epic poetry.

EPIC POETRY, usually a long narrative poem about heroic deeds, another name for it is the heroic epic. The origins of epic poetry are most likely rooted in prehistoric stories of gods and other supernatural beings. These stories, or myths, were probably recited in the course of sacred rituals calling for the patronage of higher powers in achieving earthly well-being.

The earliest examples of epic poetry include the ancient Babylonian cosmogonic epic enuma elish(named after the first words - When at the top), which tells about the creation of the world from chaos, the victory of Marduk, the main god of the city of Babylon, over the goddess of the primary world waters Tiamat and the creation of man to serve the gods. Another famous epic Epic of Gilgamesh, refers to a later stage in the development of epic poetry. His hero Gilgamesh is a demigod-half-man. Gilgamesh's closest friend Enkidu is created by the gods as a kind of alter ego of Gilgamesh. After a series of joint deeds, Enkidu dies instead of Gilgamesh, and Gilgamesh, trying to avoid the fate of mortals, goes to the ends of the earth to find out from Utnapishti, who survived the flood, how he can gain eternal life. As it turns out, eternal life is not available to mortals, but Gilgamesh obtains the flower of eternal youth, which subsequently abducts the serpent.

The Epic of Gilgamesh precedes the second period of writing epic tales, dating back to the 8th and 7th centuries. BC. and represented by the most significant epic works in the historical tradition, such as the poems of Homer and the oldest books of the Bible.

The theme of travel appears in its most expanded form in the complete history of the Trojan War, which puts all previous mythical journeys into a historical perspective. Around her grouped stories about being sent to war across the sea, as well as about the return of Menelaus, Agamemnon and Odysseus. Another form of the myth of death and resurrection (assuming that it is various plots about travel) can be found in the story of Achilles leaving the battle after a quarrel with Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans. Over time, another motif, known from the epic of Gilgamesh, joins the narrative: about a double replacing the hero. Patroclus, a friend of Achilles, enters the battle in the armor of Achilles, is killed instead of him, which infuriates the hero and forces him to return to the ranks of the Achaeans, taking revenge on the Trojans and Hector. It is these two parts of the story that are included in the text known to us. Iliad. It was most likely recorded between 725 and 700 BC. from the words of the blind singer Homer.

The Greeks also had epic tales about the origins of all things. Theogony (Origin of the gods) Hesiod, as well as the lost war of the titans, which opened the so-called. epic "kikl" (cycle), reflect their interest in creation and establishing order in the universe. The epic cycle was a compilation, where after Titan Wars the Theban cycle followed, containing the history of Oedipus and other rulers of this city. In epic the cycle also included songs telling about the causes and the beginning of the Trojan War ( Cyprus and following it Iliad); various episodes of the war itself, including the fall of Troy and the return home of the Greek heroes ( Ethiopian, Little Iliad, Devastation of Ilion and Returns), and finally Odyssey with continuing Telegonia. Not included in the epic cycle is the most popular story in Greece about Jason and the journey on the Argo ship for the Golden Fleece. It is mentioned in Homer and occupies a significant place in the fourth Pythian ode Pindar. In its classic form, it is transferred to Argonautics Apollonius of Rhodes, a much later author of the 3rd c. BC, which already belongs to the literary tradition. Lost were the poems about the exploits of Hercules, also popular in ancient Greece.

If there was an Italic oral epic tradition, it was most likely never written down. As in many other areas of culture, the Romans fully embraced the heritage of Greek epic poetry, but their favorite subjects were related to Roman history. In the 3rd century BC. Greek freedman Livius Andronicus translated Homeric Odyssey Latin Saturnian verse, and Gnaeus Nevius wrote with the same verse Song of the Punic War. Quintus Ennius (239–169 BC), having introduced the dactylic hexameter borrowed from the Greeks into Latin poetry, wrote an epic poem ( Annals) about the history of Rome. The high point of the Roman epic was Aeneid Virgil, which combines both mythical and heroic, as well as historical features. The mythical and heroic beginnings of the narrative go back to Homer and Apollonius. Aeneid with good reason can be called the first national epic. It tells of the escape of Aeneas with his father, son and a handful of compatriots from burning Troy; about their wanderings, including the famous stop in Carthage, where Queen Dido, who fell in love with Aeneas, was finally abandoned by him in order to fulfill her historical destiny; about the journey of Aeneas, like Odysseus, to the kingdom of the dead, where he was given a vision of the future heroes of Roman history. In Italy, the land promised to him by the gods, Aeneas, after a duel with Turn for the hand of the daughter of the king Latinus, laid the foundation for the family, which served as the source of the future Roman greatness.

The post-Vergilian epic in Latin is represented by a few names. In unfinished Pharsalia(more accurately - About civil war) Lucan (39–65 AD) tells of the war of 49–47 BC. between Caesar and Pompey, the stoic Cato the Younger acts as a hero. Lucan died at the age of twenty-six in the reign of Nero, defending the republican ideals. Like all writers of the Latin Silver Age, Lucan too frankly uses the rules of rhetoric, but the tragic pathos gave his poem great artistic power. Another poet of the same period, Silius Italicus (26-101 AD), wrote on subjects from Roman history, about the 2nd Punic War; Statius (AD 45–96) in an unfinished Achilles and Thebaid, as well as Valerius Flaccus (d. c. 92 AD) in Argonautics returned to stories from the epic past. The classical period of the Latin epic is usually completed By the abduction of Proserpina Claudian (c. 370–405).

In the first centuries of Christianity, both Latin and Greek gradually turned into liturgical languages, while colloquial Greek acquired an independent role, and various dialects of colloquial Latin became the basis for the development of Romance languages. The classical Greek epic, which appeared after a long break, is represented by such works as post-gomeric(4th c.) Quint of Smyrna and Acts Dionysus Nonna (5th century). Later, in the Byzantine period, poems appeared based on scenes from modern history, sustained in the classical Greek style and meter.

Apart from Acts of Dionysus, Nonn wrote in hexameter Arrangement Saint gospels from John. In the Latin West, verse narratives on gospel themes appeared as early as the 4th century. ( gospel books Yuvenka, ok. 330); the history of Creation, set forth in the Book of Genesis, is contained in the end of the 5th century. work of Dracontius For the glory of God; Arator retold in hexameters Acts of the Apostles in the 6th c. Latin poetic expositions of lives appeared along with poems of historical and panegyric content throughout the 8th and 9th centuries. The Christian era glorified its heroes in ancient and pagan forms. A new type of hero and villain can be found as early as the 4th c. in psychomachy Prudentius (348 - c. 405), which describes the struggle for human soul between sins and virtues; it was the first great allegorical epic.

To a fairly richly presented mixture of pagan and Christian heritage in classical languages ​​from the 10th century. oral and written epic of the new peoples of Europe is added. From this moment begins the third period epic literature. Typical examples of the medieval epic: gestures (French gestes, lit. - deeds) in Old French, of which the most prominent was Song of Roland; poem Song about my Side in old Spanish; songs Elder Edda in Old Norse; Beowulf in Old English; Song of the Nibelungs in Middle High German; poem Digenis Akrit in Middle Greek. All of them do not have a definite authorship and most likely represent either direct examples of oral epic, or are based on oral tradition. The mythic-heroic element prevails over the historical in them, even when it comes to real people and events, such as Charlemagne and the battle in the Ronceval Gorge. An exception could be Sida, because at times it resembles a chronicle written in verse, but the motif of the protagonist's exile brings some resemblance to mythical travels. You can also notice a certain forward movement from the songs senior Eddas, with their strong pagan element coming from the foggy Germanic past, to Beowulf, where purely pagan legends about fights with creatures from the other world, monsters and dragons are set out in the language of the Germanic heroic age, with its code of feudal fidelity, but interpreted and commented on from a purely Christian point of view. Song of Roland, keeping only external signs mythologism of the pagan era, is a finished product of their organic fusion with the Christian worldview. Originated on the eastern outskirts of Christendom Digenis Akrit talked about a hero whose father was a Muslim and his mother was a Christian. He slew dragons, fought the Amazons, and performed all the feats of the mythical protagonists of the epic. As for the spirit of knightly gallantry, it is most clearly represented in Songs about Nibelungen, especially in its first part, which tells the story of Siegfried's marriage and his death.

In the 12th century a large number of long poems appeared, which were a poetic presentation of legendary plots that previously existed only in prose, at least in writing. One of the most popular was the story of the Trojan War, known as novel about Three and having its origin not in Homer, but in the retellings of the mythical participants in the war, Dareth Phrygian ( History of the fall of Troy) and Dictys of Crete ( Diary of the Trojan War). Author Romance of Troy Benoît de Sainte-Maur wrote his text around 1160. Another widespread subject was the story of Alexander the Great, recounted in numerous verse novels. about Alexandra, written in both Latin and new European languages. Novels of the so-called. The Arthurian cycle, using the Arthurian legends, extended the forms of epic poetry to the folklore of Brittany. In this connection it is necessary to mention Chrétien de Troyes, the author of the poems Erec and Enida, Yvain, or the Lion Knight, Lancelot, or cart knight and Perceval, or the Tale of the Grail. The best example of a poetic chivalric novel in English is brutus Layamon (13th century). As a sample of the Byzantine epic poem of the 12th-13th centuries. enough to bring Beltandros and Chrysanzu. There were a great many similar poetic narratives in Europe at that time. They replaced the more ancient medieval epic, like Songs about Roland; without them it is impossible to understand the nature of the epic of the Renaissance.

The fourteenth century opens halfway between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Divine Comedy Dante. She, of course, is not an epic. Nevertheless, at the heart of this narrative in poetic form lies one of the oldest plots of the epic song: a journey to other world to receive guidance and knowledge, which should give a renewal of life. In the same century appeared written in Latin Africa Petrarch, more in line with the canons of the epic and telling about ancient heroes (Scipio Africanus). In the field of chivalric romance, Giovanni Boccaccio distinguished himself by writing filocolo, Philostrato and Teseidu.

The epic of the late Renaissance is represented by the names of M. Boiardo, L. Ariosto and T. Tasso in Italy, L. di Camões in Portugal and E. Spencer in England. Boiardo (1434–1494), author of the unfinished in love Roland, found his hero in the tradition coming from the epic of Roland. Furious Roland Ariosto (1474–1533) was written as a continuation of Boiardo's poem. Both of them resemble episodically constructed chivalric novels rather than a heroic epic in the spirit of Songs about Roland. The heroic element in them is subordinated to the love interest. To reconcile these two principles was the goal of Tasso (1544-1595). He chose as his hero the historical Godfried of Bouillon, one of the leaders of the 1st crusade (11th century), whose goal gave the name to the poem - Liberated Jerusalem. Lusiads Camõesa (1524-1580) is a national epic, the plot of which was the journey of Vasco da Gama to India (1497-1499). Lusiads devoted to recent history, but Camões, using the techniques characteristic of the epic genre, tells the entire history of Portugal in the poem. fairy queen Spenser combines moralistic allegory, religious propaganda in favor of the Anglican Church and a love story of chivalry. Each of her six books is a medley of familiar folk epics, Arthurian legends and later chivalric romances. In Spain, A. de Ercilla y Zúñiga wrote a little read today Araucan(1569–1589), in France P. Ronsard published in 1572 his unfinished Franciad.

In epic poetry of the 17th century. one figure dominates - D. Milton, with his Paradise Lost. Milton deliberately refused to write on a traditional literary or historical subject and found inspiration in biblical tales, thanks to which he was able to express his own theological views. Milton returned to the theme of the creation of the universe, the struggle of the heavenly forces, and even included in the poem a description of several journeys, in particular Satan - to Paradise, i.e. travel to the underworld in reverse. And although the author was looking for new type hero in Adam, in fact, the features of the traditional epic hero turned out to be endowed with Satan. In striking contrast to Milton's epic is Henriada(1728) Voltaire, historical epic about the religious wars in France, containing satire and criticism of religious fanaticism.

The fourth period of recording traditional oral epic poetry begins in the middle of the 18th century. and continues to this day. In the era of romanticism, medieval texts became the object of increased attention, they were searched for in libraries and published, often for the first time. E. Lönnrot combined short songs of Finnish storytellers into one work Kalevala, in accordance with the theory that appeared at the same time that Iliad, and Odyssey were composed of shorter epic tales. Literary imitations of oral epic and folk ballads also appeared, such as Ossian's writings(1765) J. MacPherson. Other poets returned to classical subjects, like T. B. Macaulay in Songs ancient rome (1842) and W. Morris in the poem Life and death Jason(1867).

In the Slavic countries, interest in collecting folk ballad and epic poetry prevailed. Classical collections by V. Karadzic in the Balkans, as well as by Russian collectors Kirsha Danilov, A.F. Gilferding and P.N. Rybnikov were of inestimable value for the history of culture. In addition to historical songs about the recent past, the repertoire of Slavic folk narrators included mytho-heroic tales of battles with supernatural beings, travel, a long absence from home, and returning to a faithful and sometimes unfaithful wife. The characters were often historical, while the plots dated back to Homeric times.

A literary epic poem is a rarity in our time, but in 1938 N. Kazantzakis published a long epic poem in modern Greek called Odyssey. In it we return to mythical hero Homer, as if closing the history of epic poetry.

Genres constitute a certain system due to the fact that they are generated by a common set of causes, and also because they interact, support each other's existence and at the same time compete with each other.

Main epic genres:

Epic (epic poem) - an extensive narrative in verse or prose about outstanding national historical events. epic poem, epic, song it is customary to name the predominant variety of the folk epic that arose in the early pre-literary stages of literature (see, for example, The Song of Roland, The Song of Side). The epic depicted the most significant (according to Hegel - "substantial") events and collisions of life: either the clashes of the forces of nature, mythologically realized by folk fantasy, or the military clashes of tribes and peoples. Ancient and medieval epics in form were large poetic works that arose either by combining relatively short mythological and epic tales, or by unfolding (growth) of the central event (compare, for example, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey).

Story- one of the main genres of oral folk poetry, an epic, mostly prose work of magical, adventurous or everyday nature with a fantasy setting. From other types of oral prose or works in which fiction plays a significant role, a fairy tale. differs in that the storyteller presents it, and the listeners perceive it primarily as a poetic fiction, a play of fantasy. A literary fairy tale is no longer a product folk art, but the work of a specific author who uses figurative and motivic archetypes of a folk tale in his narrative (“The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by A.S. Pushkin) or creates a new model based on certain fairy-tale tricks-functions (according to V.Ya. Propp). Compare, for example, the technique of "miraculous transformation" in M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin "The Wild Landowner".

Novel- an epic work of great form, in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual in his external and internal collisions with the environment, on the formation of his self-consciousness and character. The novel is the epic of modern times. Unlike the folk epic, where the individual and the folk soul are inseparable, the novel historically arises and develops when conditions begin to develop for the moral freedom of an individual, for the development of his self-consciousness and self-affirmation, for his ideological and moral denial of old universally significant norms. The life of the individual and the life of society appear in the novel as relatively independent, but, as a rule, opposing principles. A typical novel situation is a clash in the hero of the moral and human (personal) with natural and social necessity. Since the novel develops in modern times, where the nature of the relationship between man and society is constantly changing, insofar as its form is essentially “open”: the main situation is each time filled with concrete historical content and is embodied in various genrevarieties(picaresque, socially-domestic, historical, adventure novel, etc.).

The heyday of the novel, namely his socio-psychological variety occurs in the era of realism. Showing the formation of the characters' characters in complex conflict interactions, many realist writers traced both the formation and the change of these characters in certain national-historical conditions and therefore covered the narrative very much. broad spheres public life of the depicted eras and countries - their civil, spiritual, domestic relations and customs (“Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin, “Father Goriot” by Balzac, “ Hard times»Dickens). Such novels were often branched, multi-linear in plot and monumental in scope (Balzac's Lost Illusions, Dickens' Bleak House, L. N. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, F. M. Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov), and sometimes even united in cycles (The Human Comedy by Balzac).

epic novel– narrative genre connecting genre settings epics with her interest in the formation of society - in events and goodies national historical significance, and genre settings novel aimed at embodying the formation of the character of an individual in its own life and in its internal contradictions and external clashes with the world (cf.: “War and Peace” by L.N. Toltoy, “Quiet Flows the Don” by M.A. Sholokhov).

Tale- a medium-sized narrative genre that occupies a middle position between the novel and the short story. It differs from the novel in less completeness and breadth of pictures of everyday life, customs, etc., and differs from the story in greater complexity. In the historical and literary tradition, the term story, mainly applied to works of Russian literature. Initially, in the history of ancient Russian literature, this term was used to refer to prose works that did not have a pronounced expressiveness of artistic speech (“The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu”). But in the 18th century, when the term novel, story began to be called an epic work of a smaller volume. V.G. Belinsky gives this distinction a general definition: he calls story"a fragmented ... novel," a chapter torn from a novel. Gradually, a stable theoretical idea was formed: story- a small form of epic prose, story- its average form, novel- big. It still prevails to this day.

Story- a small epic (usually prose) work depicting some episode or a series of episodes from the life of one hero (or several heroes). Story like literary genre originated at the turn of the 18th–19th centuries, in contrast to the short story, it is not the plot that is brought to the fore, but the verbal texture of the narration itself, which implies the presence of detailed characteristics, often refracted through the perception of the narrator-narrator, an increase in the proportion of details in the artistic space of the work , the presence of leitmotifs, etc.

Novella- a small narrative genre, comparable in volume to the story (which sometimes gives rise to their identification), but differing from it in genesis, history and structure. The novel is based on an unusual event, an unexpected event or an "unheard of incident" (Goethe). "Cultivating" the case, the short story reveals to the utmost the core of the plot - the central vicissitudes, reduces life material into the focus of one event. Unlike the story, the short story is the art of the plot in its purest form, developed in ancient times and addressed primarily to the active side of human existence (S. Sierotvensky). The novelistic plot, built on situational antitheses and abrupt transitions between them, usually ends with an unexpected denouement.

Feature article- a small narrative genre, close in volume and formal content structure to the story. However, a specific genre feature of the essay is documentary. The focus of the essay writer is on the issues of the civil and moral state of the "environment" (usually embodied in specific individuals and situations), that is, the problems of "moral descriptive" (G.N. Pospelov). The heyday of essay writing in the history of national literature occurs when in society, in connection with the crisis of social relations or with the emergence of a new way of life, “moral descriptive” interests sharply increase. Essay literature usually combines features fiction and journalism.

Main lyric genres:

Oh yeah - genre of lyric poetry target installation of glorification, praise of socially significant personalities and events. It is written, as a rule, on a certain solemn occasion (victory in a war, accession to the throne of a ruler, etc.), hence the rhetorical and pathetic nature of its stylistic embodiment. Oda, unlike madrigal(a complimentary poem addressed to a private person), its task is not just to glorify the powers that be, but to affirm certain social values, the embodiment of which is the glorified object. The author interprets it as a kind of social ideal, which is the guarantor of a fair world order, reasonable social laws, and the progressive movement of history. Hence the element of edification in the picture of lyrical experience. Therefore, the ode is not so much complimentary as didactic. It is no coincidence that the ode flourished in the era of classicism (the most striking examples of the genre are “Ode on the day of the accession to the throne of Elizabeth Petrovna” by M.V. Lomonosov; “Felitsa” by G.R. Derzhavin). In the case when the odic object is metaphysical principles (or abstract concepts), the ode acquires an extra-social, philosophical character(ode "God", "On the death of Prince Meshchersky" by G.R. Derzhavin).

Target installation for praise is close to the ode and hymn, but hymn is addressed not to a specific person, but to a certain personified transpersonal force (god, providence, state). The hymn differs from the ode also in its functional setting, namely, in the setting for singing. There are the following types of anthem - state, revolutionary, military, religious.

Message- this is a poetic work designed for a very specific real addressee (single or collective), indicated in the text of the poem itself, having as an installation an “interview” with the addressee on one or another topic that is relevant to the author (the subject of the conversation may be the relationship of correspondents, their life and creative views, philosophical, aesthetic, socio-political problems).

The addressee of the message can be given directly (explicitly) - in the title, in a nominal address, as well as indirectly (implicitly). In the second case, an indication of it is contained in the artistic structure works and is revealed through appeals, questions, appeals, requests, etc., as well as through the intended acquaintance of the addressee with the unique and peculiar; the situation depicted in the poem.

Correspondence of correspondents creates that dialogicity that introduces a certain objectifying principle into the sphere of lyrical experience - an indication of another person and the possible factors of everyday life, literary practice associated with him, public position, attitudes. With any degree of poetic conventionality (primarily the conventionality of the roles attributed in the artistic system of the work to the author and addressee), this genre opens a direct exit into the sphere of topical life (and sometimes momentary) interests, being elevated to the level of art epistolary contact of one real person with another on issues that are essential for both.

The message as a genre is determined precisely by the setting for a dialogue with the addressee. This is its typology and difference from other related genres, which also allow specific addressing, but have their own prevalent purpose, which characterizes them as a genre. The heyday of the epistle genre is observed in the era of romanticism (cf.: “To the partisan-poet” by P. Vyazemsky; “From a letter to Gnedich”, “Yazikov”, “To Chaadaev” by A. Pushkin).

elegy ( from the Greek elegeia - mournful song ) - a genre of lyric poetry, a poem of sad content. In modern European and Russian poetry, it is based on introspective attitudes that define a complex of such stable features as intimacy, motives of disappointment, unhappy love, loneliness, death, and the frailty of earthly existence. The classical genre of sentimentalism and romanticism (cf.: "Elegy" by A.S. Pushkin).

Idyll(from the Greek. eidýllion) - in ancient literature, the genre of pastoral (shepherd) poetry, which was characterized by an interest in Everyday life ordinary people, to intimate feelings, nature; the depiction is deliberately artless and emphatically non-social. In the literature of sentimentalism and romanticism, a small poem depicting a peaceful life in unity with nature, while the main attention is paid to the internal state of the author or hero.

Epigram- a satirical or philosophical-meditative poem “in case”, the distinctive features of which are determined by its genesis (the original meaning of the epigram is an inscription on something), which determines the laconic presentation, aphorism and contextual conditionality of the picture of experience by an epigrammatic object (cf. the epigram of A.S. Pushkin on Count Vorontsov: "Half-my lord, half-merchant ..." or Akhmatova's epigram "Could Bice create like Dante ...").

Genetically close to the epigram genre inscription(cf.: “The inscription on the book” by A. Akhmatova; “To the portrait of A.A. Blok”, “To the portrait of Dostoevsky” by In. Annensky) and epitaph(epitaph). Compare: "Poems in memory of A. Bely".

Song- originally a folklore genre, which in its broadest sense includes everything that is sung, subject to the simultaneous combination of words and melody; in a narrow sense - a small poetic lyrical genre that exists among all peoples and is characterized by the simplicity of musical and verbal construction, due to the author's setting for performance to music.

Sonnet- a small (14-line) lyrical poem, consisting of two quatrains (quatrains) for two rhymes and two three-verses (tercetes) for three rhymes. A sonnet with the indicated strophic organization is usually called an “Italian” sonnet (there are 2 types of rhyme arrangement most common in it: quatrains according to the abab abab or abba abba scheme, tercetes according to the cdc dcd or cdc cde scheme). The “Shakespearean” sonnet, consisting of three quatrains and a final couplet (abab cdcd efef gg), also became widespread. The clear internal division of the sonnet makes it possible to emphasize the dialectical development of the theme: already early theorists provided for “rules” not only for the form, but also for the content of the sonnet (pauses, dots on the boundaries of stanzas; not a single meaningful word is repeated; the last word is the semantic key of the entire poem and etc.); in modern times, the deployment of the theme in 4 stanzas of the sonnet was more than once interpreted as the sequence “thesis - development of the thesis - antithesis - synthesis”, “outset - development - climax - denouement”, etc.

Ballad- a lyrical epic work, the plot of which is borrowed from folk or historical traditions. In medieval England, a ballad is a folk story song of dramatic content with a chorus, usually on a historical, legendary or fantastic theme (for example, a cycle of ballads about Robin Hood). The ballad, close to the English and Scottish folk ballad, became a favorite genre of sentimentalism and especially romantic poetry (R. Burns, S. Coleridge, W. Blake - in England, G. Burger, F. Schiller, G. Heine - in Germany). Introduced into Russian literature by V. Zhukovsky ("Lyudmila", altered from "Lenora" by Burger, "Svetlana"). Ballads were written by A.S. Pushkin ("Song of prophetic Oleg”, “Groom”), M.Yu. Lermontov ("Airship"), A.K. Tolstoy (mainly on the topics of Russian history). Soviet poets N.S. Tikhonov, E.G. Bagritsky are the authors of ballads with heroic themes.

The same term in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was also used to refer to purely lyrical genre, the formal sign of which was the specific design of the finale in the form of a so-called "parcel" addressed to a conditional or real addressee and the presence of a refrain (a repeating last line of each stanza and a "parcel"). (cf. "The Ballad of the Ladies of the Past" by F. Villon).

Poem- this is a work in verse ("The Bronze Horseman" by A.S. Pushkin, "Mtsyri" by M.Yu. Lermontov, "Vasily Terkin" by A.T. Tvardovsky), which occupies an intermediate position between epic and lyrics. In the lyrical-epic poem, the event plot, often unfolding in wanderings, acts as a result of the author's experience, while in " Dead souls» prosaic life situations and satirical portraits of non-smokers in the foreground.

Main dramatic genres:

Tragedy- a genre of drama imbued with pathos tragic(see the definition of tragic pathos in the next section). The tragedy is based on acute socio-historical conflicts, collisions of a person with fate, fate, history, etc., expressed in a tense form of struggle between strong characters and passions. A tragic conflict usually touches upon the fundamental problems of human existence and is resolved by the death of the protagonist (cf.: "Hippolytus" by Euripides, "Hamlet", "Macbeth" by V. Shakespeare; "Boris Godunov" by A. Pushkin).

Comedy – genre of drama comic pathos (see the definition of comic pathos in the next section). For a long time, K. meant a work, a polar tragedy, with an obligatory happy ending. In many poetics, up to classicism (N. Boileau), comedy was defined as a "lower" genre. The subject of the comedy is “improper”, contrary to the social ideal or norm. The denunciation of social and human vices is the goal of comedy. First of all, the comedian wraps the "improper" in ridiculous forms: the heroes of the comedy are internally untenable, inconsistent, do not correspond to their position, purpose (author's ideal), due to which they are depicted in a reduced, ridiculously caricatured form, recreated with the help of satirical tricks ( types of comic), such as irony, sarcasm, parody, hyperbole, grotesque, farce etc. Spiritual failure, "viciousness" put the comic hero below the surrounding reality, plunging him into a "ghostly life" (Hegel); her, as an "anti-ideal", as opposed to true social and human values, and exposes laughter, thereby fulfilling its "ideal", health-improving mission.

According to the principle of organizing a comic action, they distinguish comedyprovisions based on a cunning, intricate intrigue (“Much Ado About Nothing” by W. Shakespeare); comedycharacters or mores, based on the ridicule of individual hypertrophied human qualities or social vices (“Tartuffe” by J.-B. Moliere; “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboedov); comedy of ideas ridiculing outdated or banal ideas (“Pygmalion” by B. Shaw). Comedy genre modification based on character differences comic, depending on which satirical, humorous comedy and tragicomedies.

Drama- one of the leading genres of dramaturgy, since the Enlightenment. It reproduces private life of a person (in social, psychological, family and everyday aspects, etc.) in acutely conflicting, but unlike tragedies, not hopeless relations with society or with oneself (cf.: "Thunderstorm" by N.A. Ostorvsky; "At the Bottom" by M. Gorky).

One of the common types of drama is melodrama, which can be defined as a play with sharp intrigue, a sharp opposition between good and evil, exaggerated emotionality (cf.: “Guilty Without Guilt” by N.A. Ostrovsky).

Symbiotic genre is lyrical drama, which occupies an intermediate position between the two genera - lyrics and drama(cf .: "The Stranger" by A. Blok; "Phaedra" by M. Tsvetaeva).

Control questions and tasks

What is a genre? What is the relationship between genre and gender?

What epic genres do you know? State their main features.

What are the characteristic genre features of tragedy, comedy, drama?

What are the characteristic genre features of an ode, an elegy, a message?

To topic 5. Literary work in terms of content

Content of a work of art- this is a set of meanings, expressed in a holistic system of meanings of the work. It should be noted that the concepts meaning and content sometimes used in different meanings. Meaning also stands in the same synonymic row as content, but the concept of “meaning” is wider, because content is considered to be that complex of significances that author invests in the text, and the meaning is a category that characterizes the complex of significances that is formed when perception works. Therefore, the meaning of the work can change - in the process of historical and cultural evolution, as a result of a change in the philosophical picture of the world, etc.

Idea works (or the main idea work) is a conceptual expression of the content essence of the work.

Topic works are the most essential components of artistic meaning, this is all that has become the subject of the author's interest, comprehension and evaluation, the sphere of artistic comprehension of the world, presented in the work by the author in accordance with his system of values. An extremely generalized formulation of a topic is called a concept. Thus, the theme is the sphere of artistic comprehension presented in the work. This is not just a world or a fragment of external or internal being, but a fragment of being, axiologically singled out, accentuated by the author - in accordance with his system of values. Artistic themes are a combination of certain principles:

ontological and anthropological universals;

Philosophical and ethical universals;

Local cultural and historical phenomena;

phenomena individual life in their self-worth;

Reflective-creative phenomena.

Problems of the work- this is a complex of actual significant topics for the author, the solution of which is somehow assumed in the work.

Category ideas characterizes the content of the work in terms of its relationship to the author's worldview, it is an alloy of author's generalizations and feelings. The concept of idea can be used in two senses. Firstly, the idea is called the intelligible essence of objects, which is beyond the limits of material existence (this is the “platonic” understanding of the idea). Secondly, the idea is often associated with the sphere of subjective experience, with "personal" knowledge of being. In literature, the word idea is used in both senses. The artistic idea present in the work includes both the directed interpretation and assessment by the author of certain life phenomena and the embodiment of the philosophical view of the world in its integrity, coupled with the spiritual self-disclosure of the author. Artistic ideas differ from scientific ideas not only in that they are always emotionally colored, but also in that the generalizations of artists and writers often precede the later scientific worldview. However, quite often in works of art there are ideas and truths long established in social experience.

The meaningful unity of a work is unthinkable without a category pathos, which expresses the author's "axiology". Pathos- this is the author's modality, the author's emotional and evaluative perception of the subject that he describes, expressed in a certain emotional tone. This author's attitude (openly emotionally or latently manifested in the work) is called in modern literature - author's emotionality(V.E. Khalizev), artistry mode(N. Fry, V.I. Tyupa) (from Latin modus - measure, method, image). However, in traditional literary criticism, the term pathos is used (from the Greek pathos - suffering (pathology, pathos), passion).

The types of pathos coincide, on the one hand, with the emotional mood of the author, on the other hand, with his axiological position, that is, with the author's ideas about the proper (ideal) and improper (negative). At the same time, when determining pathos, one must take into account the relationship between the hero and the world, or life situation in which the hero operates.

At the core idyllic pathos lies a harmonious and joyful perception of life. The world is arranged correctly and the hero is in harmony With the world.

Elegiac pathos suggests a sad and dull tonality of the work, caused by the internal isolation of private being. Hence the motives for the intrinsic value of the state of inner life. The state of loneliness in the world, solitude, comprehension of the secrets of being, contrition about the fleeting time, the finiteness of life, the passing of youth and the approach of death. The questioning of being about its secret. Meditative reasoning, reflection.

Tragic pathos associated with global insoluble existential-ontological contradictions. The world is arranged not properly, and the hero is a person who rebelled against the world or fate.

At the core dramatic pathos lies the idea of ​​a harmoniously arranged world in which individuals are in conflict with certain aspects of the world and with other people. Personality in this case does not oppose the world order, but another "I".

Heroic pathos- this is a type of author's emotionality associated with heroism and the glorification of human will and strength. The world is arranged correctly, but it is in danger, the whole world order is collapsing, and the hero, saving him, does not distinguish himself from the “whole world” and acts in his interests.

The following three types of pathos are based on comic or funny start. Identification of their essence and specificity involves the definition comic as an aesthetic category.

comic goes back to carnival-amateur laughter (M. Bakhtin). In the course of the development of culture, several types of comic are isolated: irony, humor, satire underlying the corresponding types of pathos. At the heart of the comic there is always a contradiction, which can manifest itself in exaggerating the size of objects (caricature), fantastic combinations (grotesque) and the convergence of distant concepts (sharpness).

Satirical pathos- this is pathos, suggesting annihilating ridicule of phenomena that seem vicious to the author. At the same time, the power of satire depends on the social significance of the position taken by the satirist and on the effectiveness satirical methods(sarcasm, grotesque, hyperbole, farce, parody, etc.).

Humorous pathos suggests both mockery and sympathy, outwardly comic interpretation and inner involvement in what seems ridiculous. In works based on humorous pathos under the guise of the funny lies a serious attitude to the subject of laughter, which provides a more holistic display of the essence of the phenomenon.

Ironic pathos suggests laughter, which has an alienating-mocking character. At the same time, it presupposes ridicule and denial, pretended to be clothed in the form of consent and approval. This kind of pathos is based on allegory, when the true meaning of the statement is the opposite of the verbalized meaning. ironic pathos Document

The epic poem of the Homeric type can be considered as a transitional, aesthetically non-absolute phenomenon, as a stage in the formation of poetic reality, not reducible to extrapoetic reality. The fact of the existence of the genre of the epic poem is an indication of some unfamiliar to us - a unique poetic experience, not quite accessible to our understanding.

Within any culture in general, - M. Mamardashvili argued, - "understanding" can exist only as not completely, not entirely realized opportunity <…>Apparently, any message to become cultural value <…>, must have some ambiguity.

The presence of the epic poem of the Homeric type in the world of modern European culture is characterized by a very significant ambivalence, which consists, on the one hand, in the impossibility of its adequate perception (since the corresponding type of reception has been lost), and on the other hand, in the productivity of the most inadequate perception, or incomplete understanding of this cultural phenomenon. . Within the framework of this approach, the deeply “monological” (M. Bakhtin) world of the epic poem in its contact with the “worlds” of non-understanding consciousnesses generates a tense dialogic context.

The “ambiguity” of the perception of the epic poem by post-archaic consciousness is found, for example, in the concept of G.V. Hegel, because it "potentially posits its own opposite in itself."

According to Hegel, the epic for the first time appears as a genuine poetic integrity, "full within itself." In the epic poem, for the first time, the naive consciousness of the nation, its spirit, which "<…>already strong enough in itself to produce its own special world<…>» [Italics mine - Yu.G.]. However "<…>one should not present the matter in such a way that the people already in the heroic era as such, which is the birthplace of its epic, has the art of portraying itself poetically. Poetry, according to Hegel, arises later, "<…>than life itself and the spirit, which at ease feels itself in its directly poetic external being.

In other words, Hegel, on the one hand, recognizes the epic poem as a true poetic integrity - for the first time "complete within itself" and thus representing a "special world". On the other hand, this special and integral world is nothing but the unconstrained self-perception of the spirit, its directly poetic external being. The authenticity of the poetic integrity of the epic is not certified by the poetic laws of the poem itself, which determine its completeness “from within”. The "special world" of the epic poem is the result of certain patterns that operate not only within this world, but also outside it. Hegel thus sees no fundamental difference between the "world" of the epic poem and the world that remains outside of it.

Developing the Hegelian idea of ​​the epic poem, we will continue: “the special world of the epic is a form of vital manifestation of the universal, directly poetic state of the world. At the same time, a form capable of manifesting such a state of the world in its entirety can only arise when “<…>obscurity of consciousness is gone<…>» .

The new state of poetic consciousness, parting with its own “unclarification”, is the ambiguity of the position of the epic poet, which, on the one hand, is a direct continuation of substantial reality, and on the other hand, is denied by the world of epic integrity.

Describing the poetic nature of the epic, Hegel tries to clarify the mode of relationship between the poet and the world depicted: “<…>The poet must still be entirely within these conditions, these forms of contemplation, this faith, and he only needs to attach poetic consciousness, the art of depiction to an object that continues to constitute substantial reality for him ”[my italics - Yu.G.]. However, if “the epic world to be depicted in the poem is really substantial, that is, truly “full in itself”, then there is nothing to attach to it. “For both sides - the content, the epic world to be depicted, and the rest, independent of it, the world of poetic consciousness and representation - are internally spiritual and have in themselves one specific principle that gives them special character traits» [Italics mine - Yu.G.]. “Who can represent the “rest”, “independent” of the epic integrity of the world of poetic consciousness, if not the very same substantial reality?

In other words, for the first time the "full within itself" epic world is complete without the epic poet. The fact of its completeness does not depend on the presence of the poet from within the epic world.

Thus, the internal inequality of the genre of the epic poem to itself is revealed. The general epic state of the world in its poetically external being and the epic world depicted in the poem turn out to be opposite phenomena and, in the limit, mutually exclusive. The position of the epic poet, correlated both with the external - immediate - poetic being, and with - mediated - intrapoetic being of the epic world, reveals itself as for the first time an ambiguous (aesthetically) position.

Being a necessary and natural component of substantial reality, the epic poet-performer occupies his “irreplaceable place” in it (M. Bakhtin). He is organically involved in the universal, nationwide time, consisting of a heroic past, imitating this past of the present and future, in the face of which it is necessary to look epic worthy. Within the framework of the epic world of the poem, the poet is given neither place nor time. He is removed from the life of the epic world, in relation to which he cannot take absolutely no directly active actions.

The only act which, however, has nothing to do with such "actions" is the performance of an epic poem. But this is not entirely true either. The epic poet "performs" not so much the epic poem as the epic world itself. For the singer of the epic, apparently, this was exactly the case: the epic poem did not arise at all as an object of performance, that is, as something that exists before and without performance, and not even as a result, i.e. aposteriori, performance. She (the poem) got the opportunity to exist only in the process of execution. And only in this period of time, limited by the voice of the performer, could the epic world be realized as an integrity, "full within itself." Outside this period of time, the "general epic state" of the world entered into its legal rights, absorbing the epic poet, including him in his immediate and quite specific spatio-temporal connections and thereby forcing him to share the directly poetic external being of the archaic world.

And in this case, that is, outside the performance of the epic poem, being an organic component of substantial reality, the epic poet, as it were, complemented the world and acted as a full-fledged and full-fledged "participant" in the universal epic fullness. During the performance of the poem, the epic poet appeared as such a being, whose whole nature consists only in fulfilling the integrity of the epic world.

From this point of view, an epic poem is a phenomenon of such a performance-image of the epic world, when the epic consciousness appears only as a way of emanation of the epic truth in its entirety, which - therefore - does not need to be supplemented or rethought.

Thus the epic poem - as it is - is not an epic whole. Or, in other words, integrity does not belong to the category of its characteristics. Perhaps its most important feature is precisely the lack of integrity, since a necessary condition for the existence of a poem is its fundamental separation into the world of depicted events and the world of depicting consciousness.

The consequence of this essential fragmentation of the epic poem into two worlds outside each other is the contextuality present in every moment of it. Homer's poem does not know such a plan in which this contextuality of the epic world and word would be overcome.

In this sense, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey is, so to speak, the “subject” of a negative, or passive, aesthetic being (while the poem itself appears as a negative, or poet-denying, aesthetic object).

Negation in this case acts as a constructive aesthetic dominant, in its own way unique and ours. artistic experience fundamentally inaccessible. It is this negative aesthetic certainty of the epic world that makes it possible to speak of it as a special, complete world within itself.

Cited Literature:

• 1. Mamardashvili M.K., Pyatigorsky A.M. Symbol and consciousness: Metaphysical reflections on symbolism, culture and language. - Jerusalem, 1982.
• 2. Averintsev S.S. The image of antiquity in the history of Western European culture of the twentieth century // New in modern classical philology. - M., 1979.
• 3. Hegel G.W.F. Aesthetics: In 4 volumes. - M., 1971. - V.3.

Abstract

In the article, the ambivalence of the poetic nature of the epic poetic type and in the language of the cym is її transitional, aesthetically non-absolute character.

In the article the ambivalence of the Homeric epic poem"s poetic nature is substantiated. And on the ground of this its transitional and aesthetically nonabsolute character is represented. The theses given in the article are commented on the material of the Hegel"s interpretations of the epic.

epic poem homer hegel

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ROSSIADA
epic poem

HISTORICAL FOREWORD

The Russian state in the most distant times, which the ancient historians made known to us, was strong, it was scary for its neighbors, it was respected by many peoples; it was not inferior to a single European power in glory, strength, abundance and victories, according to the then state of the state; and in its space it surpassed all others, as it is now. But after the Grand Duke Vladimir 1, the dissolution of Russia into different shares, specific principalities, civil strife, disorder and the love of power of the multiplying princes from time to time began to deplete her strength; and finally they enslaved the disastrous yoke of the predatory hordes. Since that time, the former Russian glory has faded and in the whole world has become scarcely known; she lay in oblivion under her ruins for about three centuries. This pitiful and shameful state into which Russia was plunged by the raids of the Tatars and their autocracy, the rejection of many principalities, stolen from her by other neighbors, the restlessness of her internal rebels, completely exhausting their fatherland - this state inclined her to a complete fall. This evil extended to the time of Tsar John Vasilyevich the first, 2 who suddenly aroused Russia, prepared it for autocratic rule, boldly and cheerfully overthrew the yoke of the Horde tsars and restored calm in the bowels of his state. But the kingdom of Kazan under him had not yet been destroyed; the Novogorodtsy had not yet been completely tamed; the neighboring powers have not yet felt due respect for Russia. This great change, in which this state passed from weakness to strength, from humiliation to glory, from enslavement to domination, this important and abrupt change took place under the tsar's grandson John Vasilyevich II, 3 who is the hero of this poem.

So, shouldn’t the reign of John Vasilyevich the second set the middle line, to which Russia, having reached a disastrous state, still began to revive, grow and restore its former glory, which it had lost for about three centuries? When we imagine in our thoughts a state completely disordered, oppressed by neighboring powers, torn apart by internal unrest, agitated by the disagreement of many authorities, enslaved to the Gentiles, plundered by its own nobles, when we imagine all this and imagine a young sovereign, accepting autocratic power, uprooting disorder in the fatherland, strong and the terrible enemies of the power of his right, curbing the many authorities, pacifying the rebels in the bowels of the fatherland, returning the cities rejected by neighbors and adding entire states to his scepter, taming the disagreement and pride of the boyars, submitting prudent laws, bringing the army into a better order - will we not feel the respect of only great spirit to the sovereign? .. Such was Tsar John Vasilyevich! Foreign writers, who have composed absurd fables about his severity, for all that, for many of his famous deeds, they call him a great man. Peter the Great himself, for the honor, delivered in wise enterprises to this sovereign to follow. History eclipses the radiance of his glory with some terrible narrations, related to his ardent disposition - whether to believe the narrations not characteristic of a great spirit, I leave historians to think. However, the immeasurable royal strictness, by which he is called the Terrible, does not at all concern either my intention or the time that contains the whole range of my work. Singing the destruction of the Kazan kingdom with the power of the Horde rulers, I had in mind the calm, glory and well-being of everything Russian state; famous exploits not only of one sovereign, but of the entire Russian army; and returned prosperity not to one person, but to the whole fatherland, which is why this creation is also called “Rossiada”. I represent the young monarch crowned with laurels; of this monarch, about whom Mr. Lomonosov, in a brief Russian chronicle, asserts that this tsar, already after the death of his first wife, became Terrible and that the disorder of the boyars, like a steep storm, outraged his morals; what should have happened long after the capture of Kazan. Together with the tsar, I glorify the loyalty and love for the fatherland of the princes who served him, the nobles and the entire Russian army. Is this adventure important in Russian history? The true sons of the fatherland, having surveyed with their minds the disastrous state of Russia at that time, can themselves feel whether it is worthy of an epic ... and my poem is obliged to justify this. Publishing this eight-year work of mine, now corrected for the third time and supplemented in many places, I feel the imperfections and shortcomings of it, in comparison with other epic poems. This work is weak, but it is the first in our language; and this very thing deserves some apology to the writer. I arranged this narrative creation on historical truth, as much as I could find printed and written information that belonged to my intention; I added to this some small anecdotes brought to me from Kazan by the former head of the university gymnasiums in 1770 1 . But let my readers remember that as in the epic poem, historical fidelity, so in the descriptive writings of the poem should not be looked for. I swept aside a lot, transferred from one time to another, invented, decorated, created and created. Whether I succeeded in my undertaking, it is not for me to judge; but it is undeniable that epic poems, sometimes having special intentions in mind, are usually composed according to rules such as this one.

LOOKING AT EPIC POEMS

In the Iliad, Homer sings of the wrath of Achilles for the kidnapping of his slave Briseis by King Agamemnon, an anger so disastrous for the Greeks and Pergamon; bloody battles, the ruin of the besiegers and the ruin of the besieged Trojans. Patroclus, a friend of Achilles, is killed by Hector, he avenges his friend - he kills the brave Hector, and so the poem ends. In the Odyssey, the ten-year wandering of the Ithaca king Ulysses is sung; his return to his house and the terrible beating of the Penelopins' lovers, which was called "Minsterophania". Virgil in the incomparable "Aeneid" sang the escape of Aeneas from Troy devastated by the Greeks, his arrival in Carthage, his love with Dido, his unfaithfulness to this unfortunate queen. His other escape was to Italy, where, having killed Turnus, he mates with Lavinia, the bride of this venerable prince. In Paradise Lost, the important Milton narrates the fall of the first man, the eating of the forbidden fruit, the triumph of the devil, the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise for their disobedience, and the cause of the misfortune of the entire human race. Walter begins his "Henriad" with the assassination of Henry III 1 , and ends with the conversion of Henry IV 2 from one religion to another - but his beautiful verses make everything charming. Armida in Tass's "Jerusalem" 3 , the beautiful sorceress Armida is the soul of this inestimable poem; her cunning, deceit, her island, her tenderness, her most ferocity, after the departure of Renaud, are admirable 4 but not instructive. Let's run "Luziada" by Kamoensov 5 and "Farzalia" by Lukanov 6 . The first is the wandering of the Lusitanians to Africa, the acquisition of some new lands - legends and miraculousness. This whole poem is a poetic narrative, in which the poet himself took part. But the narrative, written with a living brush, is sweet, attractive; it is a gallery of beautiful paintings, disorderly arranged, but each of them delights, touches, surprises and cuts into memory. "Farzaliya" is called by many newspapers 7, sung in a magnificent style; but these papers are filled with lofty thoughts, animated pictures, striking descriptions and strong expressions; it sings of the war between Julius and Pompey; for all that, the poem was not finished by its singer and was not corrected. I am writing this for those who think that an epic poem should be a laudatory song. An epic poem concludes some important, memorable, famous adventure that happened in the beings of the world and which resulted in an important change that applies to the whole human race - such is the "Destroyed Paradise" of Milton; or sings of an event that in some state happened to the whole people to glory, to calm, or, finally, served for its transformation - such should be the poem "Peter the Great", which, in my opinion, is not yet the time to write. Two great spirits began to sing Peter the Great, Mr. Lomonosov and Thomas; both started - both did not finish. Volterov's "Henriade" and my "Rossiada" should be included in this kind of poems, without, however, comparing my weak creation with Volterova's excellent epic. Woe to that Russian who does not feel how important the benefit, how sweet silence and how great glory our fatherland has acquired from the destruction of the Kazan kingdom! One must think in those terrible times when Russia was enslaved to the Tatar yoke, one must imagine the raids and arrogance of the Horde, perpetrated inside our state, imagine the princes of Russia, servile and dependent on the proud or derogatory autocracy of the Kazan kings, see the rulers of the Tatars not only in the cities , but in all the villages established and even their idols to Moscow itself, sending princes possessing them to worship, one must carefully read the entire history of the suffering of our fatherland during its enslavement to the Horde - and suddenly imagine Russia triumphant over its enemies, overthrowing the yoke of its tormentors , our fatherland, crowned with victorious laurels, and the young sovereign, prescribing meek laws to his former legislators. Reader! if, going through all these misfortunes of our fatherland, your heart does not bleed, your spirit is not indignant and finally does not come to sweet delight, - do not read my "Rossiada" - it is not written for you - it is written for people who know how to feel, love their homeland and marvel at the famous exploits of their ancestors, who brought safety and tranquility to their offspring.

SONG ONE

I sing from the barbarians Russia is free 2,
I will trample on the power of the Tatars and depose pride;
The movement of ancient forces, labors, bloody battles,
Russian triumph, destroyed Kazan.
From the circle of these times of calm years, the beginning,
Like a bright dawn, it shone in Russia. O you who soar above the bright stars,
Spirit Poems! come from the high places,
On my weak and dark creation
Shed your rays, art, illumination!

Open it, eternity! me the gates of those gates,
Where all earthly vanity is rejected,
Where the souls of the righteous are rewarded
Where is the glory, where the crowns are revered as vanity;

Before the star-studded altar
Where next to be the last slave with the king;
Where poor poverty, unfortunate grief will forget,
Where each person will be equal to another.
Open, eternity, to me, yes to my lyre
I will draw the attention of peoples and kings.
The veil has lifted!.. Shine before the eyes
Heroes crowned with light rays.
From them the bloody Kazan moon
Cast into darkness and devoid of glory.
O you who rejoice now in the places of heaven,
In the former forms appear to me bodily!

Another ancient part of eastern Russia
Zavolzhsky impudent hordes were burdened by power 1 ;
On our captives shackles rattled there,
Rebellions boiled, new villainy grew;
A pale fear spread through the villages and cities,
Evil flew after evil, misfortune after misfortune;
The altars in the temples did not have incense,
The singing ceased, only storms roared there;
Without action in the field, the plow lay under the thorns,
And the shepherd ran away from the flock into the dark forest.
When the luminary of the day looked at midnight,
Groaning, suffering Russia was gaining.
Kazan born in her arms
From her languid hands took a shameful tribute;
This city, built by Russian enemies,
Exalted at midnight with a proud mountain,
Lifting up his head, he stands by two rivers,
A breakaway on the banks of the noisy Volga sees.
Under the shade of the forests, between colorful flowers
Placed by Batu 2 to the north by the gate,
Through which in the heart he ran out of Russia,
He devastated the villages and burned the towns.
From the top, seeing mountains of murder and fires,
Where did the ancient Russian Bulgarians live,
Enflamed with faith in their own law,
Kazan, plunged into Mohammedan darkness,
In tears at the blue smoke, looked at the glow
And stretched out her hands through the fields to Russia;
She asked for help and light from the princes,

When wickedness spread darkness in her.
Driven to countries by natural regret,
His people troubles and languor,
On the part of midnight the whole disbanded princes
They humbled the impudent hordes, in battles the blood was shed. But no matter how Russian Irakles fought,
The heads of the evil hydra were born again every hour,
And, having grown their stings in their deaf places,
Those snakes crawled into the chest of Russia.
The dragon's head lay crushed,
But the ancient malice in him was not extinguished;
Under the ashes a fire hid and often ignited,
In the troubled days of Russia, he gathered strength;
Indomitable hordes resurrected trampled power
During the youth of the second John.
This grandfather of the brave grandson crowned with glory
Almost let Kazan out of weak hands;
The spirit of his unfortunate campaign was confused,
Where he commanded in the war the past year,
Where Boreas himself erected a scolding against the Russians,
Creel frozen from them closing Kazan;
He twisted like a gloomy cloud and storms,
Like a formidable monster appeared,
Roared in the dense steppe, howled in the dense forest,
Spinning between the mountains, he tore, rustled, brought down,
And, the Volga jets on the fat moving the banks,
Frost, whirlwind and snow blew from cold lips;
Their fiery blood did not warm the Russians,
In order to boil hotter in the coming year. At that time, the young king evaded the capital,
Where, instead of the sound of trumpets, he was captivated by fun.
O thou who lives in silence in heaven!
Forgive me, great king, my courage,
That the morning of your days in darkness I dare to imagine,
Your bright noon I will praise louder;
Great that you tamed the storm around the kingdom,
But more than that he forbade the passions of the soul.

Seeing that Moscow, leaving the sword, fell asleep,
The trembling moon peeped out of the clouds;

Keeping hate, watchful eyes
It rose from the Volga like a terrible thunderstorm;
The horde, breaking the peace, broke the shackles
And, driven by malice, she was troubled, rebelled,
And she began to raise her head and shoulders,
To oppress Russia, as in former times.
This terrible giant enters Russian cities,
Murder, robbery, violence produces;
He carries a sword with his hand, another sounding chain,
The walls are falling all around, the forest and the steppe are languishing.
Already at the behest of the insidious Sumbeki 1
Rivers of Russian blood flowed in Kazan;
And, carrying a flame, indomitable evil
Posad in a rage, Moscow burned;
Execution entered the dwellings of Christians with a dagger,
And the blood of suffering cried out to heaven;
There is weeping, despondency, orphans moaning;
But their fatherland considered this cry to be a dream. Alchba, chained to the chariot of greed,
In the Russian capital sowed misery.
Where they talk about the good of their own nobles,
There, feelings of pity will be silenced for a long time.
Moscow, crushed by external destruction,
She was inconsolable from internal sorrows. The truth was hidden from the king for a while;
Deceit, trampling honor, looking at property,
In the face of zeal appeared in the halls,
It came in, and day by day it became stronger.

There flattery presented itself in feigned beauty,
Kotora in her natural nakedness
Gloomy as night, timid, submissive, hurried,
Before the strong is low, before the low is proud,
Lying at the feet of the rulers of the earth,
To serve them as their stumbling block.
This, turning natural bile into sweetness,
In the fun involved careless youth;
Nobles, jealous of their benefit,
United, to the shame of the state, with her;

And flattery received reliable supports,
Innocence was excommunicated from the royal face.
Persecuted, truth, by arrows of slander,
What did she do then? You disappeared into the caves! In troubled times, there were still nobles,
Who sincerely loved the fatherland;
The temptations of happiness they neglected,
With obvious death, they could not help but cry;
Sacred moved by both duty and law,
Moaning and complaining dared before the throne;
Vice triumph, trample the truth in vain,
From flattery to protect the king dared.
Grandees in gray hair surround the monarch,
Their tears represent a common misfortune;
Their heads are downcast, their eyes, their hearts,
It seemed as if the mist had spread around the crown;
Virtue shines on their vague foreheads,
In which the owner could read his shame.
The spirit of cheerfulness in you, they say, dozed off!
But the king, knowing himself, did not heed their crying. The throne city is sad, Moscow bowed its head,
Sadness overshadowed her face like night;
Sadness entered the heart and a complaint in the mouth,
Wonderful places yearn around her;
Despondency, disheveled hair, walks through the city,
Lowering his eyes down, leads to despair,
Beats his chest, pours rivers of tears;
There is no consolation in the stognas of celebration, in houses;
There is groaning and weeping in the oak forests, sadness in the green valleys;
In the city of the crowd, you can not hear the song of marriage;
Everything was clothed in a robe of melancholy and orphanhood,
A single cry is heard in the temples of the deity.
Gnawing inside with a momentary disease,
Moscow seemed like muddy water,
Which, having lost movement and coolness,
It tarnishes, deteriorates and gives rise to poison.
The people are desperate, persecuted, weary,
As if in Etna 1 the fire was suddenly inflamed,
Wooded hills, thick woods
From the surface of the mountain throws into the sky.

The people excited! .. Then, with a furious rampage,
From a spark, an impudent rebellion became a great fire;
It spilled over the haystacks, it burns in the markets,
And Moscow sees the glow of deplorable consequences.
The rebels rebelled against the evil nobles,
Which the severity of the kings aggravated,
Who tried to revolt the soul in him,
In order to plunder this Russia during a storm.
Two princes Glinsky confusion was a victim,
The rebels killed one of them,
Another was able to escape from them by slyness
And a new storm from the throne roared.
The darkness of vengeance stretched over the bright royal house,
Irreconcilable power armed with thunder,
I smashed those husbands, smashed those places,
Where the truth dared to open the mouth;
Advocates of fun received awards,
And the faithful sons, weeping, fell silent. Russia, having lost its former beauty
And seeing all around him discord and emptiness,
Despondency is everywhere, a disease in the chest of the capital,
A raid of daring hordes cut off the borders,
Under the shadow of opulence, the oscillating throne,
In someone else's possession Dvina, Dnieper, Volga, Don
And meeting the approach of eternal night, -
Raises tear-stained eyes to heaven,
Lifts the ramen to the heavenly father,
Bowing her knees, she ran to the Creator;
She opened her chest, her chest is languid, ulcerated,
Hand showing Moscow bloodied,
The other - a sea of ​​​​evil is merged around it;
She sobbed, and could not say a word.

On rainbow dawns above the stars sitting,
Heard in storms, thundering god in thunderbolts,
Before which the sun is like a shadow light,
In whom the worlds move, by whom everything lives in the worlds,
Who from heaven looks at everyone equally,
Forgives, has mercy, reposes and punishes,
The king of flame and water, - the voice of Russia knew;

And, seeing the last hour of the glory of their children,
He counted the days of her sorrow in a single moment;
He thought to extend a helping hand to her.
The sky suddenly became brighter above her,
Life-giving dew sprang up to her,
She sprinkled her sad chest and eyes,
Instantly languid Russia reinforced;
Dressed midnight around a ruddy dawn,
Angels on earth, looking through the crystal door,
Compiled from lyre heavenly harmums about nyu
And they sang grace crowning Russia. Then one of the righteous men,
Living in the beauty of divine rays,
To the face of the Lord in the glory of the coming
And in the face of the angels his praise is spoken,
The Most High rivers: “Come to your descendant,
Let him see the light in the darkness, give him advice;
Appearing in the face of the fatherland to John,
May he see in you all the trampled Russia!
Flying among the worlds like a waving marshmallow,
The heavenly man descends into the land of midnight,
He draws a brilliant line through the air;
Covered by a cloud, enters the royal house,
Where vaguely John lay engulfed in sleep;
With the advent of his halls lit up,
The whole city trembled, the vices hid in darkness.
This holy shadow appears to the king
In the way she was that day,
In which, in this world, leaving the bodily spirit,
She flew up, groaning, into a bright heavenly house;
Downcast head, lying on the shoulders,
Sad face, faded light in the eyes,
The chest is pierced with a sword, blood is flowing from the clothes, -
A trembling shadow, with silence coming,
And the sleeping king was terrified,
She approached him and said to him like this:

“You are sleeping, careless king, delighted with peace,
Intoxicated with fun, born to victories in the world;

Crown, fatherland, forgot the laws,
Hated work, loved fun;
In the bosom of idleness lies your crown,
Faithful servants are not visible; rejoices flattery at the throne.
You seem to be a tiger lying on flowers;
And we, who live in lofty places,
We accept participation in the common death,
We will listen to your servants of the word in the villages of the mountains.
“You have the power to create everything,” flattery tells you;
“You are a slave of the fatherland,” duty and honor broadcast;
But you do not heed the voice of truth in pride,
You persecute sincerity, embrace godless lies.
We, the princes of this country and your great-grandfathers,
We cry, bowing our eyes in these cloisters,
For eternal joys they are raptured to heaven,
We are outraged by you and in paradise villages;
We moan about the Russians, we moan about you;
Come to your senses! imagine our sorrow, imagine;
Think about the kingdom, about yourself, about glory,
And number those who have beaten us with villains. The sky opened up suddenly dozing eyes,
And John sees sad ancestors there,
who were crowned with their own blood,
But in the former image, his eyes were:
Batu's sword is thrust into Olegov's chest;
George 1, his brother, lies bloodied;
The unfortunate Theognost 2 wears heavy shackles,
He asks for revenge on the hordes for death and wounds;
Bowing their heads, those princes groan,
Which were tormented in their belly.
There you see the law, trampled, humiliated,
Pouring currents of tears and surrounded by darkness;
The princes of Russia seem to be extinguished;
The nobles are weeping, the people are despondent;
There are pale faces in the blood depicted,
Which in life are struck by their hordes;
He sees relatives and sees his ancestors,
Their torments, their anguish, their wounds are deep.

And the shadow said to him: “Departed in torment in many ways,
Murmuring against you, these stand before God;

The last one is killed by a villainous hand
Your ancestor Alexander 1, I, former prince Tverskoy,
I came from the top of heaven to raise you up from sleep,
Enlighten your mind, save the fatherland;
See my ulcers, in the eyes of melancholy and darkness,
This is the exact sight of the Russian country with you!
See my members, bloody, crushed,
And imagine the villages and the cities destroyed;
Today the same sword with which I am struck,
And with the same hand he plunged Russia into the chest,
Her blood is shed!.. Washed by this blood,
I forgot that you have God as your judge;
The cry of every slave, suffering and groaning,
Taking off into the heavens, they flow before God's throne;
You don't want to answer for evil to your subjects,
But you answer the Lord for their sorrows.
Resurrect the dormant wisdom in you,
Fatherland, people, save yourself from evil;
Be a shepherd, be a hero, your god will love you;
The late offspring of praise will sound to you.
Don't hesitate! thunder! strike! God said so..."

He broadcast, and did not want to broadcast further.
The hall lit up with heavenly rays,
In glory, Alexander settled in the house of God.
The embarrassed John does not see him in the darkness;
I felt fear in my heart, sadness on my forehead;
The dream hid, the vision flew away,
But in the royal thought his face was deeply impressed
And he does not give a pleasant sleep to the king;
From a sad bed he rises in confusion,
Throws menacing eyes to the upcoming ones.
Like a wanderer in the steppe in the middle of the night,
Hearing the hissing of snakes around you,
Having no hope for shelter anywhere,
He does not know where to step and where to seek salvation,
At every step he is afraid of remorse, -
Such was John, recalling a terrible dream;
It seemed that he suddenly knew vile flattery,
He is afraid of flatterers, he does not dare to trust them.
Unfortunate is the king when he has no friend;

But in action secret desire to produce,
He ordered to bring Adashev to his chamber 2. This husband, a reasonable husband, in his blooming summer,
Appeared at the court as a kind of planet,
Coming on my way from unfamiliar places
And rarely seen among the burning stars.
The courtiers oppressed him with vexation,
But inwardly they revered him with their hearts.
Hell a Shev of happiness despised deceit,
Worldly pomp trampled underfoot;
He was an enemy to slyness, he abhorred flattery;
Majesty of the soul, not decorated with rank;
Above was passions and full of honesty.
Like a stone in the midst of boiling stormy waves,
Borea is not afraid, stands unshakable,
And the waves, beating against him, go by, -
Adashev was taco firm among debauchery,
Removed from the world, loved the fatherland;
He calmly entered the house where the formidable ruler lived.
Is straight virtue afraid of anything!
Keeping flattery still in custody the royal court,
Seeing the truth in him, lowered her gaze;
Desperate, pale and gnawed with envy,
Tests everything, waits for the sun, clouds and thunder.
A venerable man appeared, and honesty went hand in hand with him;
So in the darkness sometimes there is an angel visible!
Having in the arms of his Adashev,
With a subject, the monarch talks, blushing:
“To you,” he said in tears, “I will open my heart;
You are honest, can you not be a friend of the king?
What was in the desert, be faithful before the throne.

Then, telling about a terrible dream with a bitter groan,
“My god humbled me, - he is with an important view of the rivers, -
I have become a new man in this night;
I am ashamed that I evaded good advice ... "
John wept and appeared righteous.
Like a mother, a faithful son, loving the fatherland,
Adashev hoped to see himself in heaven;

Looking at flattery, weaving around the throne,
This husband mourned oppressed Russia;
In the delight of the rivers to the king: “Blessed dream!
Believe, believe me, sovereign, that he was sent by God;
Listen to the fatherland, listen to the innocent groan,
Wear a crown on your heart, not on your head.
What good is it for subjects that they have kings,
If all the people suffer, the altars are trampled,
Villainy is awake, but truth is oppressed;
Not the king of porphyry, porphyry is honored by them!
You despised yourself and us enough;
Now the hour has come for your and our glory! Verbs of truth attentive owner
I saw virtue descending from heaven:
Like an angel who appeared to Israel in the night 1
She had brilliant rays around her head;
"Se true friend you!" - told the monarch
And the face of Adashev lit up with radiance.
The king saw her features in his forehead
And so he called to him: “Be my employee you;
I need your mind, advice, your service.
Above all, the king should look for a friend.
Tell me the truth, it looks terrible to us,
But this sight from crowns and thrones drives shame;
Drive this shame, drive, and strict advice to me
Reveal the paths to follow the wisdom of the light!

Adashev, feeling how cunningly flattery can
Distract from the truth, lead the king into deceit,
He broadcast: “Let us drive away temptations from our souls,
Let us evade ourselves from these walls and idleness;
Celestial Wisdom Acquire Fleece 2
Solitude will teach us one thing;
The wisdom of pride and flattery flees,
She ignores the vanity of the world,
Among the depravity of civilians does not live,
In caves and forests, light finds her;
Where there is no vanity, no flattery, no embarrassed thoughts,
Let's go look for her in the sacred cloisters,
Whence a pure spirit flies up to heaven;

O my king! choose this abode yourself;
Russia is not yet deprived of its last strength,
Love for the fatherland is not completely extinguished;
Order to gather advice, look at the truth
And ruin the advice of wickedness:
You will see glory hovering before you;
We shed blood for the sake of it, now we are ready for battle.
Lord, all Russia and all the vast world
To glory, the king, he calls you out of idleness!

There is a place on the earthly face built,
Consecrated by an associate of the holy hermits;
Pleasers, from then ascended to heaven,
They left their imperishable bodies,
Who, having received zealous prayer,
They give peace, rest, healing to the grieving.
The saint Sergius founded that monastery 1,
He hid great work in a small hut;
He glorified these places with heavenly life
And there he set up an altar to the three-faced god 2;
Seeing the walls around and temples beauty,
It is possible to honor that desert as a city;
Treasures brought into the abode of God
They show souls to her with fervent zeal;
There the hill is filled with a stream of healing waters,
Which Sergius exuded from stone;
The spreading trees of the hillock overshadow 3
And temples are bowed on the heads of the peaks.
That building was then attached to holiness,
That the glory of ancient years keeps a pledge it:
Heroes with a brush are depicted alive here,
By which the enemies of Russia are deposed;
Svyatoslav 4 is seen there, sitting on the ground,
Whoever eats bread is dry and sweaty and dusty;
He seems to be a simple warrior among the military,
But the ancients preferred the Atrids to be worthy.
Vladimir 5 wearing a sword and palm trees,
It stands with trophies and is surrounded by light;
At his feet lies a defeated chimera;

United with glory, faith crowns him.
There Yaroslav 6 has laurels on his head;
Donskoy 7 shines here; there Nevsky 8 on the Neva;
There the face of the great John is represented,
Crowned first with the Caesar's crown 9;
Victories, celebrations, shining crown
To great deeds they inspire fire in the hearts;
For these reasons in this temple, predestined to glory,
Adashev persuaded John to bow down. The days have not yet disappeared in the waves,
They reached a peaceful refuge.
Having virtue as his companion,
As if the owner saw paradise in the monastery:
In glory is seen the god present there!
With sacred horror he entered the Lord's temple;
He knew that the soul, ascended to heaven,
From the body of his medical and imperishable,
Worked many miracles,
And then she could say that heaven is covering;
Comes to Sergius, brings him prayers,
He asks for God's help against Kazan,
Prophetic: “Holy man! you helped Dmitry
Tatar moon break the puffy horn,
And you help me, daring against Kazan,
Justify Russia in the present battle;
My fatherland, O Sergius! and yours...
This prayer is offered up before you!”
Prayer in the air like smoke does not disappear
But as if lightning pierces the vault of heaven,
On rainbow wings she ascends:
Prayer sincerely reads God in the hearts;
She is the vault of heaven and the stars pass through,
In the tenderness of angels, Gehenna leads to fear.
His prayers resounded like thunder before God,
Moscow woke up, the Horde people were shocked!

In this noteworthy year
The creator of the two earthly kingdoms measured the fate:
The Russian crown rose to the skies,
Horde pride marked the end;

But the victorious peoples and power
Obstacles will be presented in thundering glory.
The horde will scatter, their throne will fade,
But the Russians will arrange a lot of evil in advance. Then the Lord spoke the decree
Organ of heavenly mysteries in sacred frenzy,
Trembling, full of spirit, serving the altar,
The soul shepherd proclaimed the prophecies to the king:
"O king! laurel crowns are woven for you,
I see a new throne, I see new crowns!
But to conquer kingdoms and gain glory,
You have to endure a lot of suffering.
Come, and be firm! ..” The words were spoken
And the voice of song resounded through the vaults.
In the soul of the monarch then felt calm
And again the procession to the city turned.
Adashev to glory, the fire in the king aggravates,
He shows the written princes in the foreshadowing.
“Behold Rurik, your ancestor,” he broadcasts to the king, “
Trojan branch in it and August's sight 1 ;
He, backing up his strength with a wavering power,
Descendants drew an immortal image of glory.
Se Olga 1 wise, executing Iskorest,
Rays around the head, has a cross in his hands;
Kohl piously reigns over the midnight country!
The wife became famous for ruling and war!
Behold your forefathers! Look at them, take a look:
You see their glory! kneel down.
Here the brush depicts your teaching ... "
And Adashev points out the tsar's grandfather,
Who inwardly and outwardly calmed the kingdoms of discord;
But it seems that a stern gaze is tossed to the king
And he reproaches his grandson with idleness on the throne.

Blushing, John looks at his face,
A current of tears from shame flows from his eyes,
"Let's start, let's start a war!" - Adashev says.
And behold the glory soaring in ethereal circles
It says: “Get ready to bloom, Russian power!”
The pious spirit of the tsar leads to Kazan;

The throne city awaits him with a thundering splash.
The Almighty bowed his apple on him,
And the king solemnly entered his capital;
Her surroundings suddenly blossomed,
At the meeting, it seemed to him that the groves were moving;
The severity of times gaiety is mortified
In the valleys and forests she appeared animated;
As if the jets of the previous black waters 2,
The crowding people rejoice on the hills;
Moscow lifts high golden tops,
And the temples were filled with singing of the saints;
With love the king sees kindled hearts,
He sees in the subjects of children, they are in the king - the father;
On the faces of joy, in the eyes of amusement,
And the sweet spirit tastes tenderness.

If the king angers the supreme power with wickedness,
All nature then assumes a vague appearance;
But if virtue shines under the crown,
All the people, nature and ruler rejoice.
John seemed to have regained his kingdom;
Chosen thought to be in the halls commanded 3;
Until now, the capital city is groaning, weary
Appeared, as if freed from the siege.