic are textbooks, time has no power over them, and their popularity is growing year by year. Masterpieces are included in school curricula, scientific research is carried out on them. The bylina "The Nightingale the Robber and Ilya Muromets" is just such a work.

“… The Nightingale sits on a damp oak, a robber,Odikhmantiev's son. Either he whistles like a nightingale, or he screams like an animal. Either from a whistle, or from a roar, the grass-ant died, the azure flowers crumbled, the dark forest bowed to the ground, and whoever is from the people - all the dead lie. On a straight road for five hundred miles, everything died, and on a roundabout road - for a thousand.

Cossack Ilya Muromets passed here, takes a tight bow, pulled a silk string, put a red-hot arrow. He shot at that one on the damp oak Nightingale the Robber. Yes, he knocked out the eye, and lowered it to the ground, tied it to the stirrup and drove it across the open field past the nest and the nightingale …"