The oldest genre of folklore. Genres of Russian folklore: the age-old wisdom of the people carried through the centuries

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Folklore genres also differ in the way they are performed and in various combinations of text with melody, intonation, and movements (singing, singing and dancing, storytelling, acting out, etc.).

With changes in social life society in Russian folklore, new genres also arose: soldier's, coachman's, burlak's songs. The growth of industry and cities brought to life romances, anecdotes, worker, school and student folklore.

There are genres in folklore productive, in the bowels of which new works may appear. Now these are ditties, sayings, city songs, anecdotes, many types of children's folklore. There are genres unproductive but continuing to exist. So, new folk tales do not appear, but the old ones are still told. Many old songs are also sung. But the epics and historical songs in live performance almost do not sound.

Depending on the stage of development, folklore is usually divided into early traditional folklore, classical folklore and late traditional folklore. Each group owns special genres typical for this stage in the development of folk art.

Early traditional folklore

1. labor songs.

These songs are known among all peoples, which were performed during labor processes (when lifting weights, plowing the field, manually grinding grain, etc.).

Such songs could be performed when working alone, but they were especially important when working together, since they contained commands for simultaneous action.

Their main element was the rhythm that organized the labor process.

2. Divination and conspiracies.

Divination is a means of recognizing the future. To recognize the future, one had to turn to evil spirits Therefore, fortune-telling was perceived as a sinful and dangerous occupation.

For divination, places were chosen where, according to the idea of ​​the people, it was possible to make contact with the inhabitants of the "other world", as well as the time of day at which this contact was most likely.

Divination was based on the method of interpreting “signs”: accidentally heard words, reflections in water, animal behavior, etc. To obtain these “signs”, actions were taken in which objects, animals, and plants were used. Sometimes actions were accompanied by verbal formulas.

classical folklore

1. Rites and ritual folklore

Ritual folklore consisted of verbal-musical, dramatic, game and choreographic genres.

The rituals had a ritual and magical significance, they contained the rules of human behavior in everyday life and work. They are usually divided into work and family.

1.1 Labor rites: calendar rites

The observations of the ancient Slavs over the solstice and the changes in nature associated with it developed into a system of mythological beliefs and practical labor skills, enshrined in rituals, signs, and proverbs.

Gradually, the rites formed an annual cycle, and the most important holidays were timed to coincide with the winter and summer solstices.

There are winter, spring, summer and autumn rituals.

1.2. family rituals

Unlike calendar rites, the hero of family rituals is a real person. Rites accompanied many events of his life, among which the most important were birth, marriage and death.

The wedding ceremony was the most developed, it had its own characteristics and laws, its own mythology and its own poetry.

1.3. Lamentations

This is an ancient genre of folklore, genetically related to the funeral rite. The object of the image of lamentations is the tragic in life, therefore, the lyrical beginning is strongly expressed in them, the melody is poorly expressed, and many exclamatory-interrogative constructions, synonymous repetitions, single words, etc. could be found in the content of the text.

2. Small genres of folklore. Paremias.

Small folklore genres include works that differ in genre, but have a common external feature - a small volume.

Small genres of folklore prose, or proverbs, are very diverse: proverbs, sayings, signs, riddles, jokes, proverbs, tongue twisters, puns, good wishes, curses, and so on.

3. Fairy tales(See § 2.)

3.1. Animal Tales

3.2. Fairy tales

3.3. Household fairy tales

3.3.1. Anecdotal tales

3.3.2. Novelistic tales

4. Fairy tale prose

Non-fairytale prose has a different modality than fairy tales: its works are confined to real time, real terrain, real people. Non-fairytale prose is characterized by non-separation from the flow of everyday speech, the absence of special genre and style canons. In the most general sense, it can be said that her works are characterized by the stylistic form of an epic narrative about authenticity.

The most stable component is the character, around which all the rest of the material is united.

An important feature of non-fairytale prose is the plot. Usually plots have an embryonic form (one-motif), but can be transmitted both concisely and in detail.

Non-fairytale prose works are capable of contamination.

The following genres belong to non-fairytale prose: legends, legends and demonological stories.

5. epics

Epics are epic songs in which heroic events or individual episodes of ancient Russian history are sung.

As in fairy tales, mythological images of enemies appear in epics, characters are reincarnated, and animals help the heroes.

Epics have a heroic or novelistic character: the idea of ​​heroic epics is the glorification of the unity and independence of the Russian land, in novelistic epics marital fidelity, true friendship were glorified, personal vices (boastfulness, arrogance) were condemned.

6. historical songs

Historical songs are folklore epic, lyrical and lyrical songs, the content of which is dedicated to specific events and real persons of Russian history and expresses the national interests and ideals of the people.

7. ballads

Folk ballads are lyrical epic songs about a tragic event. Ballads are characterized by personal, family and household themes. In the center of the ballads are moral problems: love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, crime and remorse.

8. spiritual verses

Spiritual poems are songs of religious content.

The main feature of spiritual poetry is the opposition of everything Christian to worldly things.

Spiritual verses are heterogeneous. In oral existence, they interacted with epics, historical songs, ballads, lyrical songs, lamentations.

9. Lyrical non-ritual songs

In folk lyrics, word and melody are inseparable. The main purpose of the songs is to reveal the attitude of the people through the direct expression of their feelings, thoughts and moods.

These songs expressed the characteristic experiences of a Russian person in different life situations.

10. Folk theater.

Folklore theater is the traditional dramatic art of the people.

The specific features of the folklore theater are the absence of a stage, the separation of performers and the audience, the action as a form of reflection of reality, the transformation of the performer into a different objectified image, the aesthetic orientation of the performance.

Plays were often distributed in written form, pre-rehearsed, which did not exclude improvisation.

The folklore theater includes: booths, the theater of traveling pictures (rayok), folk puppet theater and folk dramas.

11. Children's folklore.

Children's folklore is a specific area of ​​oral art, which, unlike the folklore of adults, has its own poetics, its own forms of existence and its carriers.

A common, generic feature of children's folklore is the correlation of a literary text with a game.

Works of children's folklore are performed by adults for children (mother's folklore) and children themselves (actually children's folklore)

Late traditional folklore

Late traditional folklore is a collection of works of different genres and different directions, created in a peasant, urban, soldier, working and other environment since the beginning of the development of industry, the growth of cities, the collapse of the feudal village.

Late traditional folklore is characterized by a smaller number of works and, in general, a lower artistic level compared to classical folklore.

1. Chastushki

Chastushka is a short rhymed folk song that is performed at a fast pace to a specific melody.

The subject matter is varied. Most of them are dedicated to love and family topics. But often they reflect the modern life of the people, the changes that are taking place in the country, contain sharp political hints. The ditty is characterized by a playful attitude towards its heroes, irony, and sometimes sharp satire.

2. Folklore of workers

The folklore of workers is oral folk works that were created in the working environment or assimilated by it and processed so much that they began to reflect the spiritual needs of this particular environment.

Unlike the ditty, the folklore of the workers did not turn into a national, all-Russian phenomenon. Its characteristic feature is locality, isolation within one or another industrial area. For example, the workers of factories, plants and mines in Petrozavodsk, Donbass, the Urals, Altai and Siberia hardly knew each other's oral works.

Song genres predominated in the folklore of the workers. The songs depicted the difficult working and living conditions of a simple worker, which was contrasted with the idle life of the oppressors - business owners, overseers.

In the form of a song, these are monologues-complaints.

3. Folklore of the period of the Great Patriotic War.

Folklore of the period of the Great Patriotic War is the works of various genres: song, prose, aphoristic. They were created by the participants in the events and battles themselves, the workers of factories and plants, collective farm fields, partisans, etc.

These works reflect the life and struggle of the peoples of the USSR, the heroism of the defenders of the country, faith in victory, the joy of victory, fidelity in love and love betrayals.

In our work, we will dwell in more detail on the folklore classical genre of a fairy tale.

Oral folk art is the richest heritage of every country. Folklore was even before the emergence of written speech, it is not literature, but a masterpiece of oral literature. childbirth folk art formed in the pre-literary period of art on the basis of ritual and ritual actions. The first attempts to comprehend literary genres date back to the era of antiquity.

Genera of folklore creativity

Folklore is represented by three genera:

1. Epic literature. This genus is represented in prose and poetry. Russian folklore genres of the epic kind are represented by epics, historical songs, fairy tales, sayings, legends, parables, fables, proverbs and sayings.

2. Lyric literature. At the heart of all lyrical works there are thoughts and experiences of the lyrical hero. Examples folklore genres The lyrical direction is represented by ritual, lullabies, love songs, ditties, bayats, haivkas, Easter and Kupala songs. In addition, there is a separate block - " Folklore lyrics”, which includes literary songs, romances.

3. Dramatic Literature. This is a kind of literature that combines epic and lyrical ways of depiction. The basis of a dramatic work is a conflict, the content of which is revealed through the play of actors. Dramatic works have a dynamic storyline. Folklore genres dramatic kind are represented by family-ritual, calendar songs, folk dramas.

Individual works may contain features of lyrical and epic literature, therefore, a mixed genus is distinguished - lyro-epos, which is subdivided in turn into:

Works with heroic characters, lyrical-epic content (epic, thought, historical song).

Non-heroic works (ballad, chronicle song).

Folklore for children is also distinguished (lullaby, nursery rhyme, comfort, pestle, fairy tale).

Genres of folklore

Folklore genres of folk art are represented by two directions:

1. Ritual works of UNT.

Performed during the ceremonies:

Calendar (carols, Shrovetide actions, stoneflies, Trinity songs);

Family and household (birth of a child, wedding celebrations, celebration of national holidays);

Occasional works - came in the form of conspiracies, rhymes, incantations.

2. Non-ritual works of UNT.

This section includes several subgroups:

Drama (folklore) - nativity scenes, religious works, theater "Petrushki".

Poetry (folklore) - epics, lyrical, historical and spiritual songs, ballads, ditties.

Prose (folklore), in turn, is divided into fabulous and non-fabulous. The first includes fairy tales about magic, animals, everyday and cumulative tales, and the second is associated with famous heroes and heroes of Rus' who fought witches (Baba Yaga) and other demonological creatures. Also, legends, mythological stories are referred to non-fairytale prose.

Speech folklore is represented by proverbs, sayings, chants, riddles, tongue twisters.

Folklore genres carry their own individual plot and semantic load.

Images of military battles, exploits of heroes and folk heroes are observed in epics, bright events of the past, everyday life and memories of heroes from the past can be found in historical songs.

The stories about the actions of the heroes Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich are epic. The folklore genre of the tale tells about the actions of Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga. Family songs are always represented by such characters as mother-in-law, wifey, hubby.

Literature and folklore

Folklore differs from literature in a unique system of construction of works. Its characteristic difference from literature is that the genres of folklore works have melody, beginnings, sayings, retardation, trinity. Also, the use of epithet, tautology, parallelism, hyperbole, synecdoche will be significant differences in style compositions.

Just as in oral folk art (UNT), folklore genres in literature are represented by three types. This is epic, lyric, drama.

Distinctive Features of Literature and CNT

Large works of literature, represented by novels, stories, stories, are written in calm, measured tones. This allows the reader, without looking up from the reading process, to analyze the plot and draw appropriate conclusions. Folklore contains sayings, beginnings, sayings and singing. The technique of tautology is the basic principle of storytelling. Hyperbolas, exaggerations, synecdoches and parallelisms are also very popular. Such figurative actions are not allowed in the literature of the whole world.

Small folklore genres as a separate block of works by UNT

This system included mainly works for children. The relevance of these genres remains to this day, because every person gets acquainted with this literature even before he starts speaking.

The lullaby became one of the first works of folklore. The presence of partial conspiracies and amulets is a direct proof of this fact. Many believed that otherworldly forces were operating around a person, if the baby saw bad things in a dream, this would never happen again in reality. This is probably why the lullaby about the “gray top” is popular even today.

Another genre is amusement. To understand what exactly such works are, you can equate it to a sentence song or a song with simultaneous actions. This genre promotes fine motor skills and emotional health of the child key point plots with the game of fingers “Magpie-crow”, “Ladushki” are considered.

All of the above small folklore genres are necessary for every person. Thanks to them, kids for the first time learn what is good and what is bad, they are taught to order and hygiene.

Folklore of peoples

An interesting fact is that different nationalities in their culture, traditions and customs, they have common points of contact in folklore. There are so-called universal desires, thanks to which songs, rituals, legends, and parables appear. Many nations hold celebrations and chanting for a rich harvest.

From the foregoing, it becomes obvious that different peoples often turn out to be close in many areas of life, and folklore combines customs and traditions into a single structure of folk art.

Folklore. Genres of folklore

Folklore (from English folk - people, lore - wisdom) - oral folk art. Folklore arose before the advent of writing. Its most important feature is that folklore is the art of the spoken word. This is what distinguishes it from literature and other forms of art. Another important distinguishing feature folklore is a collectivity of creativity. It arose as a mass creativity and expressed the ideas of the primitive community and clan, and not of an individual.

In folklore, as in literature, there are three types of works: epic, lyrical and dramatic. At the same time, epic genres have a poetic and prose form (in literature epic race represented only by prose works: a story, a novella, a novel, etc.). Literary genres and folklore genres differ in composition. In Russian folklore, epic genres include epics, historical songs, fairy tales, legends, legends, tales, proverbs, sayings. Lyrical folklore genres are ritual, lullabies, family and love songs, lamentations, ditties. TO dramatic genres include folk dramas. Many folklore genres have entered literature: song, fairy tale, legend (for example, Pushkin's fairy tales, Koltsov's songs, Gorky's legends).

Genres of folklore each have their own content: epics depict feats of arms heroes, historical songs - events and heroes of the past, family songs describe the everyday side of life. Each genre has its own heroes: heroes Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich act in epics, Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Baba Yaga act in fairy tales, wife, husband, mother-in-law in family songs.

Folklore differs from literature in a special system means of expression. For example, the composition (construction) of folklore works is characterized by the presence of such elements as the sing-along, the beginning, the saying, the slowing down of the action (retardation), the trinity of events; for style - constant epithets, tautologies (repetitions), parallelisms, hyperbole (exaggerations), etc.

Folklore different peoples has much in common in genres, artistic means, plots, types of heroes, etc. This is due to the fact that folklore, as a form of folk art, reflects the general laws of the social development of peoples. General Features in the folklore of different peoples can arise due to the proximity of culture and life or long-term economic, political and cultural ties. Big role also play similarities historical development, geographical proximity, movement of peoples, etc.

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Folklore in its nature, content and purpose is deeply democratic, truly folk art. He is distinguished not only by ideological depth, but by high artistic qualities. Folk poetic creativity is distinguished by a peculiar artistic system of visual means and genres.

What are genres of Russian folklore?

One of the most ancient forms of creativity was labor songs with their simplest commands, cries, signals given in the course of work.

Calendar folklore primordially came from the urgent practical goals of people. It was associated with ideas about the annual agricultural cycle and with changing natural conditions. People sought to know the future, so they resorted to fortune-telling, talked about the future according to signs.

This also explained wedding folklore. It is imbued with the idea of ​​the safety of the family and clan, designed for the goodwill of the highest patrons.

Preserved from antiquity and individual elements children's folklore, which later changed under the influence of aesthetic and pedagogical functions.

Among the oldest genres - funeral lamentations. With the advent of universal military duty, there was a mourning for those who were taken to the service - recruiting accounts.

Genres non-ritual folklore also formed under the influence of syncretism. It includes small folklore genres ( proverbs): proverbs, fables, omens and sayings. They contained human judgments about the way of life, about work, about higher natural forces, statements about human affairs. "This is a vast area of ​​moral assessments and judgments, how to live, how to raise children, how to honor ancestors, thoughts about the need to follow precepts and examples, these are everyday rules of behavior ... In a word, the functionality of proverbs covers almost all worldview areas." 9

The genres of oral prose include legends, stories, bylichki, legends. These are stories and incidents from life that tell about a person’s meeting with the characters of Russian demonology - sorcerers, witches, mermaids, etc. This also includes stories about saints, shrines and miracles - about the communication of a person who has accepted the Christian faith with forces of a higher order .

Genres song epic: epics, historical songs, military songs, spiritual songs and poems.

Gradually, folklore moves away from everyday functions and acquires elements of artistry. The role of the artistic principle increases in it. As a result of historical evolution, folklore became poetic in its main and fundamental qualities, reworking the traditions of all previous states of folklore. 10

Artistic creativity is embodied in all forms fairy tales: fairy tales about animals, fairy tales, household.

This type of creativity is also represented in riddles.

The early types of artistic creativity include ballads.

Lyric songs also have an artistic function. They are performed outside the rites. The content and form of lyrical songs are associated with the expression of the experiences and feelings of the performers.

Modern researchers refer to the artistic song folklore of the latest formation romances And ditties.

Children's folklore has its own system of genres, correlated with the age characteristics of children. It has artistic and pedagogical functions. It is dominated by game beginnings.

The artistic spectacular theatrical basis contains folklore spectacles and folklore theater. It is presented in all variety of genres and types ( games, disguise, nativity scene, raek, puppet shows etc.).

A separate genus of artistic representations forms the so-called fair folklore. It arose from fair performances, cries of merchants, farcical barkers, joke speech, jokes and folk rhymes.

The genre of joke.

A detailed account of individual folklore genres will be undertaken in subsequent sections of the manual.

Genres of Russian folklore

Fairy tales, songs, epics, street performances - all these are different genres of folklore, folk oral and poetic creativity. You can't confuse them, they differ in their specific features, their role in folk life is different, they live differently in modern times. At the same time, all genres of verbal folklore are characterized by common signs: all of them are works of art of the word, in their origins they are associated with archaic forms of art, they exist mainly in oral transmission, they are constantly changing. This determines the interaction in them of the collective and individual principles, a peculiar combination of traditions and innovation. Thus, the folklore genre is a historically emerging type of oral poetic work. Anikin V.P. gave his characteristics to folklore. Childbirth: epic, lyrics, drama

Types: song, fairy tale, non-fairy prose, etc.

Genres: epic, lyrical, historical song, legend, etc.

Genre is the basic unit of study of folklore. In folklore, genre is a form of exploration of reality. Over time, depending on changes in everyday life, the social life of the people, the system of genres developed.

There are several classifications of folklore genres:

Starting to analyze each genre of folklore, let's start with fairy tales.

Fairy tales are the oldest genre of oral folk art. She teaches a person to live, instills optimism in him, affirms faith in the triumph of goodness and justice.

The tale represents a great public value, consisting in its cognitive, ideological and educational and aesthetic values which are inextricably linked. Like other peoples (the Russians, perhaps brighter), a fairy tale is an objectified contemplation of the heart of the people, a symbol of his suffering and dreams, the hieroglyphs of his soul. All art is generated by reality. This is one of the foundations of materialistic aesthetics. This is the case, for example, with a fairy tale, the plots of which are caused by reality, i.e. era, social and economic relations, forms of thinking and artistic creativity, psychology. It, as well as all folklore in general, reflected the life of the people, their worldview, moral, ethical, socio-historical, political, philosophical, artistic and aesthetic views. It is closely connected with folk life and rituals. Traditional Russian fairy tales were created and circulated mainly among the peasantry. Their creators and performers were usually people with great life experience, who traveled a lot in Rus', who had seen a lot. The lower the level of education of people, the more they talk about phenomena public life at the level of ordinary consciousness. Maybe that's why the world reflected in fairy tales is formed at the level of everyday consciousness, on people's everyday ideas about beauty. Each new era brings tales of a new type, new content and new form. The story changes with historical life people, its changes are due to changes in the folk life because it is a product of the history of the people; it reflects the events of history and features of folk life. Illumination and understanding of the history and life of the people in folklore change along with changes in people's ideas, views and psychology. In fairy tales, traces of several eras can be found. In the era of feudalism, an increasing place is occupied by social topics, especially in connection with the peasant movement: anti-serfdom sentiments were expressed in fairy tales. The XVI-XYII centuries are characterized by the rich development of fairy tales. It reflects both historical motifs (tales about Ivan the Terrible), social (tales about judges and priests) and everyday tales (tales about a peasant and a wife). In the fairy tale genre, satirical motifs are greatly enhanced.

XYIII - the first half of the XIX century. - The last stage of the existence of feudal-serf society. This time is characterized by the development of capitalist relations and the disintegration of the feudal system. The tale acquires an even more vivid social aspect. It includes new characters, primarily a smart and cunning soldier. In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, during which the ever more rapid and widespread development of capitalism in Russia falls, great changes take place in folklore. The satirical motives and the critical orientation of the tale are intensifying; the basis for this was the aggravation of social contradictions; the purpose of satire is increasingly becoming the denunciation of the power of money and the arbitrariness of the authorities. Bigger place occupied autobiography, especially in fairy tales about going to the city to earn money. The Russian fairy tale becomes more realistic, acquires a closer connection with modernity. The coverage of reality, the ideological essence of works, also become different.

The cognitive significance of the fairy tale is manifested, first of all, in the fact that it reflects the features of the phenomena of real life and gives extensive knowledge about the history of social relations, work and life, as well as an idea of ​​the worldview and psychology of the people, about the nature of the country. The ideological and educational significance of the tale is that it is inspired by the desire for good, the protection of the weak, the victory over evil. In addition, a fairy tale develops an aesthetic sense, i.e. sense of beauty .

It is characterized by the disclosure of beauty in nature and man, the unity of aesthetic and moral principles, the combination of real and fiction, vivid depiction and expressiveness.

A fairy tale is a very popular genre of oral folk art, an epic, plot genre. From other prose genres (traditions and legends), the fairy tale differs in a more developed aesthetic side, which is manifested in the installation of attractiveness. Aesthetic start, in addition, it manifests itself in the idealization of goodies, a vivid image of the "fantastic world", amazing creatures and objects, miraculous phenomena, romantic coloring of events. M. Gorky paid attention to the expressions in the tales of folk dreams about a better life: “Already in ancient times, people dreamed of the opportunity to fly through the air - a fairy tale speaks of this, about a magic carpet. They dreamed of accelerating the movement on the ground - a fairy tale about boots-walkers ... ".

In science, it is generally accepted to divide fairy tale texts into three categories: fairy tales, short stories (household) tales and fairy tales about animals.

Fairy tales were very popular among the people. Fiction in fairy tales has the character of fantasy. The magical beginning contains the so-called survival moments and, above all, the religious and mythological view primitive man, spiritualization by him of things and phenomena of nature, attributing to these things and phenomena magical properties, various religious cults, customs, rituals. Fairy tales are full of motifs containing belief in the existence of the other world and the possibility of returning from there, the idea of ​​death enclosed in some material object (egg, flower), of a miraculous birth (from drunk water), of the transformation of people into animals, birds. The fantastic beginning of the tale, on the other hand, grows on a spontaneous materialistic basis, remarkably correctly captures the patterns of development of objective reality.

This is what M. Gorky called "instructive fiction - the amazing ability of human thought to look ahead of the fact." The origin of fantasy has its roots in the peculiarities of the way of life and in people's dream of dominating nature. All these are just traces of mythological ideas, since the formation of the classical form of a fairy tale ended far beyond the historical boundaries of primitive communal society, in a much more developed society. The mythological worldview only provided the basis for the poetic form of the fairy tale.

The important point is that the plots of fairy tales, the miracles of which they speak, have a vital basis. This is, firstly, a reflection of the peculiarities of the work and life of people of the tribal system, their relationship to nature, often their powerlessness in front of it. Secondly, a reflection of the feudal system, especially early feudalism (the king is the enemy of the hero, the struggle for inheritance).

The character of fairy tales is always the bearer of certain moral qualities. The hero of the most popular fairy tales is Ivan Tsarevich. He helps animals and birds, who are grateful to him for this and, in turn, help him. He is presented in fairy tales as a folk hero, the embodiment of the highest moral qualities - courage, honesty, kindness. He is young, handsome, smart and strong. This is a type of bold and strong hero.

A significant place in fairy tales is occupied by female heroines, who embody the folk ideal of beauty, intelligence, kindness, and courage. The image of Vasilisa the Wise reflects the remarkable features of a Russian woman - beauty, majestic simplicity, soft pride in herself, a remarkable mind and a deep heart full of inexhaustible love. The consciousness of the Russian people was just such a female beauty.

The serious meaning of some fairy tales gave grounds for judgments on the most important issues of life. So, in some fairy tales, the freedom-loving aspiration and struggle of the Russian people against arbitrariness and oppressors is embodied. The composition of a fairy tale determines the presence in them of characters hostile to positive characters. The hero's victory over hostile forces is the triumph of goodness and justice. Many researchers have noted the heroic side of the fairy tale, its social optimism. A.M. Gorky said: “It is very important to note that pessimism is completely alien to folklore, despite the fact that the creators of folklore lived hard, their slave labor was meaningless by the exploiters, and their personal life was powerless and defenseless. But with all this, the collective, as it were, is characterized by the consciousness of its immortality and confidence in victory over all forces hostile to it. Fairy tales in which social and domestic relations stand in the center of the action are called social and domestic. In this type of fairy tales, the comedy of actions and verbal comedy is well developed, which is determined by their satirical, ironic, humorous nature. The theme of one group of tales is social injustice, the theme of another is human vices, they ridicule the lazy, stupid, stubborn. Depending on this, two varieties are distinguished in social and everyday fairy tales. According to researchers, social fairy tales arose in two stages: everyday - early, with the formation of a family and family life during the decomposition of the tribal system, and social - with the emergence of a class society and the aggravation of social contradictions in the period of early feudalism, especially during the decomposition of the serfdom and during the period of capitalism. Increasing injustice and poverty populace caused discontent and protest, were the soil social criticism. Good social hero everyday fairy tales- socially active, critical person. Hard work, poverty, darkness, marriage often unequal in age and property status caused complications in family relations and determined the appearance of plots about an evil wife and a stupid and lazy husband. Socially everyday fairy tales are distinguished by a sharp ideological orientation. This is reflected, first of all, in the fact that the stories mainly have two important social themes: social injustice and social punishment. The first theme is realized in plots where a master, a merchant or a priest rob and oppress a peasant, humiliate his personality. The second theme is realized in plots where a smart and quick-witted peasant finds a way to punish his oppressors for centuries of lack of rights, makes them look ridiculous. In social and everyday fairy tales, the aspirations and expectations of the people, the dream of a socially just, happy and peaceful life are much more clearly expressed. “In these tales, one can see the life of the people, their domestic life, their moral concepts and this crafty Russian mind, so inclined towards irony, so simple-hearted in its cunning.”

In fairy tales, as well as in some other genres of folklore prose, reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of peasant psychology, the centuries-old dream of happy life, about a certain "peasant kingdom". The search for "another kingdom" in fairy tales is a characteristic motif. A fabulous social utopia depicts people's material well-being, well-fed contentment; the peasant eats and drinks to his heart's content, and makes a "feast for the whole world." N. G. Chernyshevsky noted: “The poverty of real life is the source of life in fantasy.” The peasant judges a “happy” life for himself by the model of those material goods that tsars and landlords own. The peasants had a very strong faith in the "good king", and fairy tale hero becomes just such a king in many fairy tales. At the same time, the fairy-tale king in his behavior, way of life, and habits is likened to a simple peasant. The royal palace is sometimes depicted as a rich peasant household with all the attributes of a peasant economy.

Animal tales are one of the oldest types of folklore. Going back to the ancient forms of reflection of reality in the early stages of human consciousness, fairy tales about animals expressed a certain degree of knowledge of the world.

The truth of fairy tales is that although they talk about animals, similar human situations are reproduced. The actions of animals more openly reveal the inhumane aspirations, thoughts, and causes of acts committed by people. Animal stories are all stories in which there is a place not only for fun, but also for expressing a serious meaning. In fairy tales about animals, birds and fish, animals and plants also act. Each of these stories has meaning. For example, in the fairy tale about the turnip, the meaning turned out to be that no, even the smallest force in the matter is not superfluous, and it happens that it is not enough to achieve a result. With the development of human ideas about nature, with the accumulation of observations, fairy tales include stories about the victory of man over animals and about domestic animals, which was the result of their instructions. The identification of similar features in animals and humans (speech - cry, behavior - habit) served as the basis for combining their qualities in the images of animals with the qualities of a person, animals speak and behave like people. This combination led to the typification of the characters of animals, which became the embodiment of certain qualities (fox - cunning, etc.). So fairy tales acquired an allegorical meaning. Under the animals began to understand people of certain characters. Animal images have become a means of moral teaching. In fairy tales about animals not only ridicule negative qualities(stupidity, laziness, talkativeness), but also condemns the oppression of the weak, greed, deceit for profit. The main semantic aspect of fairy tales about animals is moral. Tales about animals are characterized by bright optimism, the weak always get out of difficult situations. The connection of the tale with the ancient period of her life is found in the motives of the fear of the beast, in overcoming fear of him. The beast has strength, cunning, but no human mind. Animal images in the late life of a fairy tale gain meaning social types. In such variants, in the image of a cunning fox, wolf and others, one can see human characters that arose in the conditions of a class society. Behind the image of the animal in them one can guess the social relations of people. For example, in the fairy tale "About Ersh Ershovich and his son Shchetinnikov" a complete and true picture of the ancient Russian legal proceedings is given. In the tales of every nation, universal themes receive a kind of national incarnation. In Russian folk tales, certain social relations are revealed, the life of the people, their domestic life, their moral concepts, the Russian look, the Russian mind are shown - everything that makes the tale nationally original and unique. The ideological orientation of Russian fairy tales is manifested in the reflection of the struggle of the people for a beautiful future. Thus, we saw that the Russian fairy tale is a generalized, evaluative and purposeful reflection of reality, which expresses the consciousness of a person, and in particular the consciousness of the Russian people. The old name of the tale - fable - indicates the narrative nature of the genre. In our time, the name "fairy tale" and the term "fairy tale", which began to come into circulation from the 17th century, are used among the people and in scientific literature. A fairy tale is a very popular genre of oral folk art, a genre of epic, prose, plot. It is not sung like a song, but is told. The tale is distinguished by its strict form, the obligatory nature of certain moments. Fairy tales have been known in Rus' since ancient times. IN ancient writing there are plots, motifs and images reminiscent of fairy tales. Telling fairy tales is an old Russian custom. In the manuscripts of the XVI - XVII centuries. records of the fairy tales "About Ivan Ponamarevich" and "About the Princess and Ivashka the White Shirt" have been preserved. In the XVIII century. in addition to handwritten collections of fairy tales, printed editions began to appear. Several collections of fairy tales appeared, which included works with characteristic compositional and stylistic fairy-tale features: "The Tale of the Thief Timoshka" and "The Tale of the Gypsy" in V. Levshin's collection "Russian Tales" (1780-1783), "The Tale of Ivan the Bogatyr , a peasant's son "in the collection of P. Timofeev" Russian fairy tales "(1787). In the 60s of the XIX century. A.N. Afanasiev published a collection of "Treasured Tales", which included satirical tales about bars and priests. IN late XIX- early XX century. a number of important, well-prepared collections of fairy tales appear. They gave an idea about the distribution of works of this genre, about its state, put forward new principles for collecting and publishing. After October revolution the collection of fairy tales, as well as the collection of works of folklore in general, took on organized forms.

Mikhailova O. S. Considered: fairy tales about animals. Historical roots of the fairy tale about animals (animistic, anthropomorphic, totemic ideas, folk beliefs). The evolution of the genre. Heroes of fairy tales about animals. Style. Absence of abstract fable allegorism. The satirical function of parables. Irony. Plot paradox. Dialogical. compositional features. Cumulative tales. Magic tales. Miracle, magic as a fabulous plot basis of fairy tales. Historical roots of fairy tales (mythological representations, folk demonology, folk rituals, everyday taboos, magic, etc.). Poetic convention of fairy tales. The main ideas of fairy tales. compositional features. Features of the author's word. Dialogical. Fairy stories. Heroes and their functions. Fairy tale chronotope. household tales. The proximity of everyday fairy tale to the short story. Ways of the formation of the genre of the novelistic fairy tale. Typology of everyday fairy tales (family and household, about masters and servants, about the clergy, etc.). Poetics and style (everyday "grounding", entertaining plot, hyperbolization in the depiction of characters, etc.).

One cannot but agree with the opinion of V.P. Anikin that fairy tales seem to have subjugated time, and this applies not only to fairy tales. In each era, they live their own special life. Where does the fairy tale have such power over time? Let us think about the essence of the similarity that fairy tales have with equally stable, as it were, “timeless” truths expressed by proverbs. The fairy tale and the proverb are brought together by the extraordinary breadth of the artistic generalization contained in them. Perhaps this property is most clearly revealed in allegorical tales.

The next genre is "epic". The word "epic" is raised to the word "reality"; it means a story about what once happened, happened, what was believed in the reality. The word "epic" as a term denoting folk songs with a certain content and a specific art form. The epic is the fruit of fiction and the poetic rise of fantasy. But fiction and fantasy are not a distortion of reality. Epics always contain a deep artistic and life truth. The content of the epic is extremely diverse. Basically - this is the song of the "epic", i.e. narrative nature. The main core of the epic are songs of heroic content. The heroes of these songs are not looking for personal happiness, they perform feats in the name of the interests of the Russian land. The main characters of the Russian epic are warriors. But type heroic epic- not the only one, although the most characteristic of the Russian epic. Along with the heroic, there are epics of a fabulously heroic or purely fabulous character. Such, for example, are epics about Sadko and his stay in the underwater kingdom. Epic narration can also have a social or family character (novelistic epics). Some of these epics can be distinguished in special group ballad songs. It is not always possible to draw a line between epic and ballad songs.

In folklore collections, epics of a heroic, fairy-tale, and short story nature are usually placed side by side. Such an association gives a correct idea of ​​the breadth and scope of Russian epic creativity. Together, all this material makes up a single whole - Russian folk epic. At present, we have a huge amount of epic material, and the epic can be well studied. From the end of the seventeenth century epic stories (“Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber”, “Mikhailo Potyk”, etc.) penetrate the handwritten story and are presented under the title “History”, “Word” or “Tale” as entertaining reading material [9]. Some of these stories are very close to the epic and can be divided into verses, others are the result of complex literary processing under the influence of ancient worldly literature, fairy tales, Russian and Western European adventure novels. Such "histories" were very popular, especially in cities where the original epic in the XVII - XVIII centuries. was little known. The first collection containing epics in the proper sense is the “Collection of Kirsha Danilov”, first published by A.F. Yakubovich in 1804 under the title “Ancient Russian Poems”. It was most likely created in Western Siberia. The manuscript contains 71 songs, notes are given for each text. There are about 25 epics here. Most of the songs were recorded from the voice, the recordings are very accurate, many features of the singers' language are preserved, the texts are of great artistic value. Traditionally, Kirsha Danilov is considered the creator of the collection, but who he is and what his role is in compiling this first collection of epics and historical songs in Russia is unknown. The first collector of epics was Peter Vasilyevich Kireevsky (1808 - 1856). Kireevsky collected songs not only himself, but encouraged his friends and relatives to this work. Among the employees and correspondents of Kireevsky was the poet Yazykov (his main assistant), Pushkin, Gogol, Koltsov, Dal, scientists of that time. Epics were published as part of ten issues of "Songs collected by P.V. Kireevsky (1860 - 1874). The first five issues contain epics and ballads, the second half is devoted mainly to historical songs. The collection contains records of epics made in the Volga region, in some central provinces of Russia, in the North and in the Urals; These records are especially interesting in that many of them were made in places where epics soon disappeared and were no longer recorded. One of the most remarkable collections of epics is a collection published by Pavel Nikolaevich Rybnikov (1832 - 1885). Being exiled to Petrozavodsk, traveling around the province as secretary of the statistical committee, Rybnikov began to write down the epics of the Olonets region. He wrote down about 220 texts of epics. The collection was published under the editorship of Bessonov in four volumes "Songs collected by P.N. Rybnikov" in 1861 - 1867. In addition to epics, this collection contains a number of wedding songs, lamentations, fairy tales, etc. The appearance of Rybnikov's collection was a great event in public and literary life. Together with the Kireevsky collection, it opened up a new field of science. Ten years after the appearance of Rybnikov's collection, Alexander Fedorovich Hilferding went to the same places specifically for the purpose of recording epics. He managed to write down more than 300 texts in two months. Some epics were recorded by him later, from singers who came to St. Petersburg. Collected songs entitled "Onega epics, recorded by Alexander Fedorovich Hilferding in the summer of 1871" were published in one volume. There are 318 texts in total. Songs are arranged by regions, villages and performers. The texts are written down with all possible care and accuracy for the collector. From now on, the arrangement of material by performers entered the practice of publishing epics and fairy tales and is still holding on. The sixties were years of special attention to the poetry of the peasants. During these years, “Russian Folk Tales” by A.N. Afanasyev (1855 - 1864), “Great Russian Tales” by I.A. Khudyakov (1863), “Proverbs of the Russian people” by V.I. Dahl (1861) were published. With the onset of reaction in the 1980s, interest in folk poetry fell for some time. Only in 1901, A.V. Markov published a small collection of "Belomorskie epics". Markov moved to the extreme north and visited the eastern shore of the White Sea. In total, the collection contains 116 epics. The plot, style and form of existence of epics turned out to be significantly different here than in the Onega region. Several new stories have been found. In all respects, Markov's collection significantly expanded the ideas about the epic that were available in science. One of the largest and most significant expeditions was the expedition of A.D. Grigoriev to the Arkhangelsk province, which lasted three years. For three years of collecting work, he recorded 424 texts, which were subsequently published in three volumes under the title "Arkhangelsk epics and historical songs" (1904 - 1910). As a result, Grigoriev's collection became the largest and one of the most interesting in Russian folklore. Recordings are highly accurate. For the first time, the recording of epic tunes on a phonograph was widely used. A note book is included with each volume. A detailed map of the North is attached to the entire publication, indicating the places where the epics were recorded. In 40 - 60 years. 19th century in Altai, the remarkable ethnographer Stepan Ivanovich Gulyaev wrote down epics. Siberian records have great importance, as they often retain a more archaic form of plot than in the North, where epics have changed more. Gulyaev recorded up to 50 epics and other epic songs. His entire collection was published only in Soviet time. During the summer months of 1908 - 1909. brothers Boris and Yuri Sokolov made a folklore expedition to the Belozersky region of the Novgorod province. It was a well organized scientific expedition. Its purpose was to cover the entire folklore of the given region with records. Fairy tale and song turned out to be the predominant genres, but epics were also unexpectedly found. 28 texts were recorded. Epics were collected not only in the North, in Siberia and the Volga region. Their existence in the XIX - XX centuries. was found in the places of Cossack settlements - on the Don, on the Terek, among the Astrakhan, Ural, Orenburg Cossacks.

The largest collector of Don Cossack songs was A.M. Listopadov, who devoted fifty years of his life to this work (starting from 1892 - 1894). As a result of repeated trips to the Cossack villages, Listopadov wrote down great amount songs, including - more than 60 epics; his notes give an exhaustive idea of ​​the Don epic in its form in which it was preserved by the beginning of the 20th century. The value of Listopadov's materials is especially enhanced by the fact that not only texts, but also tunes are recorded.

As a result of the collecting work, it became possible to determine the features of the content and form of the Cossack epic, its plot structure, the manner of execution, to present the fate of the Russian epic in the Cossack regions. The merit of Russian scientists in the field of collecting epics is extremely great. Through their labors, one of the best assets of Russian history was saved from oblivion. national culture. The work of collecting epics was entirely carried out by individual enthusiasts who, sometimes overcoming various and very difficult obstacles, selflessly worked on recording and publishing monuments of folk poetry.

After the October Revolution, the work of collecting epics took on a different character. Now it is beginning to be carried out systematically and systematically by the forces of research institutions. In 1926-1928. State Academy art sciences in Moscow, she equipped an expedition under the slogan "In the footsteps of Rybnikov and Hilferding." The epics of the Onega region belong to the best, and the Onega region - to the richest in the epic tradition. As a result of planned and systematic work, 376 texts were recorded, many of them in excellent preservation.

Long-term and systematic work was carried out by Leningrad scientific institutions. In 1926 -1929. The State Institute of Art History equipped complex art history expeditions to the North, which included folklorists. In 1931 - 1933 work on the creation of folklore was carried out by the folklore commission of the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences in Petrozavodsk. A total of 224 texts were published in the collection. The edition is high scientific level. For each of the epics, salts are given for all variants known in science. In subsequent years, expeditions were also organized to study the epic genre. Intensive and fruitful was the collecting work of Russian scientists both in pre-revolutionary and Soviet times. Much is stored in the archives and is still waiting for its publication. The number of published epics can be determined at approximately 2500 song units.

The concept of epics was also considered by V. V. Shuklin.

Epics and myths, the ancient epic genre of epics (Northern Russian people called them old men) took shape in the 10th century. The word epic, i.e. "reality". "act". Occurs in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. Its author begins his song "according to the epics of this time, and not according to Boyan's reflection." The appearance of epics under Prince Vladimir is not accidental. His warriors performed their feats not in distant campaigns, but in the fight against nomads, i.e. in plain sight, so they became available for epic chanting.

More Anikin V.P. said that among the oral works there are those by which, first of all, the significance of folklore in folk life is judged. For the Russian people, these are epics. Only fairy tales and songs stand side by side with them, but if we remember that ballads were both said and sung at the same time, then their predominance over other types of folklore becomes clear. Epics differ from songs by their solemnity, and from fairy tales by the grandiosity of the plot action. Bylina is both a story and a stately song speech. The combination of such properties became possible because epics arose in ancient times, when storytelling and singing were not yet separated as decisively as it happened later. Singing gave solemnity to storytelling, and storytelling to singing - a resemblance to the intonations of human speech. The solemnity of the tone corresponded to the glorification in the epics of a heroic deed, and the singing put the story into measured lines so that not a single detail would disappear from people's memory. Such is the epic, the song story.

It is also worth noting one of the genres of folklore "legends" about which Zueva T.V. and Kirdant B.P. spoke.

Legends are prose works in which fantastic comprehension of events associated with the phenomena of inanimate nature, with the world of plants, animals, as well as people (planet, people, individuals); co supernatural beings(God, saints, angels, unclean spirits). The main functions of legends are explanatory and moralizing. The legends are associated with Christian ideas, but they also have a pagan basis. In legends, a person turns out to be immeasurably higher than evil spirits.

Legends existed both in oral and written form. The term "legend" itself came from medieval writing and translated from Latin means "what should be read".

The following genres can be combined into one whole. Since they have a lot in common, these are proverbs and sayings. Kravtsov N. I. and Lazutin S. G. said that the proverb is a small non-lyrical genre oral art; a form of saying that has entered into speech circulation, fits into one grammatically and logically complete sentence, often rhythmized and supported by rhyme. It is characterized by extreme brevity and simplicity.

Sayings are closely related to proverbs. Like proverbs, sayings belong to small genres of folklore. In most cases, they are even shorter than proverbs. Like proverbs, sayings are not specially performed (they are not sung or told), but are used in live colloquial speech. At the same time, sayings differ significantly from proverbs both in terms of the nature of the content, and in form, and in terms of the functions performed in speech.

The collection and study of proverbs went simultaneously with the collection and study of proverbs. N. P. Kolpakova, M. Ya. Melts and G. G. Shapovalova believed that the term "proverb" began to be used to denote the type of folk poetry only from the end of the 17th century. Earlier proverbs were called "parables". However, the existence of proverbs as special sayings expressing people's judgments in a figurative form can be noted in very remote times. folklore fairy tale epic riddle

Many specific historical events of ancient Rus' found echoes in proverbs. However historical value proverbs not only in this, but mainly in the fact that she retained many historically developed views of the people, for example, ideas about the unity of the army and the people: “The world stands before the army, and the army stands before the world”; about the strength of the community: “The world will stand up for itself”, “The world cannot be pulled over”, etc. . It is impossible not to emphasize the opinion of N. S. Ashukin and M. G. Ashukina. deep respect for work, skill, skill, intelligence, courage, truth, honesty. Many proverbs have been created on these topics: “Without labor you cannot catch a fish from a pond”, “On arable land and brush”, “A craft is not without fishing”, “ Delu-time, fun hour”,“ An unattractive face and a good mind ”,“ Learning is better than wealth ”,“ Truth is more precious than gold ”,“ Poverty and honesty are better than profit and shame. And, on the contrary, the proverb denounces laziness, deceit, drunkenness and other vices: “Laziness does not do good, dine without salt”, “Give him a flaky testicle”, “Spreads like a leaf, but aims to bite” (about duplicity), “Drunk on honey , drunk with tears ", etc. .

IN AND. Dahl also gave his own definition of the proverb. A proverb is a roundabout expression, figurative speech, a simple allegory, a bluff, a way of expression, but without a parable, without judgment, conclusion, application; this is one first half of the proverb.

Another major genre of folklore is the "mystery". The object of the folk riddle is the diverse world of objects and phenomena surrounding a person.

The folk riddle also draws images from the world of everyday objects and phenomena surrounding a person that the worker encountered in the course of his activity.

The usual form of a riddle is a short description or short story. Each riddle includes a hidden question: who is it? What is this? etc. In a number of cases, the riddle is expressed in a dialogic form: “Crookedly crafty, where did you run? - Green, curly, guard you” (fence).

The riddle is characterized by a two-part structure, it always involves a guess.

Many of the riddles have rhyming endings; in some the first part rhymes, while the second part retains the meter. Some riddles are built on the rhyming of words alone; the riddle rhymes with the answer: “What is the matchmaker in the hut?” (grip); "What's in the hut for Samson?" (barrier).

The riddle is still preserved among the people not only as a means of entertainment, but also as a means of education, development of children's ingenuity, resourcefulness. The riddle answers the child's questions: what comes from? what is made of what? what do they do? what is good for what?

The systematic collection of Russian folk riddles began only in the second half of the 19th century. By the 17th century include only records made by amateur collectors.

Proverbs and sayings

The collection and publication of proverbs began as early as the 17th century. However, in the oldest collections, along with folk proverbs, proverbs of book origin were also included. Folk proverbs, hostile to religion and authorities, were rejected by the compilers. The most democratic tendencies in the selection and publication of folk proverbs were manifested in N. Kurganov's Letter Book (1769), where the compiler included 908 proverbs.

In 1848, I. M. Snegirev published Russian Folk Proverbs and Parables. Genuine folk proverbs prevailed in his collection. Following Snegirev, in 1854. F. I. Buslaev published proverbs. In a special article "Russian Life and Proverbs" he commented on them from the point of view of mythological theory. In 1861 V. I. Dahl’s great work “Proverbs of the Russian people” was published, which included about 30,000 proverbs, sayings and other small genres of folk poetry. The most important collections of proverbs of the second half of XIX V. and the beginning of the 20th century. there were collections: “Winged words” by S. V. Maksimov (1890), “Accurate and walking words” by M. I. Mikhelson (1894), “The life of the Russian people in its proverbs and sayings” by I. I. Illustrov (1915). Kravtsov N. I., Lazutin S. G. They believed that both proverbs and sayings and riddles belong to small (aphoristic) genres of folklore.

Riddles have much in common with proverbs and sayings in content and in art form. However, they also have specific features and represent an independent genre of folklore.

The term "mystery" is of ancient origin. IN Old Russian the word "guess" meant "think", "think". This is where the word "mystery" comes from. In a riddle, a subject description of some phenomenon is given, the recognition of which requires considerable thought. Most often, riddles are allegorical in nature. Anikin V.P. said that the riddle emphasizes the variety of forms, the brightness of the colors of the world around the peasant: “Red, round, oblong leaves” (rowan). Some riddles create a sound image: “I listen, I will listen: sigh after sigh, but not a soul in the hut,” says the riddle about the dough, which makes a sound like a sigh during fermentation. Especially often, sound images arose in riddles about peasant work.

The world around a person is presented in a riddle in constant motion: “Grayish, toothy, prowling around the field, looking for calves, looking for guys” (wolf); “The little, hunchbacked one crossed the whole field, read all the pens” (reap); “Five lambs eat up a stack, five lambs run away” (hands and tows).

I would like to say a little about “tradition.” Folklorists have not yet given a sufficient, satisfactory and substantiated definition of legends. It is not uncommon for scientific literature to confuse traditions and legends, although this various genres. This is due to the proximity, as well as the presence of transitional forms, some of which are closer to legends, while others are closer to legends.

Traditions are popularly called "byly" and "byly". They have historical themes. The legends are close to historical songs, but they have a prose form, not a poetic one.

Legends - epic, i.e. narrative genre. The collection of Russian folk traditions was not carried out systematically.

It is also impossible to miss such a genre of folklore as "chastushki". Zueva T.V. and Kirdant B.P. emphasize that the most developed genre of late traditional folklore is ditties.

Chastushki are short rhymed lyrical songs that were created and performed as a lively response to various life phenomena, expressing a clear positive or negative assessment. In many ditties there is a joke or irony. The earliest ditties had six lines. The main type - four-line - was formed in the second half of the 19th century, it was performed to the dance and without it. Four-line ditties are also proper dance ditties, which are performed only to the dance (for example, to the quadrille).

In addition, there are two-line ditties: “suffering” and “Semenovna”.

Chastushkas have varied, but repetitive, steady tunes, both drawn out and fast. The performance of many texts on one tune is characteristic. In living life, ditties are sometimes characterized by recitativity.

Chastushki finally took shape in the last quarter of the 19th century. Simultaneously in different parts of Russia: in the center, middle and lower Volga region, in the northern, eastern and southern provinces.

Chastushki is the main genre of peasant lyrics in later traditional folklore. And finally, I would like to consider a few more genres of folklore, these are all varieties of “songs”. Which are described in detail by S.V. Alpatov, V.P. Anikin, T.B. Dianova, A.A. Ivanova, A.V. Kulagin. The definition of the genre and the issue of limiting the term "historical song". The difference between a historical song and an epic. Continuity links between historical songs and epics. Historical song as a stage of development epic creativity. Principles of selective interested depiction of events and persons in historical songs. Historical song as a work relevant for its time and the question of the subsequent transformation of its meaning and images. Early samples of historical songs: a song about Avdotya Ryazanochka, about the murder of Shchelkan Dudentevich, Polonyanka (“Mother meets her daughter in Tatar captivity”, etc.). Differences in style of early historical songs and the question of later changes in them. A cycle of songs about Ivan the Terrible and the events of his reign (“The Capture of Kazan”, “Temryuk-Mastryuk”, “Ivan the Terrible's Wrath at his Son”, “Raid Crimean Khan”, etc.), about Yermak (“Ermak in the Cossack circle”, etc.), about the Time of Troubles (“Grishka Otrepiev”, “Lament of Ksenia Godunova”, “Skopin-Shuisky”, “Minin and Pozharsky”), etc. People's view of historical figures and understanding of the meaning of their activities. Cossack historical songs about Stepan Razin (“Razin and the Cossack circle.” “Razin's Campaign to Yaik”, “Sonny”, “Razin near Astrakhan”, “Song of Razin”. “Esaul reports the execution of Razin”). Poetization of Razin as the leader of the Cossack freemen. Condemnation of Razin by the Cossack circle. The lyrical beginning as a factor transforming the epic narrative. Special lyrical-epic song structure. Historical songs about Peter the Great and the events of his reign (“The Tsar judges the archers.” “On the beginning of the Northern War”, “Well done is going to Poltava”, “Tsar Peter on the ship”, etc.). Historical songs about the events of the Patriotic War of 1812 (“Napoleon writes a letter to Alexander”, “Kutuzov calls to defeat the French”, “Napoleon in Moscow”, “Cossack Platov”, etc.). Question about songwriters. Reflection in songs of thoughts and feelings of soldiers. The idea of ​​defending the fatherland. New themes in the soldiers' and Cossacks' historical songs in comparison with the songs of other cycles. Types of characters in historical songs: folk hero, king, commander. The image of the people. Poetics and style of historical songs. Genre varieties: epic songs (with a detailed plot, one-episode songs), lyrical-epic songs. Collections of historical songs of the XIII - XIX centuries. four books published in the series “Monuments of Russian Folklore”, Institute of Russian Literature Ak. Sciences, 19601973 . Ballad songs. The term "ballad" and its history (Provencal dance songs of the 11th-17th centuries; Anglo-Scottish ballads; literary romantic ballads). Folk Russian names of ballad songs: “verse”, “song”. Definition of the genre, its features. The most important properties of ballad songs: epic, family themes, psychological drama, the art of the tragic. Origin of ballad songs. The question of the time of their occurrence is debatable: a look at the appearance of ballads in the era of decomposition of ancient syncretism (A. N. Veselovsky), in the early period of written history (N. P. Andreev), in the Middle Ages (V. M. Zhirmunsky, D. M. Balashov, B. N. Putilov, V. P. Anikin). Ballad songs about the Tatar (later Turkish) captivity: “The girl was taken prisoner by the Tatars”, “The Russian girl in the captivity of the Tatars”, “The red girl runs from the captivity”, “Rescue of the Polonyanka”, “Prince Roman and Marya Yurievna”, “Two slaves ”, “Escape of slaves from captivity”. Later adaptations of ballads about polonyanka: “Young khancha”, “Pan brings a Russian polonyanka to his wife”. Plots of ballad songs of the 14th-16th centuries: “Vasily and Sophia”, “Dmitry and Domna”, “Ryabinka”, “Prince Mikhailo”, “Widow's Children”, etc. Love ballads: “Dmitry and Domna”, “Cossack and tavern”, “Kidnapping of a girl”, “Girl defends her honor”, ​​“Nun drowns a child”. Family-everyday ballads: “Prince Roman lost his wife”, “Husband ruined his wife”, “Ryabinka”; “Fyodor Kolyshatoy”, “Alyosha and the sister of two brothers”, “Brother, sister and lover”, “Poisoning sister”, “Daughter of the thousandth”, “Forcible tonsure”. The theme of incest: “The hunter and his sister”, “Brother married his sister”, “Ivan Dorodorovich and Sofya-tsarevna” and others. and sister”, “Robber's wife”, etc. The crisis of the traditional ballad genre. Appearance at the end of the eighteenth early nineteenth V. new ballads. Ballads: about social inequality: “Well done and the princess”, “Prince Volkonsky and Vanya the key-keeper”, “Princess and the lackey”, “A girl dies from the love of the voivodship son”; about poverty and grief: “Woe”, “Well done and grief”, “Well done and the Smorodina River”, etc. Features of the composition and plot of ballads: an open course of action, a predicted fatal outcome, tragic recognition. The role of monologues and dialogues. Drama. Single conflict. The dynamics of the development of action. Characteristics of the characters: the destroyer, the victim. Fantastic motives: metamorphosis, werewolf, talking animals and birds, magical (living and dead water as a means of healing). Art psychological image. Poetic language, allegory. Connections of ballads with epics, historical songs, spiritual poems, lyrical songs). New ballads, their connections with the old ones (plot-thematic commonality and differences). History of collecting ballads. Collection of N. P. Andreev and V. I. Chernyshev, collection of D. M. Balashov.

Lyric songs. Determination of the genre features of non-ritual songs as a type of folk lyrics: their freedom from ritual, relative untimedness at the time of performance, the predominance of poetic functions over pragmatic ones, the use of a kind of metaphorical and symbolic language for versatile life content and disclosure of the inner world of man. The possibility of the inclusion of lyrical non-ritual songs into the composition of rituals and labor cycles and the diversity of folk terminology explained by this. genetic connection non-ritual songs with ritual lyrics (incantations, exaltations, lamentations, game songs) and ballads. Continuity and processing of artistic traditions in the process of style formation. Problems of classification of non-ritual lyrical songs. A variety of systematization principles: by subject (love, family, recruiting, remote), by the social environment of creation and existence (soldiers, barges, coachmen, Cossacks, etc.), by the predominant composition of performers (male and female), by forms of melody and intrasyllabic chanting (frequent and lingering), in connection with the movement (stepping, marching, dancing), according to the emotional dominant (comic, satirical). The combination of several principles in the creation of scientific classifications (V. Ya. Propp, N. P. Kolpakova, T. M. Akimova, V. I. Eremina). The system of artistic images of non-ritual lyrics. The variety of folk characters and social types in the songs, the image of versatile relationships between people. Images of nature, life, social phenomena. The place of conditionally generalized images of love, longing, grief, will, separation, death and others in the artistic system of folk lyrics. Characteristic features of the connection of diverse images in the creation of symbolic paintings that form the subject-content basis of non-ritual songs. Techniques for depicting characters: idealization, humor, satire. Features of the composition of non-ritual songs. Their structure by belonging to the lyrical family. Figurative-symbolic parallelism and its forms (A. N. Veselovsky), the method of stepwise narrowing of images (B. M. Sokolov), the principle of chain-associative connection (S. G. Lazutin), the juxtaposition of autonomous thematic-style formulas (G. I. . Maltsev). N. P. Kolpakova, N. I. Kravtsov about the main types and forms of composition. Poetic language of non-ritual lyrics: functions constant epithets, comparisons, metaphors, antitheses. Stereotypical stable verbal complexes in songs. The peculiarity of the rhythmic-syntactic structure of the folk song verse (the system of repetitions, syllabic breaks, intra-syllable chants, stanza, meter). The use of lexical and phonetic expressiveness of oral speech in lyrics. Collection of folk songs. Activities of P. V. Kireevsky. Folk lyrics as part of the collection of P. V. Shein, a collection of folk songs by A. I. Sobolevsky “Great Russian Folk Songs”. Types of editions of songs of local traditions.

Spiritual verses. The definition of spiritual poetry as a complex of epic, lyrical-epic and lyrical works, the unifying beginning of which is the concept of "spiritual", religious-Christian, opposed to worldly, secular. Folk names of the genre: “poems”, “old times”, “psalms”, “kants”. Origins of Spiritual Poems and Sources: Books Holy Scripture(Old and New Testament), Christian canonical and apocryphal literature, which penetrated Rus' after Baptism from the end of the 10th century. (lives, biblical stories, moralizing stories, etc.), church sermons and liturgy. Senior spiritual verses (epic) and junior (lyric). The creators and performers of spiritual verses Kaliki (cripples) are passers-by, pilgrims to holy places. Folk rethinking of biblical and gospel themes, lives, apocrypha. “Spiritual verses are the result of the people's aesthetic assimilation of the ideas of Christian dogma” (F. M. Selivanov). The main idea of ​​spiritual verses: assertion of the superiority of the spiritual over the material, bodily, glorification of asceticism, martyrdom for the faith, denunciation of sinfulness, non-observance of God's commandments. Reflection in the older spiritual verses of cosmogonic ideas. Main themes and plots: poems about the universe (“Pigeon Book”); on biblical Old Testament stories (“Osip the Beautiful”, “Lament of Adam”); gospel (“Nativity of Christ”, “Massacre of the Innocents”, “Dream of the Virgin”, “Crucifixion of Christ”, “Ascension”); about snake-fighting heroes (“Fyodor Tiron”, “Egoriy and the Serpent”), martyrs (“Egoriy and Demyanishche”, “Kirik and Ulita”, “Galaktion and Epistimia”, “On the Great Martyr Barbara”), ascetics (“Josaf and Varlaam ”, “Alexei is a man of God”); miracle workers (“Mykola”, “Dmitry of Thessalonica”); the righteous and sinners (“Two Lazarus”, “About Mary of Egypt”, “About the Prodigal Son”, “Anika the Warrior); about the end of the world and the Last Judgment (“Mikhailo the archangel the terrible judge”, “Archangels Mikhailo and Gabriel - carriers across the fiery river”). echoes pagan beliefs in poems about mother damp earth(“Cry of the earth”, “Unforgivable sin”, “Rite of farewell to the earth before confession”). Edifying verses about worldly temptations and salvation in the wilderness, the need for repentance (“Friday and the Hermit”, “A Poem about Laziness”, “Basil of Caesarea”). Poems based on plots from ancient Russian history (“Boris and Gleb”, “Alexander Nevsky”, “Mikhail and Fedor of Chernigov”, “Dmitry Donskoy”). Younger spiritual verses (psalms, cants) on themes from the Old Believer history (XVIIХ1Х centuries): “About Nikon”, “A Verse about the Antichrist”, “Mount Athos” and songs of sectarian mystics (eunuchs, whips). Poetics. General folklore properties of spiritual poems, allowing them to be correlated with epics, ballads, historical and lyrical songs. The influence of literary Christian style, the widespread use of Church Slavonicisms. Spatio-temporal characteristics of the artistic world of spiritual poetry. The specifics of the miraculous, connected in them with Christ and the saints (healing of the sick, invulnerability under torture, resurrection from the dead, etc.). Composition (a chain of episodes of an event or character's life). Monologue verses (“Lament of Joseph the Beautiful”), the role of dialogues (“Dream of the Virgin”). Poetic language (epithets, parallelisms, comparisons). The image of the earth after the Last Judgment. Description of the parting of the soul with the body, crossing the fiery river, etc. The history of the gathering (P. V. Kireevsky, V. G. Varentsov, T. S. Rozhdestvensky and M. I. Uspensky). The study of spiritual verses. Mythological direction (F. I. Buslaev, A. N. Afanasiev, O. F. Miller); cultural and historical direction (research by A. N. Veselovsky, A. I. Kirpichnikov, V. P. Adrianova); historical and domestic (“Materials on the history of the study of Russian sectarianism and schism (Old Believers)”, edited by V. D. Bonch-Bruevich (St. Petersburg, 1908-1911), four issues). Resumption of research in the early 70s of the twentieth century. : articles by Yu. A. Novikov, S. E. Nikitina, F. M. Selivanov and others.