Analysis of parts of the lamentation of the Yaroslavl movement of the Polovtsians. Comparative analysis of Yaroslavna's lamentation and ballads

Comparative analysis of "Lament of Yaroslavna" from "The Tale 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 Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, a monument of ancient Russian literature, and the image of a grieving princess, the image of an abandoned people, runs like a red thread throughout the history of Russian literature - the immortal image of a loving Russian woman.

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

“O wind, wind!
Why, sir, are you moving forward?
Why are you rushing Khin's arrows
On their light wings
On the warriors of my dear?
Was it not enough for you to blow under the clouds,
Cherishing ships on the blue sea?
Why, sir, my fun
Did you scatter on 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 Kyiv:

“Oh Dnepr Slovutich!
You broke through the stone mountains
Through the Polovtsian land.
You cherished Svyatoslav's plantations on yourself
To the camp of Kobyakov.
Pour, sir, my dear to me,
So that I don’t send tears to him at sea early.

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

“Bright and thrice bright sun!
You are all warm and beautiful:
Why, lord, did you stretch out your hot rays
On warriors of my kind?
In the waterless field, thirst twisted their bows,
Were they shut up their quivers with grief?

If she blames the wind for her sorrows, asking him over and over again: “Why?” - then Yaroslavna's attitude towards the Dnieper is diametrically opposite: she gives praise to the great river, with affectionate speeches hoping to persuade the patron to contribute to the safe return of the prince home. Yaroslavna calls the sun the lord and also begins with praise, her demanding questions to the primordial solar deity are no longer as accusatory as those addressed to the cruel steppe winds. It is significant that the princess turns to the sun for the last, third - a magical number - time, because immediately after follows a stanza filled with hope and light, as if the gods summoned and awakened to life by Yaroslavna light up the prince's path:

"Jumped the sea at midnight,
Tornadoes are coming in clouds.
God shows the way to Prince Igor
From the Polovtsian land
To the Russian land
To the father's golden table.

"The Ballad of Galadriel" is the opening song to the rock opera Finrod-Zong, based on JRR Tolkien's Lay o Leithian. "This is a story about loyalty, duty, immortality and mortal love," the libretto says. 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 a man's life and fulfill his given word. Galadriel is also an elven ruler and Finrod's sister.

There is a circular composition of the plot: in the opening song, Galadriel mourns her dead brother, having 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 result 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, introducing his own morality and order into it.
The Lay of Yaroslavna also plays the same role in The Tale of Igor's Campaign.

The whole ballad is built on nothing but invocations on behalf of Galadriel, without any digressions. 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, loyalty, death, etc. And yet she begins her ballad with a question familiar to the Russian reader from the time of Lament:

"You tell me heather, tell me
Is your summer outfit green?
Is your blooming board light,
Under which my brother sleeps
my beloved brother,
forgiving brother?

In the Lament, Yaroslavna, referring to the wind, mentions the steppe feather grass, while Galadriel directly asks a possible mute witness to the death of Finrod - heather, herbs that have a sacred meaning. In the language of flowers, heather (erica) means the loneliness that Galadriel sees in front of her, remembering her dead brother.
Another representative of the natural beginning, close in meaning to the Yaroslavna Dnieper, is the coast:

"You tell me, shore, tell me
How we renounced the Gifts,
How We Lost Our Home...
And under the bitterness of loss
my brother went ahead, my beloved brother.

Here Galadriel no longer asks a question as such, she talks 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 history of the life of Galadriel and Finrod and the elves in general. They left their native shore, a country without death and suffering, in order to return the luminous 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 genre of "crying" is associated with a certain melody, as well as folk lamentations. Artistic lamentation 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" preserves the tradition, although it is not called lamentation for the lack of this genre in modern literature, moreover, the "Ballad", intended for musical performance from the very beginning, is even more true to tradition than the "Lament", probably also performed by "vitia" singers, as described in the "Word" Boyan.

In addition, laments usually retain 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 fair and wise rulers, and in a more everyday, family sense, like husbands and brothers.

Nevertheless, we see that Galadriel is a more modern to us, more decisive, strong-willed image than Princess Yaroslavna. Galadriel left her homeland with her brother, leading the people to uncharted lands on an equal footing with him, 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 than with an insult and a sad question, but with a certain demand for an answer, realizing, however, that an answer will not be received.

Yaroslavna is the wife of Prince Igor, who went on a campaign against the Polovtsians. Upon learning of the captivity of her husband, she turns to nature in a pagan way, in despair forgetting the Christian faith, accuses not the sun and wind, but the pagan patron gods of cowardice, singing to them that they left her husband when he needed their help so much. , - help is not from abstract phenomena, but divine, patronage 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 researchers of different eras try to present it, what makes “Lament” related to the “Ballad”: although in “Lament” the wife’s grief for her husband is shown, but in the "Ballad" - sisters by brother, in this they are equal. Emotionality, uplift, the power of the works show: the heroine does not want to stand aside. The princess resolutely exclaims:

“I will fly like a cuckoo along the Danube,
I will soak a silk sleeve in the Kayala River,
Morning to the prince his bloody wounds
On his mighty body.

And yet, Yaroslavna is powerless, which is directly stated in her lamentation, 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, one more chance for the defeated, defeated prince. The reader can only guess what was the participation of the princess in the preparation of the campaign, whether she was against a bloody war (considering that the author put his words into Yaroslavna's mouth, this is quite possible, but it is unlikely that the young princess could influence her proud and warlike husband). In the image of Yaroslavna, the traditional images of a Russian woman, the land, the image of the people, the image of mother, sister and wife, all the abandoned, orphaned in the endless princely wars, all those who suffered from the arbitrariness of the feudal princes, are collected, and they were not collected in vain: the author sees that only together, by joint efforts, it is possible to rally and unite Russia, it is possible to avoid the mistakes of the past, rushing forward.

Galadriel in the "Ballad" and in the rock opera in general is shown as a static figure, she does not participate in the action, she is neither on the battlefield nor at peaceful festivities. And yet, thanks to the rhythm-setting opening theme - her "Ballad", she is invisibly present in every scene where her brother is present, 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 merit or courage, but only because she involuntarily remained on the sidelines. And at the same time, Galadriel finds her way, referring to Finrod in the "Ballad":

“Brother, I will still go ahead.
We have no hope, but there, in the distance, the sunrise burns.

This path is seen by the mourner as the only true one, as it leads her to her lost brother, which she speaks about already in the last lines of the refrain:

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

Aiming at a bright future, edification to posterity are put into the mouths of Galadriel in the same way as Yaroslavna: "Lament" calls for the elimination of the 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 her final song blesses those who will come after, the Age of Men, who replaced the Primordial Elves in Middle-earth, humbly accepting the extinction of their kind - for which Finrod died.

In the "Ballad" Galadriel gives an assessment of the personality of his brother, Yaroslavna in the "Lament" expresses her sadness over the unrecognized still in Igor. "The Ballad of Galadriel" sings of the past, "Lament of Yaroslavna" wishes to make the future better.

As I.S. Grachev, we find similar plots in the literature of different eras (this is Andromache in the ancient Iliad by Homer, Tatiana in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, Katerina, Nekrasov women, Yaroslavna by Marina Tsvetaeva, and many others), which allows us to verify relevance of images and their future prospects.

Literature:

1. Averintsev S., "The 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. Lessons of Russian Literature: A Methodological Guide. - St. Petersburg: "Velen", 1994. - p. 197-229.

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

Yaroslavna is worried 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, the river and the sun. Her treatment on an equal footing is amazing, Yaroslavna, as it were, condemns and reprimands higher powers, like good old friends who did not provide proper support to her husband. With this technique, the author points to the pronounced pagan customs that took place at that time, despite the already adopted Christianity. Nature in weeping is also unusually picturesquely depicted. Such descriptions as transformation into animals are quite characteristic of folklore.

In the image of Yaroslavna, the type of a faithful and devoted wife is successfully combined, who is ready for a lot for the sake of her husband, and they will turn into a cuckoo and wipe the blood from wounds.Also mentions in his song and the glorified feat of Svyatoslav, as if saying that there is something to be proud of, the Russian people It is important that the female image is presented on a par with the male. Thus, the author emphasizes the confidence and self-sufficiency of Yaroslavna.

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

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is one of the most famous monuments of ancient Russian literature that has come down to us. 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.

Philologists and writers, including the poets V.A. Zhukovsky, K.D. Balmont, N.A. Zabolotsky, E.A. Yevtushenko. In this article, excerpts from the work are given in the translation of Nikolai Zabolotsky.

The plot of "Words ..." is based on real historical events. In the center of the story is the campaign against the Polovtsy of Igor Svyatoslavovich, 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 is the idea of ​​uniting the rulers of all the specific principalities of fragmented Russia.

Nature in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

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

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

But looking at the sun that day,
Igor marveled at the luminary:
middle of the day night shadow
Russian militia covered.

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 associated with natural phenomena, one can only marvel at the courage of Igor Svyatoslavovich. But the further the army moves into the steppe, the darker, more disturbing the landscape becomes. Animals, according to legend, more subtly foreseeing the approach of trouble, do their best to prevent the inevitable:

Birds flying above the oaks
They fly with their plaintive cry,
The wolves howl in the ravines,
The cry of eagles comes from the mist.

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

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 portends a difficult denouement:

The night has passed and bloody dawns
They proclaim disaster in the morning.
Clouds are moving in from the sea
For four princely tents.

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

The steppe drooped, 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, from early morning, weeping does not stop. 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 dearest to the heart - will never return home. In desperation, she asks the Wind, who also becomes a full-fledged hero of the story:

What are you, wind, angrily sing,
That you swirl the fogs by the river,
Do you raise Polovtsian arrows?
Throwing them at the Russian regiments?

Yaroslavna also addresses the Sun:

What are you, the army of the remote prince
Burnt with hot rays?

Behind the rhetorical questions of the princess is the bitter realization that the dead cannot be returned back. And Yaroslavna asks the Dnieper for only one single person, Prince Igor:

Cherish the prince, lord,
Save on the far side.

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

The earth trembled
The grass rustled
The vezh was stirred by a violent wind ...
But the sun rises in the sky
Prince Igor appeared in Russia.

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

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

Solar eclipse, morning bloody dawns... Despite the fact that the Russian troops twice disobey what is 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 ancient Russian literature - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". The description of the vast expanses of nature reveals the fullness and power, beauty and generosity of the Russian soul, the ability to empathize and sympathy, as well as the desire to free the native land from the encroachments of enemies at all costs.

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The ideological and artistic role of the episode "Lament of Yaroslavna"

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is a monument of ancient Russian literature. It was written in the XII century, during the period of early feudal statehood, when the country was in a state of fragmentation and the unity of the state was violated by civil strife and foreign invasions.

The Tale of Igor's Campaign, like every work of literature, has an ideological content and an artistic form, which is determined by the genre, genre, language, the whole system of means and techniques by which the content is created. The composition of the work is closely related to this. Each episode is an important component, without which the work loses its meaning and form.

"Lament of Yaroslavna" is a very important episode in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". In this work there are some episodes that foreshadow further developments. Such episodes are: the moment when “the Sun blocked his (Igor’s) path with darkness”; “Svyatoslav’s Dream”, “Yaroslavna’s Lament” - without them, the feeling of that time, the XII century, when the work was written, will be lost, since in Ancient Russia people deeply believed in various kinds of omens. The author creates an atmosphere with the help of this episode, thanks to such passages, the reader can now better understand the work.

In the annals there was only a dry presentation of the facts, and the episode "Lament of Yaroslavna" is an element inserted by the author of the "Word" to enhance the emotional sound of the work. “Lament of Yaroslavna” sort of brings us back to reality after the author’s lyrical digression, in which he recalls the first Russian princes and their numerous campaigns against the enemies of Russia and contrasts them with contemporary events. In general, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" was created in order to express the real reaction of the inhabitants of Russia to the events taking place, since this cannot be in the annalistic passage.

This episode carries a huge emotional load: the author's attitude to everything that happens is concentrated here. In addition to this episode, feelings are not expressed so openly anywhere else. The author was able to very accurately convey the suffering of Yaroslavna, thereby expressing the attitude of the entire Russian land to the events taking place. Indeed, for the history of Russia, this defeat was of considerable importance. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is imbued with heroic and tragic pathos, that is, the emotional and evaluative attitude of the writer to the depicted. Also, “Lament of Yaroslavna” is of great importance for the composition of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”. Turning to the forces of nature, asking them for help, Yaroslavna, as it were, prepares the flight of Prince Igor from the Polovtsian captivity.

Without this episode, the logic of the narrative would have been violated, without it, the idea, that is, the condemnation of the internecine war and the call of the princes for unity, and the problem - fragmentation and ways to unite, could not have been expressed so clearly in the Tale of Igor's Campaign.

The space in the "Word" is constantly changing, sometimes expanding, sometimes narrowing. At this moment, the artistic space in the work narrows down to Putivl. In the episode itself, space expands to enormous limits, since Yaroslavna, in her cry, reminiscent of a lyrical folk song, addresses all the forces of nature at the same time: to the wind, and to the Donets, and to the sun. “Nature in the Lay is not the background of events, not the scenery in which the action takes place, it is the character itself, something like an ancient choir” (D.S. Likhachev). Appeal to all the forces of nature creates the feeling that a person is surrounded by a huge space. This conveys the views of the people of that time, that is, the 12th century, on the world: “... a medieval person strives to cover the world as fully and as widely as possible, reducing it in his perception, creating a “model” of the world - like a microcosm...” ( Likhachev D.S. Poetics of ancient Russian literature // Poetics of artistic space).

I read "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" in two different translations - by D. Likhachev and in a poetic translation by N. Zabolotsky. I think that reading several different translations gives the reader the opportunity to look at events from different angles and understand them better. In each translation, the personality of the translator is manifested - he is, as it were, the author of the text. Zabolotsky's language is closer to the public, even colloquial:

What are you, wind, angrily sing,

That you swirl the fogs by the river ...

While Likhachev:

O wind, wind!

Why, sir, are you moving forward?

But still, we still have the feeling that this is a translation of an old Russian work due to inversion:

At dawn in Putivl lamenting,

Like a cuckoo in early spring

Yaroslavna calls young,

On the wall sobbing urban ...

Zabolotsky uses various artistic techniques in his translation: personifications, comparisons, inserts his own pieces to enhance the emotional coloring. For example, Likhachev does not have such lines:

The fogs will fly away,

Prince Igor will open his eyes...

...................................

You, sowing enemy arrows,

Only death blows from above...

That is, Zabolotsky gives more detailed, artistic descriptions. Likhachev uses mostly metaphors, while Zabolotsky uses comparisons in the same phrases, for example: “... an unknown cuckoo crows early” (D. Likhachev), “... like a cuckoo calls to Jura”. In both translations, a large number of personifications are used, since Yaroslavna refers to the wind, to the river and to the sun, as if to the living: “My glorious Dnieper!”, “The sun is thrice bright!”, “What are you, Wind ...”

Thus, the episode "Lament of Yaroslavna" is of great importance, both semantic and emotional. In this episode, having conveyed the suffering of Yaroslavna, the author expresses the state of the entire Russian land at that time.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.bobych.spb.ru/

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"The Tale of Igor's Campaign": a brief history of the work and artistic features

The Tale of Igor's Campaign is a mysterious work of Russian literature. Although why only Russian? This text has implications for world literature as a whole. But The Tale of Igor's Campaign is considered a masterpiece and a monument of the Old Russian period. The basis of the plot of the work was the campaign (as the reader knows from history textbooks - unsuccessful for the prince) of the Russian army against the Polovtsian people. The campaign was organized by Prince Igor of Russia, who then ruled the Novgorod-Seversky principality. Events unfold in 1185.

A little about the history of the creation of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

However, literary historians have every reason to doubt the authenticity of the find. According to the official version, The Tale of Igor's Campaign was written in the 12th century, almost immediately after the events. A skeptical position regarding the "Word" belongs to a number of researchers (including, in particular, representatives of the skeptical historiographic school - M. Kachenovsky, O. Senkovsky and others). According to this point of view, the authenticity of the text is nothing but a hoax, and in fact, The Tale of Igor's Campaign is the fruit of a craftsman who lived during the Enlightenment, that is, in the 18th century.

Of course, there are a lot of hypotheses that aim to shed light on the origin of the work, but one of the most original positions, of course, belongs to Lev Gumilyov. A Russian writer with a tragic fate, the son of Anna Akhmatova, who survived a difficult period of reaction, believed that the Lay is a literary masterpiece that bears all the signs of genius and antiquity. But the writer also assumed that the work is an allegorical text that was written not in the 12th century, but in the 13th century. The heroes of the Lay are not at all real historical prototypes, but images under which other people are hiding. For example, under the mask of Igor and other Russian princes, according to Gumilyov, Alexander Nevsky, Daniil Galitsky and other personalities who lived a little later than the characters of the Lay hid.

Skepticism about "Yaroslavna's Lament"

Meanwhile, contrary to the conclusions of linguists - that the "Word", nevertheless, should be recognized as an authentic work of ancient Russian literature, various skeptical versions of the origin of the text are extremely popular today. For example, in the article “Yaroslavna’s real cry” (Discourse magazine, article dated March 8, 2016), Dmitry Levchik says: “And how wonderfully the feelings of the Russian princess Yaroslavna are described! How beautiful is her cry.” At the same time, many commentators note that she could not cry on the wall in Putivl, since the city wall was destroyed at that time. But the author of the Word is not up to the wall. He cares about a woman's feelings! Sometimes it seems that it is for the sake of Yaroslavna's Lament that the whole poem was written! The author doubts that the man who allegedly wrote this work anonymously could be such an expert on the female soul and female experiences. In addition, an appeal to the inner world of a person is uncharacteristic of literature before the era of romanticism, when the first sprouts of interest in experiences, emotions, dramas inside the human soul begin to appear.

Analysis of the artistic specificity of the work

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is attributed to South Russian origin. The author - who is anonymous - admires the great Kyiv prince Svyatopolk, from which some literary critics conclude that the work is not just of southern, but even of Kiev territorial origin.

The narration - not only in its plot, but also in linguistic features - is a complex and difficult to read text, so at the moment there are many translations of this work into modern Russian and Ukrainian.

A separate remark should be made regarding the genre of the Lay. In principle, medieval texts are an example of genre synthesis. The work, in particular, is marked by the characteristic features of oratorical techniques of eloquence. In literary criticism and criticism, the opinion was established that the "Word" is a heroic poem. Other experts consider the text as a military story with signs of a chronicle and a song. For example, “Lament of Yaroslavna” is a song, the lyrical part of the “Word”, which endows the entire text with a unique emotional charge.

Polyphonism
Medieval literature as a whole is characterized by so-called polyphonism. This feature was noted by Mikhail Bakhtin, who wrote about the polyphony (polyphonism) of Dostoevsky's novels. This means that in The Word it is difficult to single out primary or secondary heroes: all characters are one and act in a world where they are equal in importance. In addition, the “Word” is characterized by symbolic polyphony: each image, action, word of the character carries a symbolic meaning, and the text of the work itself turns out to be as if woven from symbols.

panorama
Another feature of the text is the effect of "panoramic vision", a look that is closely associated with the principle of symbolic polyphonism. Panorama allows you to evaluate the events taking place in the Tale of Igor's Campaign from different points of view, giving an objective assessment of the actions of the characters.

There are not so many female images in The Tale of Igor's Campaign, so against the general background of the narrative, they are noticeably striking to the reader. One of these is the image of Euphrosyne Yaroslavna. This is a real-life historical character, but it is worth noting that in the text her description and characterization do not fully correspond to reality. The author of the "Word" transforms her image, gives additional characteristics, such a process is associated with the peculiarities of the chant at that time.

The main moment of the disclosure of the image of Yaroslavna (in the text she is named exclusively by her patronymic) falls on the time period marked by the defeat of the troops of Prince Igor, her husband. After the news of the tragedy, the woman goes to the walls of the city and announces the cry. This part of the text is better known as Yaroslavna's Lament.

pagan elements

It should be noted that, despite the fact that at the time of writing the text of the "Word" Christianity was already widespread among the Slavs, Yaroslavna's lamentation is actually devoid of any symbols or images associated with this religion. On the contrary, many pagan inclusions form the basis of her speech.

First, let's define the concept of "crying". The word itself is associated with the verb "cry" and means a sad speech with tears for someone. Such weeping was common during funeral processions. This action is not the brainchild of modernity. This tradition has its roots in the pagan past of the people.

Yaroslavna's lament is not far from this tradition. At first glance, this seems strange, because Prince Igor, her husband was captured, but no one took his life. However, it should be noted that the image of Yaroslavna is a collective one. This means that the author does not show us a specific person, but an image endowed with the generally accepted character traits of the ideal woman of that time, therefore, not only the princess speaks through the mouth of Yaroslavna, but virtually any Russian woman who is waiting for her husband from the campaign.

Symbols-images of Yaroslavna's crying

The text of the "Word" is practically devoid of artistic tropes, so it is necessary to make an analysis, first of all, looking at the images-symbols.

I am a sad cuckoo
I'll fly down the Danube
And in the distant river Kayala
I'll wet my sleeve.

Thus begins the speech of the princess. In the very first lines we meet with such a symbol as a cuckoo. In the mythology of the ancient Slavs, this bird was given not the last place. For them, she was first and foremost, a soothsayer. The cuckoo could predict both joyful and sad moments. The present epithet “sad” indicates to us the tragedy of the event, the author chose the image of this bird not in vain - there is still hope for a positive outcome, but it is necessary to look at the fact that the epithet itself is not in the original text, the translator used it to convey the mood dictated by the author .

An important point is the fact that the cuckoo does not have a husband (traditions give a different reason). As you can see, the author from the first lines shows us the dual nature of this character: Yaroslavna's husband is alive, and the husbands of many Russian wives have died, their loved ones have remained "cuckoos" - widows.
The next one Yaroslavna addresses is the wind:

Wind, wind in an open field,
Fast-moving, dear friend,
Willingly or willingly
Do you blow so hard around?

The wind god Stribog was one of the most important gods in the pantheon of the ancient Slavs. His cult lasted for an unusually long time. The Slavs unconditionally considered him the only ruler of the airspace and the ruler of all birds.

The epithet “fast-flying” is also absent in the original, this is the author’s interpretation of the deity’s functions - at that time it was a difficult action to move oneself or transmit any information over a considerable distance, and the wind could do it quickly, besides bypassing all obstacles.

The next image is a river:
My glorious Dnieper! You are in the open
Waves rushed fast ...

This symbol also carries a dual principle. On the one hand, the river is a source of food (fish) and water, which means life. On the other hand, this is a rather insidious element - failures during navigation, floods can cause death. The symbolism of death is reinforced by the tradition of some ancient Slavic tribes to arrange funeral bonfires on the banks of the river. Thus, the author again emphasizes the thin line between life and death.

The last image that can be seen in crying is the Sun.

The sun, the golden sun, You burn brightly in the sky, The sun is red, dear, You give warmth and light to everyone.

Such an appeal is based not only on a heavenly body, but also on a pagan god. Dazhbog (the god of the sun) was endowed with two functions. The first was to be a source of light, without which life could not exist. The second was rooted in the ideas of the ancient Slavs about the origin of princely families. Based on beliefs, we can conclude that in society the image of the sun was a source of princely power, but it is impossible to say that the image of Prince Igor is hidden under the image of the sun. The rhetorical question (in the original: “Why, sir, stretch your hot beam on the fret howling?”), Followed further, confirms this fact.

Other tropes and stylistic figures present in the text

In second place, after images-symbols, in terms of frequency of use are rhetorical appeals and questions. Yaroslavna asks questions to the wind and the sun. In both the first and second cases, the question contains a certain reproach, which is opposed to the achievements or power of the elemental deity.

Yaroslavna says to the wind (in the original): “Why are the Khinov’s arrows mooing on your easy wings in my frets howl?” In literal translation, this means: why are you throwing the arrows of the khan on your wings, at the soldiers of my husband? (reproach of action). In contrast to this, the woman exclaims: “Woe under the clouds, cherish the ships on the blue sea” (you breeze under the clouds, cherish the ships on the blue sea).

In relation to the sun, which gives warmth to everyone, the princess exclaims: “Why, sir, did you spread your hot rays on the warriors of my fret?

In a waterless field, thirst twisted their bows, grief shut up their quivers?
The only person Yaroslavna turns to with a request is the Dnieper. “Courage, sir, my dear one to me,” she says.

A woman addresses all deities using the common appeal: “O Dnepr Slovutich!”, “O wind, sail”, “Bright and thrice bright sun”. There are also non-common forms of address in the text: “master”, “lord”, they perform an expressive function.

There are also other tropes in the text in small numbers.

With the help of epithets (“light”, “blue”, “hot”, “waterless”), either the power of the lord-element or the tragedy of what happened is emphasized.

They enhance the expression of the metaphor: “I dispelled my fun on the feather grass” - brought grief; “You extended your hot rays on the warriors of my fret” - indicates heat and heat; “Grief shut up their quivers” - indicates the degree of despondency.

Thus, the cry of Yaroslavna is not only a personal expression of the grief of the princess, it is a cry for all the soldiers who failed in the Polovtsian lands. The presence of pagan symbols, a wide system of addresses, rhetorical questions, the use of epithets and metaphors partially bring the princess's speech closer to prayer, in which the personal and the public are mixed, requests for the successful completion of the campaign and the praise of the strength and power of the elements.