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1 The concept of the heroic epic. “Epic” is (from Greek) a word, a narrative, one of three types of literature telling about various events of the past. The heroic epic of the peoples of the world is sometimes the most important and only evidence of past eras. It dates back to ancient myths and reflects human ideas about nature and the world. Initially, it was formed in oral form, then, acquiring new plots and images, it was consolidated in written form. The heroic epic is the result of collective folk art. But this does not at all diminish the role of individual storytellers. The famous “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, as we know, were written down by a single author - Homer.

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"The Tale of Gilgamesh" Sumerian epic 1800 BC. The Epic of Gilgamesh is written on 12 clay tablets. As the plot of the epic develops, the image of Gilgamesh changes. The fairy-tale hero-hero, boasting of his strength, turns into a man who has learned the tragic brevity of life. The powerful spirit of Gilgamesh rebels against the recognition of the inevitability of death; only at the end of his wanderings does the hero begin to understand that immortality can bring him eternal glory to his name.

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Summary Table I tells about the king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, whose unbridled prowess caused a lot of grief to the inhabitants of the city. Having decided to create a worthy rival and friend for him, the gods molded Enkidu from clay and settled him among wild animals. Table II is devoted to the martial arts of the heroes and their decision to use their powers for good, cutting down a precious cedar in the mountains. Tables III, IV and V are devoted to their preparations for the road, travel and victory over Humbaba. Table VI is close in content to the Sumerian text about Gilgamesh and the celestial bull. Gilgamesh rejects Inanna's love and reproaches her for her treachery. Insulted, Inanna asks the gods to create a monstrous bull to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill a bull; Unable to take revenge on Gilgamesh, Inanna transfers her anger to Enkidu, who weakens and dies. The story of his farewell to life (VII table) and Gilgamesh’s lament for Enkidu (VIII table) become the turning point of the epic tale. Shocked by the death of his friend, the hero sets out in search of immortality. His wanderings are described in Tables IX and X. Gilgamesh wanders in the desert and reaches the Mashu Mountains, where scorpion men guard the passage through which the sun rises and sets. “Mistress of the Gods” Siduri helps Gilgamesh find the shipbuilder Urshanabi, who ferried him across the “waters of death” that are fatal to humans. On the opposite shore of the sea, Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and his wife, to whom in time immemorial the gods gave eternal life. Table XI contains the famous story about the Flood and the construction of the ark, on which Utnapishtim saved the human race from extermination. Utnapishtim proves to Gilgamesh that his search for immortality is futile, since man is unable to defeat even the semblance of death - sleep. In parting, he reveals to the hero the secret of the “grass of immortality” growing at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh obtains the herb and decides to bring it to Uruk to give immortality to all people. On the way back, the hero falls asleep at the source; a snake rising from its depths eats the grass, sheds its skin and, as it were, receives a second life. The text of Table XI known to us ends with a description of how Gilgamesh shows Urshanabi the walls of Uruk he erected, hoping that his deeds will be preserved in the memory of his descendants.

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GILGAMESH (Sumerian. Bilga-mes - this name can be interpreted as “ancestor-hero”), semi-legendary ruler of Uruk, hero of the epic tradition of Sumer and Akkad. Epic texts consider Gilgamesh to be the son of the hero Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsun, and date the reign of Gilgamesh to the era of the First Dynasty of Uruk (27–26 centuries BC). Gilgamesh is the fifth king of this dynasty. Gilgamesh is also attributed divine origin: "Bilgames, whose father was the demon-lila, en (i.e., "high priest") of Kulaba." The duration of Gilgamesh's reign is determined to be 126 years. The Sumerian tradition places Gilgamesh as if on the border between the legendary heroic time and the more recent historical past.

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"Mahabharata" Indian epic of the 5th century AD. “The Great Tale of the Descendants of Bharata” or “The Tale of the Great Battle of the Bharatas.” The Mahabharata is a heroic poem consisting of 18 books, or parvas. As an appendix, it has another 19th book - Harivanshu, i.e. “Genealogy of Hari”. In its current edition, the Mahabharata contains over one hundred thousand slokas, or couplets, and is eight times larger in volume than Homer's Iliad and Odyssey taken together. Indian literary tradition considers the Mahabharata to be a single work, and its authorship is attributed to the legendary sage Krishna-Dvaipayana Vyasa.

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Summary The main tale of the epic is dedicated to the history of irreconcilable enmity between the Kauravas and the Pandavas - the sons of two brothers Dhritarashtra and Pandu. According to the legend, numerous peoples and tribes of India, northern and southern, are gradually being drawn into this enmity and the struggle it causes. It ends in a terrible, bloody battle, in which almost all participants on both sides die. Those who won the victory at such a high cost unite the country under their rule. Thus, the main idea of ​​the main story is the unity of India.

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Medieval European epic The Song of the Nibelungs is a medieval Germanic epic poem written by an unknown author in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Belongs to one of the most famous epic works of mankind. Its content boils down to 39 parts (songs), which are called “adventures”.

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The song tells about the marriage of the dragon slayer Sieckfried to the Burgundian princess Kriemhild, his death due to Kriemhild's conflict with Brünnhilde, the wife of her brother Gunther, and then about Kriemhild's revenge for the death of her husband. There is reason to believe that the epic was composed around 1200, and that its place of origin should be sought on the Danube, in the area between Passau and Vienna. In science, various assumptions have been made regarding the identity of the author. Some scholars considered him a shpilman, a wandering singer, others were inclined to think that he was a clergyman (perhaps in the service of the Bishop of Passau), and others that he was an educated knight of low birth. “The Song of the Nibelungs” combines two initially independent plots: the tale of the death of Siegfried and the tale of the end of the House of Burgundy. They form, as it were, two parts of an epic. Both of these parts are not entirely consistent, and certain contradictions can be noticed between them. Thus, in the first part, the Burgundians receive a generally negative assessment and look rather gloomy in comparison with the bright hero Siegfried, whom they killed, whose services and help they so widely used, while in the second part they appear as valiant knights courageously meeting their tragic fate . The name “Nibelungs” is used differently in the first and second parts of the epic: in the first they are fairy-tale creatures, northern treasure keepers and heroes in the service of Siegfried, in the second they are the Burgundians.

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The epic reflects, first of all, the knightly worldview of the Staufen era (the Staufens (or Hohenstaufens) were the imperial dynasty that ruled Germany and Italy in the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries. The Staufens, especially Frederick I Barbarossa (1152–1190), tried to carry out a wide external expansion, which ultimately accelerated the weakening of central power and contributed to the strengthening of the princes. At the same time, the Staufen era was characterized by a significant, but short-lived cultural upsurge.).

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Kalevala Kalevala - Karelo - Finnish poetic epic. Consists of 50 runes (songs). It is based on Karelian folk epic songs. The arrangement of “Kalevala” belongs to Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who connected individual folk epic songs, making a certain selection of variants of these songs and smoothing out some irregularities. The name “Kalevala” given to the poem by Lönnrot is the epic name of the country in which they live and Finnish folk heroes act. The suffix lla means place of residence, so Kalevalla is the place of residence of Kalev, the mythological ancestor of the heroes Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen, sometimes called his sons. In Kalevala there is no main plot that would connect all the songs.

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It opens with a legend about the creation of the earth, sky, stars and the birth of the Finnish protagonist, Väinämöinen, by the daughter of air, who arranges the earth and sows barley. The following tells about the various adventures of the hero, who meets, among other things, the beautiful maiden of the North: she agrees to become his bride if he miraculously creates a boat from the fragments of her spindle. Having started work, the hero wounds himself with an ax, cannot stop the bleeding and goes to an old healer, to whom he tells a legend about the origin of iron. Returning home, Väinämöinen raises the wind with spells and transports the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the country of the North, Pohjola, where he, according to the promise made by Väinämöinen, binds for the mistress of the North a mysterious object that gives wealth and happiness - the Sampo mill (runes I-XI). The following runes (XI-XV) contain an episode about the adventures of the hero Lemminkäinen, a warlike sorcerer and seducer of women. The story then returns to Väinämöinen; his descent into the underworld is described, his stay in the womb of the giant Viipunen, his acquisition from the latter of the three words necessary to create a wonderful boat, the hero’s sailing to Pohjola in order to receive the hand of the northern maiden; however, the latter preferred the blacksmith Ilmarinen to him, whom she marries, and the wedding is described in detail and wedding songs are given, outlining the duties of the wife and husband (XVI-XXV).

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Further runes (XXVI-XXXI) are again occupied by the adventures of Lemminkäinen in Pohjola. The episode about the sad fate of the hero Kullervo, who out of ignorance seduced his own sister, as a result of which both brother and sister commit suicide (runes XXXI-XXXVI), belongs in the depth of feeling, sometimes reaching true pathos, to the best parts of the entire poem. Further runes contain a lengthy story about the common enterprise of the three Finnish heroes - obtaining the Sampo treasure from Pohjola, about Väinämöinen's making of the kantele, by playing which he enchants all of nature and lulls the population of Pohjola to sleep, about the taking away of the Sampo by the heroes, about their persecution by the sorceress-mistress of the North, about the fall Sampo at sea, about the good deeds rendered by Väinämöinen to his native country through the fragments of Sampo, about his struggle with various disasters and monsters sent by the mistress of Pohjola to Kalevala, about the hero’s marvelous playing on a new kantela, created by him when the first one fell into the sea, and about his return to them the sun and moon, hidden by the mistress of Pohjola (XXXVI-XLIX). The last rune contains a folk apocryphal legend about the birth of a miraculous child by the virgin Maryatta (the birth of the Savior). Väinämöinen gives advice to kill him, since he is destined to surpass the Finnish hero in power, but the two-week-old baby showers Väinämöinen with reproaches of injustice, and the ashamed hero, having sung a wondrous song for the last time, leaves forever in a shuttle from Finland, giving way to the baby of Maryatta, the recognized ruler of Karelia .

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Other peoples of the world have developed their own heroic epics: in England - “Beowulf”, in Spain - “The Song of My Sid”, in Iceland - “The Elder Edda”, in France - “The Song of Roland”, in Yakutia - “Olonkho”, in the Caucasus - the “Nart epic”, in Kyrgyzstan - “Manas”, in Russia - the “epic epic”, etc. Despite the fact that the heroic epic of the peoples was composed in different historical situations, it has many common features and similar features. First of all, this concerns the repetition of themes and plots, as well as the common characteristics of the main characters. For example: 1. The epic often includes the plot of the creation of the world, how the gods create the harmony of the world from the initial chaos. 2. The plot of the miraculous birth of the hero and his first youthful exploits. 3. The plot of the hero’s matchmaking and his trials before the wedding. 4. Description of the battle, in which the hero shows miracles of courage, resourcefulness and courage. 5. Glorification of loyalty in friendship, generosity and honor. 6. Heroes not only defend their homeland, but also highly value their own freedom and independence.

1 The concept of the heroic epic. “Epic” is (from Greek) a word, a narrative, one of three types of literature telling about various events of the past. The heroic epic of the peoples of the world is sometimes the most important and only evidence of past eras. It goes back to ancient myths and reflects human ideas about nature and the world. Initially it was formed in oral form, then, acquiring new plots and images, it was consolidated in written form. The heroic epic is the result of collective folk art. But this does not at all diminish the role of individual storytellers. The famous “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, as is known, were written down by a single author - Homer.

"The Tale of Gilgamesh" Sumerian epic 1800 BC. e. The Epic of Gilgamesh is written on 12 clay tablets. As the plot of the epic develops, the image of Gilgamesh changes. The fairy-tale hero-hero, boasting of his strength, turns into a man who has learned the tragic brevity of life. The powerful spirit of Gilgamesh rebels against the recognition of the inevitability of death; only at the end of his wanderings does the hero begin to understand that immortality can bring him eternal glory to his name.

Summary Table I tells about the king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, whose unbridled prowess caused a lot of grief to the inhabitants of the city. Having decided to create a worthy rival and friend for him, the gods molded Enkidu from clay and settled him among wild animals. Table II is devoted to the martial arts of the heroes and their decision to use their powers for good, cutting down a precious cedar in the mountains. Tables III, IV and V are devoted to their preparations for the road, travel and victory over Humbaba. Table VI is close in content to the Sumerian text about Gilgamesh and the celestial bull. Gilgamesh rejects Inanna's love and reproaches her for her treachery. Insulted, Inanna asks the gods to create a monstrous bull to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill a bull; Unable to take revenge on Gilgamesh, Inanna transfers her anger to Enkidu, who weakens and dies. The story of his farewell to life (VII table) and Gilgamesh’s cry for Enkidu (VIII table) become the turning point of the epic tale. Shocked by the death of his friend, the hero sets out in search of immortality. His wanderings are described in Tables IX and X. Gilgamesh wanders in the desert and reaches the Mashu Mountains, where the scorpion people guard the passage through which the sun rises and sets. “Mistress of the Gods” Siduri helps Gilgamesh find the shipbuilder Urshanabi, who crossed the “waters of death” that are fatal to humans. On the opposite shore of the sea, Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and his wife, to whom in time immemorial the gods gave eternal life. Table XI contains the famous story about the Flood and the construction of the ark, on which Utnapishtim saved the human race from extermination. Utnapishtim proves to Gilgamesh that his search for immortality is futile, since man is unable to defeat even the semblance of death - sleep. As a farewell, he reveals to the hero the secret of the “grass of immortality” growing at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh obtains the herb and decides to bring it to Uruk to give immortality to all people. On the way back, the hero falls asleep at the source; a snake rising from its depths eats the grass, sheds its skin and, as it were, receives a second life. The text of Table XI known to us ends with a description of how Gilgamesh shows Urshanabi the walls of Uruk he erected, hoping that his deeds will be preserved in the memory of his descendants.

Gilgamesh with a lion from the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin. 8th century BC NE GILGAME SH (Sumerian Bilgames - this name can be interpreted as “pre-hero”), semi-legendary ruler of Uruk, hero of the epic tradition of Sumer and Akkad. Epic texts consider Gilgamesh to be the son of the hero Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsun, and date the reign of Gilgamesh to the era of the First Dynasty of Uruk (27–26 centuries BC). Gilgamesh is the fifth king of this dynasty. Gilgamesh is also attributed divine origin: “Bilgames, whose father was the demon-lila, en (i.e., “high priest”) of Kulaba.” The duration of Gilgamesh's reign is determined to be 126 years. The Sumerian tradition places Gilgamesh as if on the border between the legendary heroic time and the more recent historical past.

"Mahabharata" Indian epic of the 5th century. n. e. "The Great Tale of the Descendants of Bharata" or "The Tale of the Great Battle of the Bharatas". The Mahabharata is a heroic poem consisting of 18 books, or parvas. As an appendix, it has another 19th book - Harivanshu, i.e. “Genealogy of Hari”. In its current edition, the Mahabharata contains over one hundred thousand slokas, or couplets, and is eight times larger in volume than Homer's Iliad and Odyssey taken together. Indian literary tradition considers the Mahabharata to be a single work, and its authorship is attributed to the legendary sage Krishna-Dvaipayana Vyasa.

Summary The main tale of the epic is dedicated to the history of irreconcilable enmity between the Kauravas and the Pandavas - the sons of two brothers Dhritarashtra and Pandu. According to the legend, numerous peoples and tribes of India, northern and southern, are gradually being drawn into this enmity and the struggle it causes. It ends in a terrible, bloody battle, in which almost all participants on both sides die. Those who won the victory at such a high cost unite the country under their rule. Thus, the main idea of ​​the main story is the unity of India.

Medieval European epic The Song of the Nibelungs is a medieval Germanic epic poem written by an unknown author in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Belongs to one of the most famous epic works of mankind. Its content boils down to 39 parts (songs), which are called “adventures”.

The song tells about the marriage of the dragon slayer Siegfried to the Burgundian princess Kriemhild, his death due to Kriemhild's conflict with Brünnhilde, the wife of her brother Gunther, and then about Kriemhild's revenge for the death of her husband. There is reason to believe that the epic was composed around 1200, and that its place of origin should be sought on the Danube, in the area between Passau and Vienna. In science, various assumptions have been made regarding the identity of the author. Some scholars considered him a shpilman, a wandering singer, others were inclined to think that he was a clergyman (perhaps in the service of the Bishop of Passau), and others that he was an educated knight of low birth. “The Song of the Nibelungs” combines two initially independent plots: the tale of the death of Siegfried and the tale of the end of the House of Burgundy. They form, as it were, two parts of an epic. Both of these parts are not entirely consistent, and certain contradictions can be noticed between them. Thus, in the first part, the Burgundians receive a generally negative assessment and look rather gloomy in comparison with the bright hero Siegfried, whom they killed, whose services and help they so widely used, while in the second part they appear as valiant knights courageously meeting their tragic fate . The name “Nibelungs” is used differently in the first and second parts of the epic: in the first they are fairy-tale creatures, northern treasure keepers and heroes in the service of Siegfried, in the second they are the Burgundians.

Quarrel of kings Contests at the court of Brünnhilde The epic reflects primarily the knightly worldview of the Staufen era (the Staufens (or Hohenstaufens) were the imperial dynasty that ruled Germany and Italy in the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries. The Staufens, especially Frederick I Barbarossa (1152–1190), tried carry out widespread external expansion, which ultimately accelerated the weakening of central power and contributed to the strengthening of the princes. At the same time, the Staufen era was characterized by a significant, but short-lived cultural upsurge.).

Kalevala Kalevala - Karelo - Finnish poetic epic. Consists of 50 runes (songs). It is based on Karelian folk epic songs. The arrangement of “Kalevala” belongs to Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who connected individual folk epic songs, making a certain selection of versions of these songs and smoothing out some of the irregularities. The name "Kalevala", given to the poem by Lönnrot, is the epic name of the country in which Finnish folk heroes live and act. The suffix lla means place of residence, so Kalevalla is the place of residence of Kalev, the mythological ancestor of the heroes Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen, sometimes called his sons. In Kalevala there is no main plot that would connect all the songs.

It opens with the legend about the creation of the earth, sky, stars and the birth of the Finnish protagonist, Väinämöinen, by the daughter of air, who arranges the earth and sows barley. The following tells about the various adventures of the hero, who meets, among other things, the beautiful maiden of the North: she agrees to become his bride if he miraculously creates a boat from the fragments of her spindle. Having started work, the hero wounds himself with an ax, cannot stop the bleeding and goes to an old healer, to whom he tells a legend about the origin of iron. Returning home, Väinämöinen raises the wind with spells and transports the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the country of the North, Pohjola, where he, according to the promise made by Väinämöinen, fetters for the mistress of the North a mysterious object that gives wealth and happiness - the Sampo mill (runes I-XI). The following runes (XI-XV) contain an episode about the adventures of the hero Lemminkäinen, a warlike sorcerer and seducer of women. The story then returns to Väinämöinen; his descent into the underworld is described, his stay in the womb of the giant Viipunen, his acquisition from the latter of the three words necessary to create a wonderful boat, the hero’s sailing to Pohjola in order to receive the hand of the northern maiden; however, the latter preferred the blacksmith Ilmarinen to him, whom she marries, and the wedding is described in detail and wedding songs are given, outlining the duties of the wife and husband (XVI-XXV).

Further runes (XXVI-XXXI) are again occupied by the adventures of Lemminkäinen in Pohjola. The episode about the sad fate of the hero Kullervo, who out of ignorance seduced his own sister, as a result of which both brother and sister commit suicide (runes XXXI-XXXVI), belongs in the depth of feeling, sometimes reaching true pathos, to the best parts of the entire poem. Further runes contain a lengthy story about the common enterprise of the three Finnish heroes - obtaining the Sampo treasure from Pohjola, about Väinämöinen's making of the kantele, by playing which he enchants all of nature and lulls the population of Pohjola to sleep, about the taking away of the Sampo by the heroes, about their persecution by the sorceress-mistress of the North, about the fall Sampo at sea, about the good deeds rendered by Väinämöinen to his native country through the fragments of Sampo, about his struggle with various disasters and monsters sent by the mistress of Pohjola to Kalevala, about the hero’s marvelous playing on a new kantela, created by him when the first one fell into the sea, and about his return to them the sun and moon, hidden by the mistress of Pohjola (XXXVI-XLIX). The last rune contains a folk apocryphal legend about the birth of a miraculous child by the virgin Maryatta (the birth of the Savior). Väinämöinen gives advice to kill him, since he is destined to surpass the Finnish hero in power, but the two-week-old baby showers Väinämöinen with reproaches of injustice, and the ashamed hero, having sung a wondrous song for the last time, leaves forever in a shuttle from Finland, giving way to the baby of Maryatta, the recognized ruler of Karelia .

Other peoples of the world have developed their own heroic epics: in England - “Beowulf”, in Spain - “The Song of My Sid”, in Iceland - “The Elder Edda”, in France - “The Song of Roland”, in Yakutia - “Olonkho”, in the Caucasus - the “Nart epic”, in Kyrgyzstan - “Manas”, in Russia - the “epic epic”, etc. Despite the fact that the heroic epic of the peoples was composed in different historical situations, it has many common features and similar features. First of all, this concerns the repetition of themes and plots, as well as the common characteristics of the main characters. For example: 1. The epic often includes the plot of the creation of the world, how the gods create the harmony of the world from the original chaos. 2. The plot of the miraculous birth of the hero and his first youthful exploits. 3. The plot of the hero’s matchmaking and his trials before the wedding. 4. Description of the battle in which the hero shows miracles of courage, resourcefulness and courage. 5. Glorification of loyalty in friendship, generosity and honor. 6. Heroes not only defend their homeland, but also highly value their own freedom and independence.

Completed by: teacher of Russian language and literature, Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 8”

Saransk RM

• “Epic” is (from Greek) a word, a narrative, one of three types of literature that tell about various events of the past.
• The heroic epic of the peoples of the world is sometimes the most important and only evidence of past eras.
• It goes back to ancient myths and reflects human ideas about nature and the world. Initially it was formed in oral form, then, acquiring new plots and images, it was consolidated in written form.

• The epic was formed in different ways. Lyric-epic, and based on them, epic songs, like drama and lyrics, arose from ritual performances (In the initial stages of human culture, when music, singing, poetry, and dance were not separated from each other).
• The formation of prose genres of epic, in particular fairy tales, is associated with individually told myths (a fantastic idea of ​​the world, characteristic of a person of a primitive communal formation, usually transmitted in the form of oral narratives - myths).
• Early epic creativity and the further development of forms of artistic storytelling were also influenced by oral and then written historical traditions.

• The heroic epic is the result of collective folk art.
• But this does not at all diminish the role of individual storytellers. The famous “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, as we know, were written down by a single author, Homer.

• “The Great Tale of the Descendants of Bharata” or “The Tale of the Great Battle of the Bharatas.”
• The Mahabharata is a heroic poem consisting of 18 books, or parvas. As an appendix, it has another 19th book - Harivanshu, i.e. “Genealogy of Hari”. In its current edition, the Mahabharata contains over one hundred thousand slokas, or couplets.

"Song of the Nibelungs" is a medieval Germanic epic poem written by an unknown author in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Belongs to one of the most famous epic works of mankind. Its content boils down to 39 parts (songs), which are called “adventures”.

Quarrel of Kings

Competitions at Brünnhilde's court

The epic reflects primarily the knightly worldview of the Staufen era ( The Staufens (or Hohenstaufens) were an imperial dynasty that ruled Germany and Italy in the 12th – first half of the 13th centuries. The Staufens, especially Frederick I Barbarossa (1152–1190), attempted extensive external expansion, which ultimately accelerated the weakening of central power and contributed to the strengthening of the princes. At the same time, the Staufen era was characterized by a significant, but short-lived cultural upsurge. ).

Death of Sieckfried

Sieckfried

Funeral

Sieckfried

Kriemhild shows Hagen

Gunther's head

Halen throws gold into the Rhine

• Kalevala - Karelo - Finnish poetic epic. Consists of 50 runes (songs). It is based on Karelian folk epic songs. The arrangement of “Kalevala” belongs to Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who connected individual folk epic songs, making a certain selection of versions of these songs and smoothing out some of the irregularities.
• Name "Kalevala" given to the poem by Lönnrot, - this is the epic name of the country in which Finnish folk heroes live and act.

Väinämöinen plays the kantele

Väinämöinen protects the sampo from

Witches of Louhi.

Väinämöinen

• EPOS gave a complete and comprehensive picture of the world, explained its origin and further destinies, including the most distant future, taught to distinguish good from evil, and instructed in how to live and how to die.
• The epic contained ancient wisdom; knowledge of it was considered necessary for every member of society.

• Epics are as diverse as the destinies of countries and peoples, as national characters, as language.
• Each country has its own folk epic heroes. In England the invincible robber was sung Robin Hood - defender of the disadvantaged; in Asia Geser - great archer: Evenki heroic tales - brave Sodani the hero ; in the Buryat heroic epic - Alamji Mergen young and his sister Agui Gohon .

• The heroic epic has reached us both in the form of extensive epic, book (“Iliad”, “Odyssey”, “Mahabharata”, “Ramayana”, “Beowulf” ) or oral (« Dzhangar", "Alpamysh", "Manas »), and in the form of short “epic songs” (Russian epics , South Slavic songs, poems Edda the Elder ),

1. An epic often includes a plot creation of the world, how the gods create the harmony of the world from the original chaos.

2.Plot the miraculous birth of the hero and his first youthful exploits .

3.Plot the hero's matchmaking and his trials before the wedding .

4. Description of the battle , in which the hero shows miracles of courage, resourcefulness and courage.

5. Celebrating loyalty in friendship, generosity and honor .

6.Heroes not only defend their homeland, but also highly value their own freedom and independence .

• is represented by heroic-mythological and heroic-epic works about the origin of the world (heaven, earth, man, gods) and the origin of ethnic statehood (songs and tales about Tsar Tyusht).
• The character of the heroic Epic is not heroic.
• An integral part of heroic poetry is the legend of the hero Saban, who appears as an archaic hero; the legend of the wonderful Guryan, the tragic leader of Erzi and Moksha.

A myth is an ancient folk tale about legendary gods, heroes and incredible natural phenomena. Myth means legend and legend, hence the current purpose of myth as a separate literary genre.

Myth and its place in literature

Such tales arose in primitive society, and therefore all kinds of early elements of philosophy, religion, and art are intertwined in myths. A distinctive feature of myth is that it has recurring themes and similar motifs that can be found in the myths of different peoples and times.

It is believed that myths were the main way of understanding the world in primitive society, since they reflected acceptable explanations for many natural phenomena.

This is due to the fact that in myths nature appeared in the form of symbols, which were sometimes in the form of a person. Mythology is close to literary literature in the form of figurative storytelling, so they say that mythology had a huge influence on the development of literature as such.

Mythological motifs are very common in works of art and many plots are based on myths. An example of this is such literary works as “The Magic Mountain” by T. Mann and “Nana” by E. Zola.

Heroic epic of different nations and heroes of the epic

Each nation is characterized by a certain heroic epic, which reveals the life and customs of certain nations, their values ​​and view of the world around them. This is a genre of medieval literature in which folk heroes and their exploits were glorified. Often the epic was formed in the form of songs.

The heroic epic of the Eastern Slavs is represented by the epic "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber." The hero Ilya Muromets is the central figure of the entire Russian epic; he is presented as a defender of the people and his native land. This is the reason that this particular character has become a popular favorite - after all, he reflects the main values ​​of the Russian people.

The famous poem "Davil of Sasun" belongs to the Armenian heroic epic. This work depicts the struggle of the Armenian people against the invaders, and its central figure is the personification of the national spirit striving to free itself from foreign conquerors.

A reminder of the German heroic epic is the “Song of the Nibelungs” - a legend about the knights. The main character of the work is the brave and powerful Siegfried. This is a fair knight who becomes a victim of betrayal and treason, but despite this he remains noble and generous.

"The Song of Roland" is an example of a French heroic epic. The main theme of the poem is the struggle of the people against enemies and conquerors. Knight Roland acts as the main character, noble and brave. This poem is close to historical reality.

The English heroic epic is represented by numerous ballads about the legendary Robin Hood, the robber and protector of the poor and unfortunate. This courageous and noble hero has a cheerful disposition and therefore he has become a real people's favorite. It is believed that Robin Hood is a historical character who was an earl, but gave up a rich life in order to help poor and disadvantaged people.