"The Tale of Igor's Campaign": analysis. "The Lay of Igor's Campaign": a summary

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

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is an outstanding monument of ancient Russian literature, written in the 12th century. Reading this work still has a positive effect on people, opens up new horizons for them.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign". Artwork history

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" 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. It was printed in 1800. The original "Lay" 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 Tale of Igor's Campaign" shows that this work has a composition that is quite typical for the works of ancient Russian literature. It contains the beginning and the main part, as well as a toast.

The opening is the author's greeting to the readers, and also reveals a little the author's opinion about the events that he will describe. The author wants to tell everything about the campaign of Prince Igor honestly, without concealment, without unnecessary speculation. The model for him is the famous artist Boyan, who always not only followed the old epics, but also poetically sang the princes of his time.

Analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" briefly shows that the author outlined the chronological boundaries of the narrative in this way: he talks about the life of Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kyiv, and then smoothly proceeds to describe the life of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich.

The plot of the work

The Russian army is sent to fight a formidable enemy - the Polovtsians. Before the start of the campaign, the sun closes the sky, a solar eclipse begins. Any other inhabitant of Ancient Russia would have been horrified and would have abandoned their plans, but Prince Igor is not like that. He goes ahead with his army anyway. This happened on the first of May 1185. Igor's intentions are supported by his brother, Bui Tur Vsevolod.

After passing a certain distance, Igor encounters an ambush of the Polovtsy. Their number far exceeds the number of Russian people. But the Russians start the fight anyway.

Igor and Bui tour Vsevolod win the first battle over the Polovtsians. Satisfied, they allow themselves to relax. But they do not see and do not feel that their forces have dried up, and the number of Polovtsian troops still exceeds the number of Russians many times over. The next day, the Polovtsian troops pounce on the Russian army and overcomehis. Many Russian soldiers are killed, Prince Igor is taken prisoner.

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

Svyatoslav of Kyiv

Analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", whose composition is attributed to an unknown author, tells about a strange dream of Svyatoslav of Kyiv, in which he saw himself at the funeral feast. And his dream came true.

When Svyatoslav found out about the defeat of the Russian troops, he fell into grief. Prince Igor was captured. He lived under the supervision of the Polovtsy, but one day one of them, Lavr, suggested that he hide. This was due to the fact that the Polovtsy decided to kill all Russian prisoners. Igor agreed to run. Under cover of night, he saddled his horse and rode secretly 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 Kyiv and Chernigov he was greeted with joy. The “Word” ends with a beautiful poetic paraphrase addressed to Prince Igor and his squad.

Characters of The Tale of Igor's Campaign

The main character of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" 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 foranalysis "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", 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 become orphans.

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

The image of Yaroslavna in the work

Yaroslavna, Igor's wife, is the central female character in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. If we analyze "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", Yaroslavna's lamentation will turn out to be the most expressive part in the whole work. Yaroslavna cries on the highest defensive tower of Putivl (this city was closer to the Polovtsian steppe). She speaks with the elements of nature. By the power of her word, they are inspired. She reproaches the wind for dispelling her fun on the feather-grass, turns to the Dnieper and the sun.

Analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", a summary of which you can read in the articles of linguists, shows that Yaroslavna aroused much more interest in subsequent generations than the protagonist of the work himself, and her Lament was translated into many languages. The author of the Lay believes that Yaroslavna's Lament had an impact on natural forces, and therefore Igor Svyatoslavich managed to escape from captivity. Mostthe famous embodiment of the image of Yaroslavna - in the opera "Prince Igor" by A. B. Borodin (written from 1869 to 1887).

Polovtsy in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

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

s.

Relations between Russian people and the Polovtsy were different, they could be friends, they could be at enmity. By the 12th century, their relationship becomes hostile. If we analyze "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", Svyatoslav's golden word warns Igor against friendship with the Polovtsy. But his relations with the Cumans remain generally not so bad. According to historical research, Igor Svyatoslavich had good relations with the Polovtsian khans Kobyak and Konchak. His son even married Konchak's daughter.

The cruelty of the Polovtsy, which was emphasized by all subsequent historians, was no more than the customs of that time required. Prince Igor, being a prisoner of the Polovtsy, could even confess in a Christian church. In addition, the interaction of the Russians with the Polovtsy also 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 "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

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

The significance of Kyiv as the center of the Russian land by that time almost disappears. Russian principalities become separate states, and the isolation 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 approaching from all sides. The Polovtsians rose and began to fight with the Russian people.

In the middle of the 11th century, they were already a serious danger. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", which we are trying to analyze, is a story about a tragic clash between Russians and Polovtsy.

The Russians could not effectively resist the Polovtsians for the reason that they could not come to an agreement with them. Constant squabbles weakened the power of the once great Russian state. Yes, at that time there was an economic boom in Russia, but it leveled off due to the fact that the ties between different farms were weak.

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

The author of this work writes not only about Russian military operations against the Polovtsians. He admires the beauty of his native steppes and forests, the scenic beauty of his native nature. If we analyze "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", nature plays one of the main roles in it. She helps Prince Igor escape from captivity and return to Russia. Wind, sun and the Dnieper river become histhe main allies on the way home from the Polovtsian kingdom.

Authenticity of The Tale of Igor's Campaign

Almost immediately after the "Tale of Igor's Campaign" was published, doubts about its authenticity began to appear. Since the manuscript of this work burned down in a fire in 1812, only the first printed edition and a handwritten copy remained 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 other 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, the prominent historical figure A. A. Zimin suggested, after analyzing "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", in which Svyatoslav's golden word seemed suspicious to him, that the work was written in the 18th century by Joel Bykovsky, who was then archimandrite Spaso-Yaroslavl Monastery.

But soon new evidence of the authenticity of the Tale of Igor's Campaign appeared. Irrefutable proof of this was the Codex Cumanicus, a dictionary of the Cuman language, which was compiled at the end of the 13th century. It was once bought by the great Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. 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 the Codex Cumanicus. It is reliably known that the Polovtsian people as such ceased to exist already in the Middle Ages. Therefore, there can be no falsification in this case. Already in the eighteenthIn the century, no one in Russia knew the Polovtsian speech, and therefore could not insert Polovtsian words into the text of the work.

The analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", the golden word about which academician Likhachev once said, with the help of Codex Cumanicus has made an invaluable contribution to the study of Russian literature. It was also impossible to forge the 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 kept until 1828. This year, the German orientalist Julius Heinrich Klaproth found this book and published it. And in the second half of the nineteenth century, Russian orientalists got acquainted with the Codex Cumanicus.

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

Analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" suggests that this work is filled with love for the Russian land and its people. The place of writing this work is, most likely, Novgorod. And it was created by a Novgorodian. This can be judged by the dialect words that come across in the "Word", and which were then used in Novgorod. These are words such as “karna, Osmomysl, haraluzhny, Goreslavich.”

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" - an analysis of this work clearly indicates that the author comes from Novgorod. He mentions the city of Dudutki, which was then located near Novgorod. Monetary units, which are mentioned in the analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", nogata and rezana, are found by researchers only in one of the oldest chronicles - in Novgorod. In the Ipatiev and Laurentian Chroniclesthere are no such words. The patronymic names Goreslavich and Osmomysl, mentioned in the Tale of Igor's Campaign, were also found by researchers in Novgorod manuscripts and birch bark letters.

The northern origin of the author of the Lay is also confirmed by the fact that the work mentions the northern lights. With his help, God showed Prince Igor how to get home from captivity. Probably the author of the Lay has been to the Arctic Circle and seen the northern lights there.

Studying "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign", 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, Slovo was difficult to work with. First, it had to be translated. Secondly, it was necessary to interpret all the incomprehensible passages, all the difficult metaphors. Especially many outstanding scientists were engaged in the study of the Lay in Soviet times, among them - academician A. Likhachev and O. Tvorogov. They sought to restore the original version of the Lay and give it a correct interpretation.

Studying the "word about Igor's Campaign" at school

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" has long been studied in secondary schools and universities. 7th, 8th, 9th grades are engaged in its study. For a better study of the work, various means are used, including a disk on which the plot of an ancient Russian work is depicted. The Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve specializes in studying the Word, and schoolchildren have the opportunityread various materials related to this topic.

Mysteries of the work

Despite the fact that "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" was studied carefully and for a long time, the text of the work is still far from clear to researchers.

Analysis of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", the nature of which has not yet been fully explained, still shows that much remains to be explored. So, it is not clear whether the author of the Lay wrote about ordinary animals, or whether he meant the Polovtsy, who had the names of ancestral animals. It is still unclear why Prince Igor visited the Pirogoshcha Church in Kyiv. All these mysteries are still waiting to be explored.