Features of Old Russian. General characteristics of Old Russian literature

Introduction

Currently, the term "rhetoric" is used in a narrow and broad sense. Rhetoric (in narrow sense) is the designation of a philological discipline that studies the theory of eloquence, ways of constructing expressive speech in all areas of speech activity (primarily in various oral and written genres). rhetoric (in broad sense) is called neo-rhetoric or general rhetoric. Its rapid and productive development was caused by the emergence of new linguistic sciences - text linguistics, semiotics, hermeneutics, the theory of speech activity, and psycholinguistics. Neo-rhetoric is looking for ways practical application these disciplines, developed at the intersection of linguistics, literary theory, logic, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, psychology.

The purpose of the work is to master the culture business speech and communication, the development of their own style of service relationships, the formation of an image.

For a management specialist, a businessman, achieving this goal means gaining essential component professional activity.

Thus, speech, the ability to communicate, etiquette are the main "tools" for creating an image. business man, i.e. self-presentation, constructing one's image for others. A noble image guarantees a leader, an entrepreneur, half the success and constant job satisfaction. We must not forget that harmonious communication is always based on the awareness of the importance for being and the observance of ethical standards, such as tact, delicacy, respect for the honor and dignity of the individual, justice. Intelligence as a quality internal culture- a tolerant attitude towards the world and towards people - is invariably reflected in external behavior, manifested in charm.

Features of the official business style

Modern official business style is a functional variety of Russian literary language used in the field of public relations. Business speech serves as a means of communication between states, the state with an individual and society as a whole; a means of communication between enterprises, institutions, organizations; a means of official communication between people in production and in the service sector.

The official business style refers to the book-written styles of the literary language. It is implemented in the texts of laws, orders, decrees, orders, contracts, acts, certificates, certificates, powers of attorney, in business correspondence of institutions. The oral form of official business speech is represented by a speech and report at meetings and conferences, judicial speech, official telephone conversation, and oral order.

The general extralinguistic and proper linguistic features of this style include the following:

1) accuracy, detail of presentation;

2) standardization of presentation;

3) the obligatory prescriptive nature of the presentation.

Indeed, the language of laws requires, above all, accuracy, which does not allow any discrepancies; the speed of understanding is not important, since the interested person, if necessary, will read the article of the law two or three times, striving to full understanding. The standardization of the presentation is manifested in the fact that the heterogeneous phenomena of life in business style fit into a limited number of standard shapes.

Business speech is impersonal, stereotyped, it lacks an emotional beginning.

A specific property of business speech is the expression of will. Voluntaryness in texts is expressed semantically (selection of words) and grammatically. So, in management documentation, we constantly meet with the forms of the first person of the verb (I ask, offer, order, congratulate), with modal forms, must (should, must, should, proposed).

Depending on the scope of business speech and stylistic originality of the corresponding texts, three substyles are usually distinguished within the OD:

1) diplomatic (types of documents: international treaties, agreements, conventions, memorandums, notes, communiques, etc.; oral forms are practically not used);

2) legislative (types of documents, such as laws, decrees, civil, criminal and other acts of state significance; the main oral form is judicial speech);

3) managerial (types of documents: charters, contracts, orders, instructions, statements, characteristics, powers of attorney, receipts, etc.; oral forms - report, speech, official phone conversation, verbal order).

Diplomatic style. This type of OD style serves the field of international relations. The scope of documenting the diplomatic substyle is law and in more than in other sub-styles. - politics, as it is connected with the implementation of the international policy of the state.

Legislative framework. Juristic documents are distinguished by greater stylistic and linguistic homogeneity than documents of other sub-styles. The extensive use of legal terminology can be noted in these texts.

The legislative substyle uses abstract vocabulary and there is practically no expressive-emotional language tools, evaluative vocabulary. Estimated words of this kind, such as a parasite, a criminal acquire a terminological meaning in legal texts. There are many antonyms here, since legislative speech reflects opposing interests, contrasts and compares the concepts: rights and obligations, work and leisure, personal and public, plaintiff and defendant, crime and punishment, marriage registration and divorce, adoption of a child and deprivation of parental rights, voluntarily and forcibly, withhold and accrue.

The language of laws had a great influence on the formation of the entire official business style; it has always been the basis of business speech. Of course, the language of laws should be a model for the language of management documentation. But the managerial substyle, like the diplomatic one, has its own norms and linguistic diversity, due to the content and composition of documents.

Management style. The scope of the managerial substyle is a variety of administrative, departmental, industrial relations. The types of documents of the administrative substyle differ most from each other in compositional, stylistic and linguistic terms.

In the texts of the managerial substyle, along with neutral and bookish vocabulary, words and set phrases with the coloring of the official business style (the undersigned, the proper, the following, housing tax, lump sum, notify).

The managerial substyle has its own administrative and managerial terminology, for example: the name of institutions, positions, types of official documents. Due to the fact that this substyle serves different areas public and production activities, the most diverse terminology is used in the texts of the substyle. It is not recommended to use synonyms in official texts, replacing the direct names of objects and actions with them. Unlike the legislative sub-style, there are few antonyms here. The texts of the managerial substyle often use abbreviations, compound words, various means codification.

Only in the texts of the managerial sub-style are used forms of the verb in the 1st person, sometimes personal pronouns. This is due to concretization, with an exact indication of the author of the text. In the managerial style, verbs in the imperative mood are not used and relatively rarely - constructions with the words must, must. The meaning of obligation is softened in the texts by the use of such phrases as oblige, oblige, impose an obligation.

"Separate observations on the artistic specifics of ancient Russian literature were already in the works of F.I. Buslaev, I.S. Nekrasov, I.S. Tikhonravov, V.O. Klyuchevsky." Likhachev D.S. Poetics of ancient Russian literature, M., 1979, p. 5.

But only at the end of the 20th century did works appear that set out the general views of their authors on artistic specificity and on the artistic methods of ancient Russian literature. "These views can be traced in the works of I.P. Eremin, V.P. Andrianova-Peretz, D.S. Likhachev, S.N. Azbelev." Kuskov V.V. History of Old Russian Literature, M., 1989, p. 9.

D.S. Likhachev put forward a thesis about the diversity of artistic methods not only in all ancient Russian literature, but in this or that author, in this or that work.

"Any artistic method," the researcher distinguishes, "comprises a whole system of large and small means to achieve certain artistic goals. Therefore, each artistic method has many features, and these features are in a certain way correlated with each other." Likhachev D.S. To the study of artistic methods of Russian literature of the XI-XVII centuries // TODRL, M., L., 1964, v. 20, p.7.

The worldview of a medieval person absorbed, on the one hand, speculative religious ideas about the human world, and on the other hand, a specific vision of reality that followed from the labor practice of a person in a feudal society.

In his daily activities, a person is faced with reality: nature, social, economic and political relations. The world around man christian religion considered temporary, transient and sharply opposed to the eternal, imperishable world. The beginnings of the temporal and eternal are contained in man himself: his mortal body and immortal soul, the result of divine revelation allows man to penetrate the secrets of the ideal world. The soul gives life to the body, spiritualizes it. The body is the source of carnal passions and the illnesses and sufferings resulting from them.

A person cognizes reality with the help of five senses - this is the lowest form sensory knowledge "visible world". The "invisible" world is comprehended through reflection. Only inner spiritual insight as a doubling of the world largely determined the specifics artistic method ancient Russian literature, its leading principle - symbolism. medieval man was convinced that symbols are hidden in nature and man himself, symbolic meaning filled with historical events. The symbol served as a means of revealing the meaning, finding the truth. As the signs of the visible world surrounding a person are ambiguous, so is the word: it can be interpreted both in direct and figurative meanings.

religious christian symbolism conscious ancient Russian man closely intertwined with folk poetry. Both had a common source - surrounding a person nature. And if the labor agricultural practice of the people gave earthly concreteness to this symbolism, then Christianity introduced elements of abstractness.

A characteristic feature of medieval thinking was retrospectiveness and traditionalism. Thus, the ancient Russian writer constantly refers to the texts of "scripture", which he interprets not only historically, but also allegorically, tropologically and analogously.

The Old Russian writer creates his work within the framework of an established tradition: he looks at patterns, canons, does not allow "self-thinking", i.e. fiction. His task is to convey the "image of truth." The medieval historicism of Old Russian literature is subordinated to this goal. All events occurring in the life of a person and society are considered as a manifestation of the divine will.

History is a constant arena of the struggle between good and evil. The source of good, good thoughts and deeds is God. The devil pushes people to evil. But ancient Russian literature does not remove responsibility from the person himself. He is free to choose either thorny path virtue, or the spacious road of sin. In the mind of the ancient Russian writer, the categories of ethical and aesthetic organically merged. The Old Russian writer usually builds his works on the contrast of good and evil, virtues and vices, ideal and bad guys. He shows that high moral qualities human - the result hard work, moral feat.

On character medieval literature imposes a seal of domination class - corporate beginning. The heroes of her works, as a rule, are princes, rulers, generals or church hierarchies, "saints", famous for their exploits of piety. The behavior and actions of these heroes are determined by their social position.

Thus, symbolism, historicism, ritualism or etiquette and didacticism are the leading principles of the artistic method of ancient Russian literature, which incorporates two sides: strict factuality and the ideal transformation of reality.

Ancient literature is filled with deep patriotic content, heroic pathos of service to the Russian land, state, and homeland.
The main theme of ancient Russian literature is world history and the meaning of human life.
Ancient literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian man, who is capable of sacrificing the most precious thing for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses a deep belief in strength, the ultimate triumph of good, and the ability of man to elevate his spirit and conquer evil.
A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is historicism. Heroes are predominantly historical figures. The literature strictly follows the fact.
feature artistic creativity ancient Russian writer is the so-called "literary etiquette". This is a special literary and aesthetic regulation, the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules, to establish once and for all what should be depicted and how.
Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing and is based on the book Christian culture and developed forms of oral poetry. At this time, literature and folklore were closely connected. Literature has often taken stories artistic images, figurative means folk art.
The originality of ancient Russian literature in the image of the hero depends on the style and genre of the work. In relation to styles and genres, it is reproduced in monuments ancient literature hero, ideals are formed and created.
In ancient Russian literature, a system of genres was defined, within which the development of original Russian literature began. The main thing in their definition was the "use" of the genre, the "practical purpose" for which this or that work was intended.
The traditions of ancient Russian literature are found in the work of Russian writers of the 18th-20th centuries.

CONTROL QUESTIONS AND TASKS

As academician D.S. Likhachev ancient Russian literature? Why does he call it “one grandiose whole, one colossal work”?
To what does Likhachev compare ancient literature, and why?
What are the main virtues of ancient literature?
Why without the works of ancient literature would be impossible artistic discoveries literature of later centuries? (Think about what qualities of ancient literature were assimilated by Russian literature of modern times. Give examples from the works of Russian classics known to you.)
What did Russian poets and prose writers appreciate and what did they perceive from ancient literature? What did A.S. write about her? Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, A.I. Herzen, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, D.N. Mom-Siberian?
What does ancient literature say about the benefits of books? Give examples of "praise to books" known in ancient Russian literature.
Why were there high ideas about the power of the word in ancient literature? What were they connected with, what did they rely on?
What is said about the word in the Gospel?
What do writers compare books to and why? Why are books rivers, sources of wisdom, and what do the words mean: “If you diligently seek wisdom in books, you will find great benefit for your soul”?
Name the monuments of ancient Russian literature known to you and the names of their scribes.
Tell us about the way of writing and the nature of ancient manuscripts.
name historical background the emergence of ancient Russian literature and its specific features in contrast to the literature of modern times.
What is the role of folklore in the formation of ancient literature?
Using vocabulary and reference material, briefly retell the history of the study of ancient monuments, write down the names of scientists involved in their study, and the stages of study.
What is the image of the world and man in the view of Russian scribes?
Tell us about the image of a person in ancient Russian literature.
Name the topics of ancient literature, using vocabulary and reference material, describe its genres.
List the main stages in the development of ancient literature.

Read also the articles in the section " national identity ancient literature, its origin and development.

Old Russian literature... How can it be of interest to us, people of the 21st century? First of all, keeping historical memory. It is also the source of all our spiritual life. Our written culture has its roots in literature. Ancient Rus'. Much in modern life becomes clear if there is a historical retrospective. At the same time, a number of efforts must be made to understand what they believed in, what they dreamed about, what our distant ancestors wanted to do.
It is advisable to start a conversation with students with a description of the era.
Ancient Rus'… How do we imagine it? What is the peculiarity of the perception of man and the world of a certain era? What is the difficulty in understanding it? First of all, the reader, researcher or teacher faces the problem of adequate understanding of the era itself, and since the era is shown through the prism literary work, then it is a problem of reading and interpretation. This task becomes especially complicated if the time in question is several centuries away from the reader. Other times, other customs, other concepts... What should the reader do in order to understand the people of a distant time? Try to figure out the intricacies of this time period yourself.
What is the world of medieval man? To answer this question, it is necessary to deviate somewhat from the interpretation Medieval Rus' given in the Soviet period. The fact is that the starting point of Soviet science was the pre-revolutionary book by P.N. Accordingly, in many works of Soviet researchers, the Middle Ages are presented as a time where senseless barbarian customs and mores reigned, and the domination of the church was perceived as evil.
Currently, a new direction in science is being developed - historical anthropology. In the center of her attention is a person with his inner world and the totality of the relationship of a person with the surrounding space, natural, public, domestic. Thus, the image of the world is revealed both as a microcosm (through the person of a given era himself) and as a macrocosm (through social and state relations). The teacher bears a great responsibility for the formation in the mind of the student of the image of the world of the Middle Ages. If the space of the past is distorted, then the space of the present is thereby distorted. Moreover, the historical past becomes an arena of ideological battles, where there is a distortion of facts, and juggling, and "fantastic reconstruction" that is so fashionable at the present time. That is why the position of the teacher in the process of teaching Old Russian literature is so important.
What should the reader pay attention to in order to understand the world of medieval Russian people, to learn to respect the significance and self-understanding of this world? It is important to understand that the meaning of some words and concepts for a person of the X-XV centuries is different than for Human XXI century. Accordingly, in the light of these meanings, some actions can be considered and evaluated quite differently. So, one of the basic concepts of the Middle Ages is the concept of truth. For a modern person, truth is “a sphere of deep feelings, artistic reflections, eternal scientific research. Medieval man was different in that his mood was different: the truth for him was already open and defined in the texts of Holy Scripture.
In addition to the concept of "truth", it is important to reveal the ancient meanings of the words "truth" and "faith". Under the "truth" in ancient Rus' was meant the Word of God. "Faith" is the Word of God in the flesh. This is the truth given in God's commandments, apostolic and sacred canons. In a narrower sense, "faith" is the ritual side of religion. Trying to translate this concept into modern language Let's say that "truth" is an idea, and "faith" is a technology for bringing this idea to life.
The task of the teacher is especially difficult, when he has to immerse himself not only in the past, which in itself is fraught with the danger of misunderstanding, but in another spiritual world, the world of the Church, where the opposite perspective is characteristic: the distant faces are larger than the near ones. The most important thing that a teacher should remember is the covenant handed down to us from the depths of the Middle Ages: “Let it not be merciful to lie against a saint!”
The images of the saints excited and excite now. However modern man it is difficult to understand the full depth of the deeds of these people. We must make efforts, devote time to this, and then the world of Russian holiness will appear before us.
Old Russian literature differs in many respects from modern literature. It contains a number of specific features, which determine its dissimilarity with the literature of our days:
1) historicism of the content;
2) syncretism;
3) voluntariness and didacticity;
4) etiquette of forms;
5) anonymity;
6) the handwritten nature of the narrative and existence.
In Ancient Rus', fiction was attributed to diabolical instigation, therefore only those events that actually happened and were known to the author were depicted. The historicism of the content is manifested in the fact that there were no fictional heroes, no events. All persons, all events referred to in the narrative are real, authentic, or the author believes in their authenticity.
Anonymity is inherent primarily in chronicles, lives, military stories. The author proceeded from the idea that it is immodest to put your signature when you talk about historical events or talk about the life, deeds and miracles of a saint. As for sermons, teachings, prayers, they most often have specific authors, because a very authoritative person, respected and revered by others, could pronounce or write them. The very genre of preaching and teaching made special demands on the author. His name, his righteous life influenced the listener and the reader.
In the Middle Ages, great importance was attached to the form of relations between people, scrupulous adherence to tradition, observance of ritual, detailed etiquette. Therefore, literary etiquette was predetermined by the world order and rigid limits of behavior. Literary etiquette presupposed how the course of events should have taken place, how actor what words to describe what happened. And if the behavior of any person did not correspond to the generally accepted norm, then it was or negative character, or it was necessary to remain silent about this fact.
In general, everything written works in ancient Russian literature are voluntarily and didactic. The author writes his works with the idea that he will certainly convince the reader, have an emotional and volitional impact and lead him to the generally accepted norms of morality and morality. This is typical for translated literature, including scientific literature. So "Physiologist", a translated monument, known even to Vladimir Monomakh, introduced real and mythical animals. At the same time, this text is an insistence to readers: “The lion has three properties. When the lioness gives birth, she brings a dead and blind cub, she sits and guards until three days. Three days later, a lion comes, blows into his nostrils and the cub comes to life. The same with faithful peoples. Before baptism they are dead, but after baptism they are cleansed by the holy spirit.” Synthesis of science and religious beliefs combined in one text.
The original written works in Old Russian literature, as a rule, belonged to the genres of the journalistic style. Life, preaching, teaching as a genre predetermined the vector of thought, showed moral standards and taught the rules of conduct. Thus, the works of Metropolitan Hilarion are theological treatises in content, sermons in form. In them, he cares about the prosperity of the Russian people, about their morality and morality. Hilarion has a very definite idea of what the people need, for he became a teacher and shepherd "by the grace of a philanthropic God."
The syncretism of genres is generally characteristic of the era of the emergence of art and literature. It appears in two forms. Firstly, a vivid manifestation of syncretism can be traced in the chronicles. They contain both a military story, and legends, and samples of contracts, and reflections on religious themes. Secondly, syncretism is associated with underdevelopment genre forms. In the Journeys, for example, there are also descriptions of specific geographical and historical sites and preaching and teaching. Elements can be introduced into life military stories. And military stories can end with teachings or religious reflections.
In order to understand the peculiarities of the culture of Ancient Rus', it is also necessary to say about the significance of Byzantine culture and literature for the formation of Old Russian literature. Along with baptism, books came to Rus'. The most famous and revered were the works of the Byzantine theologians John Chrysostom (344-407), Basil the Great (330-379), Gregory the Theologian (320-390), Ephrem the Syrian (died 343). They interpreted the foundations of Christianity, people were instructed in Christian virtues.
Of the translated stories and novels, the most popular was the novel "Alexandria", which tells about the life of Alexander the Great. This novel is about historical events with an entertaining plot, intertwining fictional events and fantastic inserts, with colorful description India and Persia was a favorite work in medieval Europe. The Russian translator dealt with this novel quite freely, he supplemented it with episodes from other sources, adapting it to the tastes of Russian readers. Moreover, he believed that all the events of the novel are genuine, and not fictional.
In addition to these books, Russian people were interested in The Tale of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Josephus Flavius, the story of Basil Digenis Akritus (it was known to ancient Russian readers as the Deed of Devgen), the story of the Trojan deeds, the story of Akira the Wise. Even a simple enumeration gives an understanding of the breadth of interests of the translators of Ancient Rus': they introduce historical events in Jerusalem, admire the exploits of a warrior guarding eastern borders Byzantine Empire, show the history of the Trojan War and tell about the distant past, about the life of the wise adviser to the Assyrian and Nineveh king Sennacherib-Akihara (Akira).
Translators are also interested in works about the natural world. These books included "The Six Days" with information about the Universe, "Physiologist", which described real and imaginary animals, fantastic stones and amazing trees, and "Christian topography of Cosmas Indikoplova", "sailor to India".
Middle Ages by tragic accident appear dark, harsh, and unproductive. It seems that people thought differently, imagined the world differently, that literary works did not correspond to great achievements. Chronicles, teachings, lives and prayers... Will it all be interesting? After all, now other times, other customs. But could there be another view native land? In his prayer, Metropolitan Hilarion asks the Savior to “show meekness and mercy” to the Russian people: “… cast out enemies, establish the world, pacify tongues, quench famines, create our rulers with the threat of tongues, make wise the boyar, spread cities, grow your Church, keep your heritage save husbands and wives with babies who are in slavery, in captivity, in captivity on the way, in swimming, in dungeons, in hunger and thirst and nakedness - have mercy on everyone, grant consolation to everyone, rejoice everyone, giving them joy and bodily, and sincere!
Despite the peculiarities of the vision of the world, the attitude towards God and man, the form of expression of thought remains almost the same for people of the 10th and 21st centuries. We convey thought by the same substances of language. Types of speech and genres exist in time, changing and adapting to a particular era in content rather than in form.
Genre is the primary speech form of the existence of a language. If speech genres did not exist, then they would have to be created anew at the moment of speech. This would impede communication, impede the transfer of information. Each time creating a genre for the first time, and not using its form, would be very difficult. M.M. Bakhtin in the book "Aesthetics verbal creativity» determined the following criteria speech genre: subject content, stylistic decision and speech will of the speaker. All these moments are interconnected and determine the specifics of the genre. However, the genre is not only a speech statement, but at the same time a historically formed type of literary work, which has the features distinctive features and laws.
The genre is determined not only by the laws of language, but also by the paradigm of consciousness and the paradigm of behavior. Therefore, the primary genres are those that reflect the simplest things: a biography, a memorial speech, a sermon as a reasoning on moral and religious topics, a lesson as a reasoning on moral and ethical topics, parable, description of the journey. Genres at the beginning of their appearance exist as some kind of unity, distinguished by a rigid structure of the presentation of dominant views. As a result of rethinking life, changing semantic values, the genre also changes. There is no unity of content, and the form of presentation of the material is also destroyed.
Genres are not stable in and of themselves. They interact with each other, enriching each other. They can change, can form new combinations.
For certain period the genre is changing, acquiring new features. We can trace the features of the development of such a genre as the description of travel over the centuries. "Journeys", pilgrimages - this is a religious description of a journey to the Holy Land, to Tsargrad, to Palestine. "Journey Beyond Three Seas" by Afanasy Nikitin is already a secular description, to some extent geographical. In the future, trips of scientific, artistic and journalistic styles are distinguished. In the latter style, the travel essay genre is especially common.
Of course, in ancient Russian literature, the subject content depended on the religious worldview and historical events. The theocentric vision of the world largely determined the self-consciousness of man. The human person is nothing before the power and majesty of the Lord. Thus, the style decision was determined by the place of a person in the world. The author's beginning should not play any role. Image historical figures must initially be far from reality. The lack of original style was to be the rule rather than the exception. But all this did not become a dogma for ancient Russian literature. In it, on the contrary, we see works filled with the author's worldview, pain for the fate of the country, they give preference to certain events and people. The chronicler is proud, elevates or brings down and condemns his princes, he is not an impartial observer.
In the works of this period, the reader is introduced to religious wisdom. That is why fiction is not allowed, but only facts are transmitted, on their basis christian truths. The speech will of the speaker in the works of that time was subordinated to the state and religious idea.
Parameters defining genre features speech utterance are considered at several levels: at the subject-semantic, at the structural-compositional, at the level of style and language design.
The thematic content of any speech statement is determined by "subject-semantic exhaustion". The author of the speech statement thinks over how the subject of speech will be presented in the texts and what needs to be said in order for the topic to be revealed within these genre frameworks.
The structural-compositional level prescribes a rather rigid genre scheme. The parable is characterized by its own structure, oratory is not like a lesson, and the lives of the saints are like military stories. Compositional organization- these are external and internal manifestations of textual material, this is its division into semantic parts. The genres of Old Russian literature were created according to a certain canon, which largely dictated a rigid structure and characteristic composition.
Speech utterance requires special stylistic resources. First, it is the style of the era, in this case, Old Russian. Secondly, the style of the genre, parables, walks, etc. The genre itself determines what style features priority in this work. And, thirdly, the author's style. The monk does not speak as the prince speaks.
The genre nature of any statement is specific, therefore, in each genre, one can single out the unique, original, characteristic only for this type. The content depends on the speech will of the speaker, i.e. the subject of speech, the idea, how this subject of speech is defined and what is the attitude of the author to it, and the style in which all this is presented. This unity determines the genre of a literary and journalistic work, including Old Russian literature.
In ancient Russian literature, there was a division of genres into secular and state-religious.
Secular works are works of oral art. In ancient Russian society, folklore was not limited by class or class. Epics, fairy tales, songs were interesting to everyone, and they were listened to in princely palace, and in the dwelling of a smerd. Oral creativity filled the aesthetic needs in the artistic word.
Written literature was publicistic. She responded to religious, moral, ethical needs. These are parables, lives of saints, walks, prayers and teachings, chronicles, military and historical stories.
Therefore, oral and written literature covered all spheres of human activity, showed him inner world satisfied religious, moral, ethical and aesthetic needs.