The ideological and artistic role of the episode "Yaroslavna's lament". Comparative analysis of Yaroslavna's crying and ballads Closeness to the folk song Yaroslavna's crying

That central place in it is given to the chronicle work "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" or simply "The Word ...". This is truly a masterpiece that has managed to survive to this day, revealing to the world the unique culture of our ancestors in its purest form. The image of Yaroslavna in The Lay of Igor's Host is not the main one, but it can be safely called one of the best. But let's talk about everything in order.

The plot of the epic work

Before considering the image of Yaroslavna in "The Lay of Igor's Host", it is worth knowing the whole plot of the work. It begins with an introduction in which the author (he is unknown) praises the heroism of the history of his people. In short lines, he mentions the legendary singer Boyan, Trajan, and epic heroes, and talks about the battles of the princes of the Russian land. There are also responses to pagan beliefs in them: the author speaks of the deities of the sun, winds, livestock, which were worshiped by the ancestors of the Russians.

The image of Yaroslavna in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" will appear only in the third chapter, and a previously unknown poet talks about Igor, the Novgorod-Seversky prince, who is going to campaign against the Polovtsians. He encourages his warriors and goes on a campaign, despite the strange signs bestowed by fate. He neglects the promising eclipse of failure and throws the army into battle. Inspired by the first good fortune, he is in no hurry to return, for which he pays dearly. When the main forces of the nomads arrived, the Russians were not ready. As a result, almost the entire squad of the prince perishes, and the surviving soldiers are captured.

The news of the tragedy quickly spreads across the Russian land, overtaking the young wife of Prince Igor in Putivl. The Grand Duke of Kiev gathers all the rulers of the appanage principalities, urging them to unite and redeem Igor from captivity. The so-called golden word of Svyatoslav calls on the Russians to unite, because then they will become a storm for everyone. Then Igor's escape from captivity, the pursuit sent by the nomads after him, is described. But he successfully made it to his native land and returned to his faithful wife.

The image of Yaroslavna in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign"

Yaroslavna is a young princess, Igor's wife. She remained in Putivl to await her husband's return from the campaign. It was there that she was caught by the news of the tragedy that happened to him, it was in the castle of this city that the “Lay of Igor's Campaign” introduces her to her. It is impossible to briefly describe the image of Yaroslavna, although the author gave the woman only a few lines. But she appears before us as if alive. She has a delicate, vulnerable soul, a strong character, self-sacrifice is close to her. She does not think about herself and all her thoughts are with her beloved.

The image of Yaroslavna in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" is not only a portrait of a loving wife who is ready to do anything to help her husband. She is ready to turn into a bird in order to wash his wounds, she turns to the forces of nature with a reproach why they allowed this. But she thinks not only about Igor, but also about his army, which shared the fate of its prince. Therefore, the image of Yaroslavna in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" is a collected portrait of all Russian women, whose husbands went to war with the enemy. This is the image of the keeper of the hearth, the caretaker of the family, because the husband will definitely return, since he is so much expected.

In those few lines, one can feel the woman's tremendous love, her compassion, her desire to be close to her chosen one, her deep sadness and tenderness. That is why Yaroslavna's Lament has been so attractive for writers and readers for so many years.

Other images in the "Word"

The main character of the work is Igor, who organized an unsuccessful campaign. This event was preceded by another campaign - a successful military campaign of the Russians by joint forces, in which many princes of Russia participated, except for Igor. Therefore, he acts as one who was thinking about glory, and not about good preparation for war. He is short-sighted, because he does not pay attention to bad sounds, he only longs for fame and reward.

Another image is the prince of Kiev Svyatoslav, in whose mouth the author puts the idea of ​​unification. This is an urgent problem of Russia at that time: there was a move for the supreme power. Therefore, the country suffered from external enemies who tried to tear off a tidbit from it, and from internal ones. Only together could it be possible to repulse the offenders, and this is what the author calls for.

The meaning of the work

This is a very special piece. "The Word about Igor's Regiment" (the image of Yaroslavna, princes in particular) makes it possible to draw up a general picture of the life of Russia at the end of the 12th century, its way of life, its reality. The melodious language of the work, full of comparisons and epithets, is a source of inspiration for creative people - poets, writers, artists. But the ancient author also teaches a lesson to future generations, an old but forgotten truth: only together can one repulse the enemies, only together the people are invincible.

Especially "The Word" is also the fact that it can be called a folk epic with all the contradictions. For example, the author often refers to the image of nature and phenomena, Yaroslavna also speaks with the wind, sun, river, she does not pray to God, although the country has long been considered Christian.

Instead of an afterword

It is a pity that such a work as "The Word" was lost in its original version. It is sad that we do not know the author of this literary masterpiece. But, fortunately, we have the opportunity to read it in translations and admire the depth of the images, the sincerity of feelings and the urgency of the problem described almost a thousand years ago.

The Lay of Igor's Host is one of the most famous surviving monuments of Old Russian literature. The work was written in 1185 (according to other sources - one or two years later). His text is of particular interest to posterity as it paints a vivid and vivid picture of the events of that time.

In different years philologists and writers, including the poets V.A. Zhukovsky, K. D. Balmont, N.A. Zabolotsky, E.A. Evtushenko. In this article, excerpts from the work are translated by Nikolai Zabolotsky.

The plot of the Lay ... is based on real historical events. In the center of the narrative is the campaign against the Polovtsians of Igor Svyatoslavovich, the prince of Novgorod-Seversky. However, the historical context reflected in the work is much deeper than it seems at first glance. Behind a separate, albeit large-scale, fragment in a long series of Russian-Polovtsian wars stands the idea of ​​uniting the rulers of all the appanage principalities of fragmented Russia.

Nature in the "Lay of Igor's Campaign"

The theme of nature also plays a significant role in the story. She is humanized, spiritualized, it is through her that all human experiences are reproduced. Thus, it is not just a background against which events unfold, but an active participant in the action.

So, at the very beginning of the Lay ... a rare phenomenon occurs that could become a turning point in Igor's campaign against the Polovtsi - a solar eclipse:

But looking at the sun on this day,
Igor marveled at the light:
In broad daylight, night shadow
The militia covered the Russians.

The prince did not want to see this as a bad omen, so he gave the order to continue the journey. Considering from time immemorial the established tradition of following rituals and beliefs related to natural phenomena, it remains only to marvel at the courage of Igor Svyatoslavovich. But the further the army moves into the steppe, the darker and more alarming the landscape becomes. Animals, according to beliefs, more subtly anticipating the approach of trouble, do their best to prevent the inevitable:

Birds, rising above the oak trees,
They soar with a cry of their mournful,
Wolves howl over the ravines,
The cry of the eagles comes from the darkness.

And, like a farewell wave of the hand, the words sound bitterly:

O Russian land!
You are already over the hill.

"At dawn, on Friday, in the fogs ..." the first battle takes place, which Igor's army successfully wins. But the next morning, nature foreshadows a difficult denouement:

The night has passed and the blood dawns
They announce disaster in the morning.
Clouds are advancing from the sea
For four princely tents.

How much blood will be shed on this campaign, how much grief will fill the souls of the Russian people! Nature is sad with people:

The steppe wilted, full of pity,
And the trees bowed their branches ...
And the sky closed and went out
White light over the Russian land.

Analysis of the episode "Lament of Yaroslavna"

And far away in Putivl, crying never stops from early morning. This is the voice of Yaroslavna, the wife of Prince Igor. She became the personification of all Russian women, whose husbands, sons and fathers - the people most dear to their hearts - will never return home. In despair, she asks the Wind, who also becomes a full-fledged hero of the story:

What are you, Wind, whimpering viciously,
That you swirl the mists by the river
Do you raise the Polovtsian arrows?
Are you tagging them on the Russian regiments?

Yaroslavna also addresses the Sun:

Why are you the army of the daring prince
Did you burn it with hot rays?

Behind the princess's rhetorical questions lies the bitter realization that the dead cannot be returned back. And Yaroslavna asks Dnipro for only one single person, Prince Igor:

Take care of the prince, lord,
Save on the far side.

Nature comes to the rescue, again taking an active part in the action. It is under her cover that Igor escapes from captivity:

The earth shook
The grass rustled
A violent wind shook the vezha ...
But the sun rises in the sky
Prince Igor appeared in Russia.

The role of nature in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign"

The description of nature is present in most works of literature, and in each it is assigned a specific role. In "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", grasses and trees, rivers and steppes, animals and birds, the Sun and the Wind not only show human feelings, but also strive to come to the rescue of heroes.

Solar eclipse, morning blood dawns ... Despite the fact that Russian troops twice disobey the fact that they are much wiser and older than the whole human race, nature still does not punish Prince Igor for disobedience, but helps him escape.

The natural wealth of our vast Motherland is fully reflected in the remarkable work of Old Russian literature - "The Lay of Igor's Campaign." The description of the vast natural spaces reveals the fullness and power, beauty and generosity of the Russian soul, the ability to empathize and sympathy, as well as the desire at all costs to free the native land from the encroachments of enemies.

Interesting? Keep it on your wall!

Target: Development of the ability to write an essay-analysis of the episode.

Tasks:

Provide an understanding of the meaning of the episode

To teach to see lexical and syntactic means of expressiveness in the text and to determine their role in the text

Learn to make a complex plan

Learn to determine the role of the episode in the structure of the work

Planned educational results:

Students will learn about the role of this episode in The Word

Improve their ability to see the means of expressiveness of the language and determine their role in the text

Expand your vocabulary

Learn to write an essay-analysis of the episode

Stroke:

Call stage. Reception "True-false statement".

Students work individually with the spreadsheet, then report the results.

Analysis of answers.

What passage will be discussed in the lesson?

Why do you think we are returning to this episode again?

Announcement of the topic of the lesson.

2. Containment stage.

1) Reception "Bloom's Chamomile".

Students carefully read the episode, make up questions to it:

Clarifying:

Don't you think ...

Did I understand correctly…

Interpretive:

Why?

Explain ...

Estimated:

What do you think about this?

What do you think…

Creative:

What if ...

How would it have changed ...

Practical:

How can you use ...

How will I use ...

Students ask each other questions and answer.

2) Working with expressive means in groups.

Group 1 - syntactic means of expressiveness.

Task card.

1) What are stanzas 2, 4, 6, 8 in terms of syntax? (direct speech)

2) What are the words Wind, my glorious Dnieper, the Sun is three times bright from the point of view of the syntax? What role do these language tools play in this episode? (appeal)

3) What suggestions on the purpose of the statement and emotional coloring does the author use in the episode? What does this mean?

4) Find syntactic repetitions. For what purpose were they introduced?

Group 2 - lexical means of expression.

Task card.

Fill in the table with examples of tropes from the episode and indicate their role, choosing it correctly from the prompts.

Hints: Gives imagery to the text; indicates the importance of inanimate phenomena; indicates unity with folk art, and therefore with the people.

3) Working with text. Insert words and expressions that are suitable for the meaning of the blanks:

The captivating image of Yaroslavna is a symbol of ____________________. She grieves, ________________, _____________________, asks, _________________, grieves for all Russian soldiers. _______________ voice overcomes ______________, reaches __________________.

In terms of the depth of feelings, sincerity, Yaroslavna's monologue is close to the ______________ song.

4) Problematic issue.

Why is Yaroslavna's crying in 3 parts? What does this mean?

(Approximate answer: A woman is a rear, support, support, often invisible, but effective. It is after Yaroslavna's crying that we see Prince Igor fleeing from captivity.)

5) Drawing up a complex plan.

1) The prepared student reminds of the structure of a complex plan.

2) Drawing up a plan.

A rough plan.

1. Introduction. Episodes "Words ..."

Yaroslavna - the heroine of the 3rd part of "Words ..."

A) 4 parts of the episode.

B) Yaroslavna's feelings.

C) Closeness to folk songs.

D) Place in the composition of this episode.

Conclusion. The importance of the episode "Lamentations of Yaroslavna" in "The Lay of Igor's Host."

3. Stage of reflection.

Reception "Interview of a participant in the events." What would you ask the author of The Lay of Igor's Campaign?

Homework: Write an essay analyzing the episode using the lesson materials.

Comparative analysis of "Lament of Yaroslavna" from "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" and "Ballad of Galadriel" by Laura Bocharova from the rock opera "Finrod Zong" based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

"Lament of Yaroslavna", a key link in the chain of events described in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", a monument of ancient Russian literature, and the image of the grieving princess, the image of the abandoned people, runs like a red thread throughout the history of Russian literature - the immortal image of a loving Russian woman.

In Lamentation, abandoned by her husband, Prince Igor, who had gone to the war he started and taken prisoner, Princess Yaroslavna leads a one-sided monologue with the forces of nature. She does not know if Igor is still alive, and begs Mother Nature to help him, turning first to the wind:

“O wind, sail!
Why, sir, are you blowing towards?
Why are you rushing Khin's arrows
On your light porches
On the warriors of my dear?
Wasn't it enough for you to blow under the clouds,
Cherishing ships on the blue sea?
Why, sir, my fun
Did you scatter the feather grass? "

In second place, among the defenders of the Russian land, the princess puts the Dnieper, the river on which stands the mother of Russian cities, Kiev:

“Oh Dnepr Slovutych!
You broke through the stone mountains
Through the Polovtsian land.
You cherished the Svyatoslav's attachments on yourself
To Kobyakov's camp.
Attach, sir, my dear to me,
So that I do not send tears to him at sea early. "

And the last appeal of the princess, of course, to the Sun:

“Bright and three times bright sun!
You are all warm and beautiful:
Why, Vladyka, did you cast out your hot rays
On the warriors of my harmony?
In a waterless field with thirst, they twisted their bows,
Grief they shut up the quivers? "

If she blames the wind for her sorrows, asking him over and over again: "Why?" - then Yaroslavna's attitude to the Dnieper is diametrically opposite: she gives praise to the great river, with gentle speeches hoping to persuade the patron saint to contribute to the prince's safe return home. The sun Yaroslavna calls the ruler and also begins with praise, her demanding questions to the primordial solar deity are no longer so accusing as those addressed to the cruel steppe winds. It is significant that it is to the sun that the princess turns for the last, the third - the magic number - once, because immediately after a stanza filled with hope and light follows, as if the gods called and awakened by Yaroslavna to life illuminate the prince's path:

"The sea gushed out at midnight,
Tornadoes are coming in clouds.
To Igor-Prince God shows the way
From the Polovtsian land
To the Russian land,
To my father's golden table. "

"The Ballad of Galadriel" is the opening song to the rock opera "Finrod-Zong" based on JRR Tolkien's "Le o Leithian". “This is a story about loyalty, duty, immortality and mortal love,” says the libretto. The plot is based on the love of a mortal man and an immortal elven princess and the noble death of the elven ruler, Finrod Felagund, who sacrificed his life to save human life and fulfill his word. Galadriel is also the elven ruler and sister of Finrod.

There is a circular composition of the plot: in the opening song, Galadriel mourns his deceased brother, conducting an imaginary dialogue with him, trying to understand what caused his death. Further, in the main part, there is a detailed description of the events that led to such a sad ending. And at the end, in the final theme, Galadriel, who was not a participant in the main plot, again comes to the fore, summing up a kind of conclusion in the final composition of the rock opera. Thus, Galadriel acts as a connecting link, a character “from the outside,” a spectator who evaluates the whole story, brings his own morality and order into it.
The same role in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" is played by "Yaroslavna's Lament".

The whole ballad is built on only one address on behalf of Galadriel, without any deviations. Galadriel refers not so much to the forces of nature, which is alien to the mythological Christianized system of Tolkien, but to abstract concepts such as memory, glory, fidelity, death, etc. And yet she begins her ballad with a question familiar to the Russian reader from the time of Lamentation:

"You tell me, heather, tell me
Is your summer outfit green?
Is your blooming board easy
Under which my brother sleeps
my beloved brother,
brother who forgave everything? "

In Lament, Yaroslavna, referring to the wind, mentions the steppe feather grass, while Galadriel directly asks a question to a possible silent witness of Finrod's death - heather, herbs of sacred significance. In the language of flowers, heather (erika) means the loneliness that Galadriel sees in front of him, remembering his deceased brother.
Another representative of the natural beginning, close in value to the Dnieper Yaroslavna, is the coast:

“You tell me, shore, tell me
How we renounced the Gifts,
How we lost our shelter ...
And under the bitterness of loss
my brother, my beloved brother, walked forward. "

Here Galadriel no longer asks the question as such, she discusses aloud on topics described in detail by Tolkien: in order to understand what is said in this part of the ballad, you need to know the life story of Galadriel and Finrod and the elves in general. They left their native coast, a country without death and suffering, in order to return the light-bearing stones stolen by the forces of evil, having gone to the lands of mortals many years ago, for which they were cursed and abandoned by higher powers.

The “crying” genre is associated with a certain melody, as well as popular lamentations. Artistic crying is not just poetry, it is already a song. Crying is always performed in a voice, in a singsong voice, this is their function and main purpose. In this, the "Ballad of Galadriel" also preserves the tradition, even if it is not called a lament for the lack of this genre in modern literature, moreover, "Ballad", intended for musical performance from the very beginning, is even more faithful to tradition than "Lament", probably also performed by singers-"whites", as described in the "Lay" by Boyan.

In addition, crying usually retains the function of praising those to whom they are addressed: the images of Igor and Finrod are idealized, filled with universal values, they act both as just and wise rulers, and in a more everyday, family sense, as husbands and brothers.

Nevertheless, we see that Galadriel is a more modern, more decisive, strong-willed image than Princess Yaroslavna. Galadriel left her homeland with her brother, along with him leading the people to unknown lands, she rules on an equal footing with her husband, being not just a queen - a magical protector, patroness of life on the land subject to her. Therefore, she asks for an answer rather not with an offense and a sad question, but with a certain demand for an answer, realizing, however, that the answer will not be received.

Yaroslavna is the wife of Prince Igor, who went on a campaign against the Polovtsians. Having learned about the captivity of her husband, she turns to nature in a pagan manner, in despair forgetting the Christian faith, blames not the sun and the wind for cowardice, but the pagan patron gods, blaming them for leaving her husband when he so needed their help , - help not from abstract phenomena, but divine, protection from above. However, "Lament of Yaroslavna" is devoid of passion, this is not a romance of a beloved, emphasizes the philologist Sergei Averintsev, no matter how hard researchers of different eras try to present it, what makes "Lament" akin to "Ballad": even though "Lament" shows the grief of his wife for her husband, but in "Ballad" - sisters by brother, in this they are equal. Emotionality, enthusiasm, power of the works show: the heroine does not want to stay away. The princess decisively exclaims:

"I will fly a cuckoo on the Danube,
Wet a silk sleeve in the Kajala River
In the morning the prince has bloody wounds
On his mighty body. "

And nevertheless, Yaroslavna is powerless, which is directly stated in her cry, in her grief she can only wish her husband good luck in the battle for life, beg from the gods, from the Dnieper, from the Russian land another chance for the defeated, broken prince. The reader can only guess what the princess's participation in the preparation of the campaign was, whether she was against the bloody war (given that the author put his words into Yaroslavna's mouth, this is quite possible, but the young princess could hardly have influenced her proud and warlike husband). The image of Yaroslavna contains the traditional images of a Russian woman, the land, the image of the people, the image of a mother, sister and wife, all abandoned, orphaned in endless princely wars, all those who suffered from the tyranny of the feudal princes, and they were not collected in vain: the author sees that only together, by common efforts, you can rally and unite Russia, you can avoid the mistakes of the past, rushing forward.

Galadriel in The Ballad and in the rock opera is generally shown as a static figure, she does not participate in the action, she is not on the battlefield or at peaceful festivities. And nevertheless, thanks to the opening theme that sets the rhythm - her "Ballad" - she is invisibly present in every scene where her brother is, she yearns with him for the lost, she dies with him for his ideals and love. Among those present on the stage during her performance, only she survived, but not for merits or bravery, but only because she unwittingly stayed on the sidelines. At the same time, Galadriel finds his way, addressing Finrod in The Ballad:

“Brother, I’m still going forward.
We have no hope, but there, in the distance, the sunrise is burning. "

This path is seen by the grieving as the only true one, since it leads her to her lost brother, as she says already in the last lines of the chorus:

“Look, my brother, look, there is no rest for the heart.
We have one soul - but how different the paths are!
But there, at the end of parting, in the land without sorrow and hardship,
A golden sunrise will light up over the meeting of our hands. "

Aiming for a bright future, edification for descendants are put into the mouth of Galadriel in the same way as Yaroslavna: "Lament" calls for the elimination of mistakes of the past based on the lessons of past years, sums up the wars and losses described by the author earlier, and Galadriel in his final song blesses those , who will come after, the Age of People, who replaced the Primordial Elves in Middle-earth, with humility accepting the extinction of their kind - for which Finrod died.

In "Ballad" Galadriel gives an assessment of his brother's personality, Yaroslavna in "Lament" expresses sorrow for something unrecognized in Igor. "Ballad Galadriel" glorifies the past, "Lament of Yaroslavna" wants to make the future better.

As noted by I.S. Grachev, we meet similar plots in the literature of different eras (this is Andromache in the antique Iliad by Homer, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin by Pushkin, Katerina, Nekrasov women, Yaroslavna by Marina Tsvetaeva and many others), which allows us to be convinced of the relevance of images and their future prospects.

Literature:

1. Averintsev S., "An ancient lesson of humanity" [Electronic resource] / S. Averintsev. - URL:
2. Bocharova L., Private site of Laura Bocharova, "Finrod-Zong" [Electronic resource] / L. Bocharova - URL: http://www.treismorgess.ru/?p=175
3. Gracheva I.S. Russian Literature Lessons: Methodological Guide. - SPb .: "Velen", 1994. - p. 197-229.

Yaroslavna's lament is perhaps the most poetic and beautiful episode of the work.It sounds not just like moaning and entreaty, but like a real spell filled with folk tunes and magical transformations into animals.

Yaroslavna worries about the unsuccessful campaign of the squad of her husband, Prince Igor. In her sadness, she is not ashamed of her tears and turns to the higher forces of nature - the wind, river and sun. Surprisingly, her treatment as equals, Yaroslavna, as it were, condemns and scolds the higher powers, like old good friends who did not provide proper assistance to support her husband. With this method, the author points to the pronounced pagan customs that took place at that time, despite the already adopted Christianity. Nature in tears is also depicted in an unusually picturesque manner. Descriptions such as transformation into animals are quite typical for folklore.

The image of Yaroslavna successfully combines the type of a faithful and devoted wife, who for the sake of her husband is ready to do a lot, and turn into a cuckoo and wipe the blood from his wounds. It is important that the female image is presented on a par with the male. Thus, the author emphasizes Yaroslavna's confidence and self-sufficiency.

So, we can conclude that with the help of the presented image, the author is trying to convey the grief, and at the same time the determination of all women of Russia - wives and mothers. ”Each word of Yaroslavna is filled with light and hope for a safe ending of the confrontation.