Ballad: history and features of the genre
Ballad- a lyric-epic poetic work with a pronounced plot of a historical or everyday nature, in which themes and heroes from myths are often used.
The term "ballad" comes from the Provencal word and means "dance song". Ballads originated in the Middle Ages. By origin, ballads are associated with legends, folk legends, they combine the features of a story and a song. Many ballads about a folk hero named Robin Hood existed in England in the 14th-15th centuries.
The ballad is one of the main genres in the poetry of sentimentalism and romanticism. The world in ballads appears mysterious and enigmatic. They are bright characters with clearly defined characters.
The literary ballad genre was created by Robert Burns (1759-1796). The basis of his poetry was oral folk art.
A person is always at the center of literary ballads, but the poets of the 19th century who chose this genre knew that the strength of a person does not always make it possible to answer all questions, to become the sovereign master of one's own destiny. Therefore, often literary ballads are a plot poem about a fatal fate, for example, the ballad "Forest King" by the German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
The Russian ballad tradition was created by Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, who wrote both original ballads ("Svetlana", "Aeolian harp", "Achilles" and others), and translated Burger, Schiller, Goethe, Uhland, Southey, Walter Scott. In total, Zhukovsky wrote more than 40 ballads.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin created such ballads as "The Song of the Prophetic Oleg", "The Bridegroom", "The Drowned Man", "The Raven Flies to the Raven", "There Lived a Poor Knight...". Also, his cycle of "Songs of the Western Slavs" can be attributed to the ballad genre.
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov has separate ballads. This is the Airship from Seydlitz, the Sea Princess.
The ballad genre was also used by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy in his work. He calls his ballads on the themes of his native antiquity epics ("Alyosha Popovich", "Ilya Muromets", "Sadko" and others).
Entire sections of their poems were called ballads, using this term more freely, A.A. Fet, K.K. Sluchevsky, V.Ya. Bryusov. In his "Experiences" Bryusov, speaking of a ballad, points to only two of his ballads of the traditional lyrical-epic type: "The Abduction of Bertha" and "Divination".
A number of comic ballads-parodies were left by Vl. Soloviev ("The Mysterious Sexton", "Knight Ralph's Autumn Walk" and others)
The events of the turbulent 20th century once again brought to life the literary ballad genre. E.Bagritsky's ballad "Watermelon", although it does not tell about the turbulent events of the revolution, was born precisely by the revolution, the romance of that time.
Features of the ballad as a genre:
the presence of a plot (there is a climax, a plot and a denouement)
combination of real and fantastic
romantic (unusual) landscape
mystery motif
plot can be replaced by dialogue
conciseness
combination of lyrical and epic beginnings
I. Andronnikov. "Why am I so hurt and so sad ...". And sullenly You concealed what the thought languished about, And came out to us with a smile on your lips. An immortal and always young poet. Childhood of the poet. Arakcheev. Loneliness is socially conditioned, generated by a gloomy and suffocating era, early orphanhood. “No, it’s not you that I love so passionately.” “Abandon vain worries.” "When the yellowing field is agitated." About nature. About the motherland. Purpose: to understand what are the origins of Lermontov's work. "Don't trust yourself..." Philosophical Poems. “I love my homeland, but with a strange love…”.
"V.A. Zhukovsky ballad Svetlana" - Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. V.A. Zhukovsky ballad "Svetlana". Characteristic features ballad genre. The presence of a plot basis, a plot. Moral outcome. A tense dramatic, mysterious, or fantasy story. Symbolic character of space and time. Exposition Outcome Development of action Climax Decoupling. Literature lesson in grade 9 Author: teacher of Russian language and literature Kirpitneva L.B. A.S. Pushkin. Often (but not necessarily) the presence of a folklore element.
"Gogol Dead Souls Lesson" - Story. A.P. Chekhov. Tale. Let's check our knowledge. Svetly, 2009. Chapter? Literature lesson for grade 9. A.S. Pushkin. Lesson plan. Working with a table. Novel. Travel notes.
"Dante Alighieri" - Love ... Life and work. Last years. Dante Alighieri. Target. Birth. @ OU secondary school No. 23, the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, 2007. What was the name of Alighieri's love of life? The years of Dante Alighieri's life… Creativity. Studies. In what year was Dante sentenced to exile from the country and death penalty? Born in May or June 1265 in Florence. Harsh sentence. World fame.
"S.P. Sysoy" - I remember everything that my mother said, And I simply cannot live otherwise. S. Sysoy. "Milder than all the native land." With firm faith in the victory of their beloved country, the soldiers marched forward against the enemy. "My prayers and my love." You are a gift of fate to me, The fragrance of delicate roses. "About love, fate and eternity, "The Fatherland remembers by name." To study the principles of analysis and interpretation of a poetic text.
"Tyutchev and Fet" - What other feelings are expressed in the poem? What kind of person is each poet? "What a night!" Grade 9 What are the features of the poetic language of each poem? Consider the theme, idea, composition, movement of poetic thought in works. Before us are two landscape sketches. Note the time of writing. Reading poetry. What feelings do you get after reading the poem? Comparative analysis of the poems "Summer Evening" by F.I. Tyutchev and "What a Night" by A.A. Fet.
Trying to give a clear and complete definition of the term ballad in English, one may encounter considerable difficulties. They are due to the fact that the range of its meanings is very wide. The reasons for this lie in the peculiarities of the history and development of those poetic genres that were designated by this word.
The term ballad comes from the Latin verb ballare (to dance). Therefore, the song that accompanied the dance was called balada in Provence, and balata in Italy (XIII century). Over time, the term ballad changes its meaning: in the XIV century. the French ballade is a genre of court poetry that required sophisticated skill from the author. This is a poem of three stanzas with three continuous rhymes (usually in the pattern ab ab bc bc) with an obligatory refrain followed by a shorter “parcel” (envoi) repeating the rhymes of the second half of each stanza. The number of verses in a stanza had to match the number of syllables in a line (8, 10 or 12). Male rhymes had to alternate with female ones. It was very difficult to follow all these rules.
Already in the XIV century. the English borrow the ballad genre from French literature. Karl Ormansky (XV century), who spent 25 years in English captivity, wrote ballads freely in both French and English. Naturally, along with the genre, the word denoting it is also borrowed. It is spelled differently: ballades, balats, ballets, ballets, balletys, ballads.
In the XIV-XVI centuries. the term ballad was not used to refer to that oral genre of English and Scottish folk poetry, which is now called in English literary criticism: popular ballad, ancient ballad, ballad of tradition, traditional ballad. These old folk ballads at that time (in the XIV-XVI centuries) were known as songs (sometimes tales or ditties). The performers did not distinguish them from the mass of other songs in their repertoire.
At the same time, from the XVI century. the word ballad was widely used in relation to the artless, usually anonymous poems on the topic of the day, which were distributed in the form of printed leaflets on city streets. This genre was called: street ballad, stall ballad, broadside or broadsheet.
In dictionary Longman Dictionary of English. Longman Group UK Limited 1992 broadside and broadsheet are usually considered synonymous, but in highly specialized bibliographic terminology, broadside is text printed on one side of a sheet, regardless of its size, and broadsheet is text that continues on reverse side sheet. In domestic literary criticism, the term “lubok” was proposed for this urban street ballad.
It is hard to imagine two more different than the refined, stylistically complex French court ballad and the rough street ballad of the London common people. Scientists have long been occupied with the mystery associated with the transfer of the name from one genre to another. The explanation offered by some scholars for this transfer, that both the French and the English ballad were connected with dance, is now recognized as untenable.
Folklorist D.M. Balashov writes about the English ballad: “It would be erroneous to associate the origin of other genres with the name “ballad” with this genre. Balashov D.M. Folk ballads - M., 1983. It is possible that this statement is too categorical. The American scientist A. B. Friedman offered a convincing explanation for the paradox in question. He considers the link between French and English street ballads to be the so-called “pseudo-ballad”, which was one of the main genres of English poetry of the 15th century. (Gasparov M.L., 1989, 28). The fact is that in England the French ballad is undergoing significant changes. Justified by the lack of equally rhyming words in the English language, poets increase the number of rhymes, and also abandon the “sending” (envoi). The number of stanzas increases from three to 10-20.
The strict form is blurred. With an increase in the circle of readers, the pseudo-ballad is democratized. Simplifies her style. Increasingly used "ballad stanza" (ballad stanza), widespread in English folk poetry. This is a quatrain in which lines of four-foot and three-foot iambic alternate with rhyming according to the ab ac scheme (some other options are also possible). It is characteristic that one of the first printed street ballads that have come down to us, “A ballade of Luther, the pope, a cardinal and husbandman”, circa 1530) reveals traces of a connection with a pseudo-ballad.
This is a possible way of turning a French court ballad into an English street ballad.
During the XVI-XVII centuries. there is a gradual expansion of the meaning of the word ballad. So, in 1539, in the so-called “episcopal” translation of the Bible (Bishop's Bible), King Solomon’s “Song of Songs” was translated: “The ballet of bollets”, although there was some inappropriateness of the term “ballet” in relation to the text of the sacred And in 1549 the first poet-translator W. Bolvin (William Baldwin) published Canticles or Balades of Salomon, phraslyke declared in Englyshe Metres.
After 16th century the French ballad was long forgotten in England. However, by the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. imitation of this genre can be found in the works of some English poets (A. Lang, A. Swinburne, W. Henley, E. Goss, G.K. Chesterton).
The English street ballad existed from the 16th century until almost the 20th century, when it was supplanted by the tabloid newspaper, which borrowed from it the subject matter, the noisy manner of presenting the material, and even some design details (the use of Gothic font in the titles of English newspapers comes from the ballad) (English folk ballads, 1997 , 63).
The theme of the street ballad was extremely diverse. First of all, this is all kinds of sensational news: various miracles, omens, catastrophes, criminal stories, detailed descriptions of the execution of criminals. A variety of street ballad called “Good night” was very popular, which was a description of the last night of a criminal before execution. He remembers all his sins and calls on good Christians not to follow a bad example. In 1849, the circulation of two such ballads amounted to 2.5 million copies.
The street ballad did not lack plots, borrowing them from everywhere: from chivalric novels, historical chronicles (for example, T. Deloni's ballads), fablio, etc. Personal scores could be settled in ballads: Falstaff in Shakespeare's Henry IV (1596) threatens his drinking companions to compose for each “a ballad with music to be sung at all crossroads” (part I, act II, sc.2, lines 48 -49). The ballad could tell a touching love story. There were also comic ballads, rough to the point of obscenity.
The attitude to the street ballad was ambivalent. A contemporary of Shakespeare, the poet and playwright Ben Jonson wrote: “The poet must abhor the writers of ballads” Jonson Ben Dramatic works: trans. from English / ed. I.A. Aksenova - M. Academy, 1931. And at the same time, ballads were an integral part of the urban culture of that time. The dramas of the Elizabethans are full of allusions to contemporary ballads. John Selden (1584-1654), a scholar and friend of Ben Jonson, notes: “Nothing captures the zeitgeist like ballads and lampoons” (Questions of English Contextology, Issue 1).
The street ballad served as a powerful weapon of struggle and invariably accompanied all the political crises of the 16th-18th centuries. During the years of revolution and civil war(40-60s of the 17th century) the printing of ballads was prohibited by parliament, and special spies monitored the observance of this ban. In 1688 King James II was exiled to the accompaniment of the ballad "Lilliburleo". In 1704, the poet J. Fletcher of Saltown wrote: “... if anyone were allowed to write all the ballads in the country, then he would no longer care who makes the laws” (Questions of English Contextology, Issue 2).
The number of ballads has steadily increased. From 1557 to 1709, more than 3,000 titles were printed, according to the far from complete data of the London Booksellers' Register. The printed ballad is also conquering rural England, displacing the old oral songs. However, much of this oral poetry ends up in print.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the word ballad came to mean any song that was sung by the people, regardless of whether it was printed or transmitted orally. Thus, ancient songs of a narrative nature that have existed for many centuries also began to be called ballads. Domestic literary critic M.P. Alekseev understands the English and Scottish ballad as a lyrical-epic or lyrical-dramatic story, which has a strophic form, intended for singing, often accompanied by playing on musical instruments(Alekseev, 1984, 292).
Scholars rightly consider the old traditional ballad and the printed street ballad to be genres. The main feature of the first is that, as a result of a long process of oral transmission, it has acquired a number of high artistic merits: brevity, expressiveness, drama, dynamic narration, etc. its figurative system, motifs, plots, serious tone, depth of feelings sharply distinguish it from a cheeky, cynical, superficial, wordy street ballad, which is bound by printed text and is not able to improve in the process of oral transmission.
However, the two genres have a lot in common. Both belonged to the common people and were felt as something different from the fiction of the upper classes of society. For four centuries they were closely interconnected and influenced each other. Both were a specific combination of narrative, lyrical and, sometimes, dramatic elements (with the former predominating). They shared a common ballad stanza (with a few exceptions). And finally, all the ballads were closely connected with music and were often sung to the same old tunes.
As noted above, the ballad is a short folk song with narrative content. It is the plot that is the special feature that distinguishes the ballad from other poetic genres. The sources of ballad plots were Christian legends, chivalric romances, ancient myths and works of Greek and Roman authors in medieval retelling, the so-called “eternal” or “wandering” plots, as well as genuine historical events, stylized on the basis of ready-made song schemes.
The development of ballad plots followed two main directions: the plots of the heroic-historical genre turned out to be extremely productive; in parallel, they intensively developed plots related to love themes. In fact, there was no sharp dividing line between these two groups. Heroic and love plots were often intertwined with each other within the framework of one ballad, absorbed fairy-tale folklore motifs, were sometimes interpreted in a comic way, acquired some specific features associated with the place of origin or existence of a particular ballad, but beyond the boundaries of the two named plots. -themed folk English and Scottish ballads never came out.
Heroic ballads, which are predominantly epic in nature, are based on specific historical events that can be traced to a greater or lesser extent in each of them, which gives the right to call them heroic-historical.
But not only historical events underlie the plots of such ballads. Ancient folk songs not only supplement the meager facts of history with information about events unknown to the chronicles, but give a vivid idea of human relations, how the distant ancestors of modern Englishmen and Scots thought and spoke, experienced and felt. From history, readers first of all learn what people did, and from ballads - what they were. Having directly become acquainted with the way of life, manners and customs of long gone generations with the help of ballads, we can better understand the writings of the chroniclers.
Heroic-historical folk ballads depict the wars between the English and the Scots, heroic deeds in the struggle for personal and national freedom. "Frontier" ballads were formed in the border zone between England and Scotland in the era of frequent clashes between these countries. Some of the ballads can be dated quite accurately, as they probably appeared shortly after the events they are told, taking listeners and readers back to the 14th century.
Such, for example, is the ballad "The Battle of Durham" (Durham field), which tells how King David of Scotland wanted to take advantage of the absence of the English king, who fought in France, and conquer England; he gathers an army, leads him to the English borders. There is a bloody battle at Durham (1346); the Scots are defeated, their king is taken prisoner; he is taken to London, and here he meets not only with the English king Edward, but also with the king of France, who was captured by the Black Prince and also brought to London: according to the composers of the ballad, the battle of Crescy (mixed here with the battle of Poitiers) in France and at Derham in northern England took place on the same day. The tendency of this "military" ballad betrays its English origin.
Another bloody episode in the history of the Anglo-Scottish clashes, dating back to 1388, is captured with almost chronicle accuracy in the ballad "The Battle of Otterburn" ("The Battle of Otterbourne"). The Scots, led by the successful and fearless Douglas, make daring raids on the English borderlands. Once, in a skirmish with a detachment of the British, commanded by Percy, Douglas captured the battle flag. Percy vowed to take revenge on Douglas and return the banner. Not far from Otterburn, a fierce battle takes place between them. As in most battles of this kind, there were no winners: Douglas died and Percy was taken prisoner. But in the ballad (because it is of Scottish origin) it is stated that the victory was with the Scots.
Widely known (judging by the abundance of options in which it has come down to us) was the ballad "The Hunting of the Cheviot Hills" ("The Hunting of Cheviot", in the later edition of "Chevy Chase"), the main characters of the ballad are still the same Douglas and Percy . The latter once hunted near the Cheviot Hills, located along the ever-changing line of the Anglo-Scottish border. Douglas felt that Percy had invaded his domain and decided to defend his rights. Another fierce battle ensued: Douglas died, Percy died. The news of the death of glorious heroes reached London and Edinburgh. "The Scots no longer have such military leaders as: Douglas," the Scottish king sighed. "There were no better warriors in my kingdom than Percy," said the English king. And, with the logic inherent in those times, he gathered the army belonging to the narrator, the final military and moral victory was asserted either by the British or by the Scots.
Along with the "Hunting at the Cheviot Hills" in the XIV-XV centuries. other ballads connected with the border strip between England and Scotland were also known; most of them are dedicated to the same bloody raids, battles, struggles and are just as epic in nature. Such, for example, is the "Battle of Garlo" (The battle of Hag1aw). In most other historical ballads, the events of the 15th century, the Anglo-French wars, the feudal feuds of the English barons, etc. are meant. All these events were idealized, epic generalizations, the influence of traditional song legend. Wandering epic motifs were attached to some of them; some have been subjected, perhaps even to book influences.In the ballad "The Conquest of France by King Henry V" (King Henru the Fifth's Conquest of Fganse), for example, there is a motif also known from the legends of Alexander the Great: the French king does not pay attention to Henry's threats and; to caustically emphasize youth and inexperience in battles, sends him three balls instead of tribute; exactly the same is told in the pseudo-Kallisthenian "Alexandria" about Tsar Darius, who sends several children's toys to Alexander along with a mocking letter.
Some clashes between the English and the Scots, long since effaced in popular memory and insignificant in themselves, served as the basis for such ballads as "Kinmont Billy", "Katherine Johnston" (Katherine Johnston), "Lady Maesri" (Lady Maisry) and a number of others. The deep causes of the clashes between the English and the Scots are not touched by the nameless authors of the ballads, but they were hardly clear to them. In their minds, each collision had its own separate and only reason: someone wandered off to hunt in the wrong forest, someone kidnapped the bride, someone just wanted to "amuse the right hand" and made a robbery raid on a nearby neighbor, etc. .
Perhaps the greatest poetic charm has been preserved by those ballads that tell not about feats of arms, but about their sad consequences for human destinies. Remarkable in this regard is the ballad "Bold George Campbell" (Bonnie George Campbell). A young and brave young man goes to fight for no one knows why and no one knows where (however, according to the general mood of the ballad, it is not difficult to guess that we are talking about the same Anglo-Scottish border). But soon the horse returns without a rider:
High upon Highlands
And low upon Tay,
Bonnie George Cambell
Ride out on a day.
saddled and bred
And gallant rade he;
Hame cam his guid horse,
But never cam he.
The mother weeps bitterly, the bride cries. But such is the fate of women on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border. One of the most celebrated Scottish ballads, A boardeline widow, is also devoted to this theme.
Among the heroic-historical ballads that have an epic character are the ballads about Robin Hood, which were most popular for many centuries. Robin Hood with his retinue of dashing people, an "outlaw" - (outlaw) and enemy of the feudal lords, but a friend and protector of the poor, widows and orphans, became a beloved folk hero. He is sung in a large number of ballads, which make up one of the most important cycles, which is represented by four dozen separate works that tell about the various adventures of the hero and his comrades.
Robin Hood was at the head of hundreds of free shooters, who were powerless to cope with government units. He and his gang robbed only the rich, spared and rewarded the poor, did no harm to women; the deeds and adventures of this man “all Britain sings in their songs” (“The Ballads of Robin Hood”, 1987).
In their early development, the Robin Hood ballads did not provide a coherent account of his life; they told only about some of his adventures. A large place in them was occupied primarily by stories about the formation of his squad. Many ballads are based on a simple plot scheme: some craftsman, for example, a tanner, boilermaker, potter or forest ranger, at the behest of the king, sheriff, or on his own impulse, tries to capture Robin Hood as standing “outlaw”, fights with him, but, having experienced his strength and courage, voluntarily, joins his retinue. Thus begins Robin's acquaintance and friendship with the most faithful of his comrades and assistants - "Little John" (Little John), a daring and strong man, whose nickname - "little", "small" - is ironic, since he is seven feet tall. A dashing fight begins Robin Hood's friendship with the defrocked monk, brother Tuck, who does not take off his cassock, even joining the squad of daring men, and does not use other weapons in battles with enemies, except for his weighty club. The ballads also name other members of the squad (Scath-locke, Mutch, etc.), who freely and cheerfully live in Sherwood Forest. They are united by hatred for the feudal lords and all oppressors of the people.
In many ballads, one can recognize the features of this particular time - the anti-feudal moods of the peasant masses, acute hatred of the highest church authorities, provincial administration, etc. The socio-historical situation of the 15th century, with outbreaks of peasant uprisings, feudal wars, growing military taxes, etc. etc., contributes to the further development of the same legends, finally crystallizes them, completes the process of epic idealization of the main character.
Generous, generous, courageous persecutor of all injustice, Robin Hood gives a helping hand to everyone who needs it; he is tireless, dexterous, skillfully eludes all the traps that lie in wait for him, runs away from any pursuit, knows how to get out of any trouble and take good revenge on his enemies.
The story of Robin Hood has left a noticeable mark in world fiction. In England, Shakespeare's contemporaries: Robert Greene, Mondey and Chetl processed ballad motifs in their dramatic works. These ballads have been known in Russian literature since the 1930s; some of them exist in Russian translations by N. Gumilyov, V. Rozhdestvensky and others.
Ballads dedicated to love and having a lyric-dramatic character make up the largest group among all ballad cycles. They tell about the sorrows of love, about the innumerable dangers and obstacles that lay in wait for lovers in those distant times. It would probably be possible to group love plots on the basis of an equal kind of misfortunes and obstacles. There would be a fair register: feuds between Scots and English, feuds between clans, feuds between families, feuds within families, jealousies, envy, kidnappings, misunderstandings. Many ballads sound tragic, for example, in “The Fair Annie of Loch Royan” (“Annie of Loch Royan”).
... A young woman hurries to her lover, the father of her child, but she is not allowed into the castle: her lover is sleeping and does not hear the call, and his mother drives the young woman away. She sets off on her way back and dies in the depths of the sea along with her child. Sensing something unkind, the father hurries to the seashore… the raging surf brings the corpse of his beloved to his feet.
Perhaps the consciousness of the impossibility of happy love in those years poisoned by blood and hatred gave rise to numerous motives for otherworldly love. In the ballad “Billy” (“Billy”), unconditional and unshakable fidelity was affirmed, which even death cannot shake. This, apparently, the most important idea of love and fidelity for the moral consciousness of that era, is realized in English and Scottish ballads not only in fantastic plots, but also quite real ones, in some cases supplemented by a symbolic ending. Thus ends the plot of love and fidelity in the already mentioned ballad “Lady Maisry” (“Lady Maisry”, William throws herself into the fire to die like his beloved) or in the ballad “Clyde waters” (“Clyde waters”, the girl throws herself into water that killed her beloved, to perish with him).
In the ballads "Edward" (Edward), "Prince Robert" ("Prince Robert"), "Lady Isabel" ("Lady Isabel") women are not inferior to men in hatred, enmity or revenge; ballads depict an evil mother, stepmother, wife, mistress, mad with envy, jealousy, despair.
In some old ballads, the motif of conscious or unconscious incest is often found, perhaps an echo of song plots from the era of ancient tribal relations, such as in the ballad Sheath and Knife and Lizie Wen (Lizie Wan).
Tragedies of jealousy are frequent in ballads. But even stronger than jealousy is the feeling of spontaneous, endless love, which delivers not only boundless grief, but also the greatest happiness. In the ballad "Child Waters" (Child Waters), to which Byron refers in the preface to "Child Harold", Ellen follows her lover, disguised as a page, endures all the hardships of the campaign, guards and cleans his horse, is ready to accept even his new mistress and make a bed for her; at night, in the stable, in terrible agony, abandoned and ridiculed, she gives birth to a baby, and then only her love is rewarded: Waters marries her. If fate haunts those who love until the end of their lives, then they unite behind the grave; the symbol of love, which knows no barriers even in death itself, becomes a rose, wild rose or other flowers that grow on their graves and intertwine with their branches.
Thus, most ballads have an ominous flavor and end in a fatal outcome. The drama of the situation and dialogues, the lyrical excitement reach great tension here. Feelings of revenge, jealousy and love rage in the hearts actors; blood flows in torrents; follies, crimes, murders are as frequent as the lyrical ups and downs of the greatest, completely captivating love.
In the minds of most people, a ballad is almost synonymous with devilry: supernatural events are piled one on top of the other, coffins are torn off their chains, ghosts scurry through castles, forests and glades are inhabited by goblin and fairies, the waters are teeming with mermaids. These representations, inspired by the romantic literary ballad, do not fully correspond to the actual content of the folk ballad. Of the more than 300 English and Scottish folk ballads currently known, hardly 50 - that is, about one in six - contain supernatural events.
It is rather difficult to explain this, given that the medieval consciousness was literally permeated with faith in miracles and accepted the existence of devils, brownies and goblin as a self-evident element of everyday life.
Mythologism as a worldview is preserved only in the most ancient ballads, as well as in ballads, where their archaic basis emerges in one form or another. used as a poetic device or for allegorical purposes.
In the ballad "The Boy and the Cloak" (The Boy and the Cloak) magic motifs - a mantle that has the miraculous property of detecting a woman's infidelity; the head of a boar, against which the braggart's knife breaks; a magic horn spilling wine on a coward's dress - all this is used by the nameless author of the ballad for a more vivid and convincing moral assessment of real human vices.
Especially often, magical motifs are used as an extended poetic metaphor in stories about the test of loyalty, courage, and nobility. In the ballad The Young Templane, the hero's bride, true to her love, courageously goes through difficult trials.
By checking moral qualities heroes can be not only purely physical suffering, but also moral, associated with negative aesthetic emotions. For example, the noble Evain had to go through such trials, who saved the girl, whom the evil stepmother turned into an ugly beast (“Knight Evain” - The Knight Avain). A peculiar version of the fantastic motif of the "test of fidelity" is also the story of the bride following her beloved to the grave. Another variation of the same motive is plots where, in response to the call of a woman (usually a mermaid), a man with boundless courage rushes after her into the depths of the sea (ballad "Mermaid" - Kemp Oweyne).
It is fantastic ballads that will attract the attention of European romantics, including English ones (Coleridge, Southey, Scott), who will bring them to the fore among the entire ballad heritage; however, in the heyday of ballad creativity, fabulous, fantastic ballads do not occupy such an exclusive place and their fantasy does not bear an ominous imprint.
In the popular mind, the tragic and the comic always go hand in hand. In the funniest comic stories, it is not uncommon to find hidden elements of tragedy. It is pointless to find out which ballads - tragic or comic sounding - appeared earlier: the origins of both are lost in the depths of time and are practically inaccessible to rigorous research. They probably appeared almost simultaneously, although, perhaps, in a different social environment. The point of view is hardly fair, according to which comic ballads appeared much later than tragic ones, in the course of ballad evolution towards "simplification" of plots and the penetration of everyday elements into them. Everyday details are also characteristic of the earliest ballads; the fact that people were able to see the funny and laugh at all times is evidenced by numerous comedies, satires, fables, comic songs, medieval farces and fables.
Take, for example, the famous "Ballad of the Miller and His Wife". The game's comic dialogue is clearly farcical in nature. The tipsy miller, returning home in the evening, is still not so drunk as not to notice some signs of his wife's infidelity: men's boots with copper spurs, a raincoat, etc. But the lively and crafty "hostess" is by no means inclined to give up and with enviable resourcefulness tries to dissuade the "master" of his suspicions. But even the miller is not a fool: in every explanation of his wife, not without humor, he finds some detail that destroys all her ingenious constructions; and finally, the miller discovers a man in bed.
Equally comical is the dialogue between husband and wife in the ballads Get up and Bar the Door, The Old Cloak, or the dialogue between a knight and a peasant girl in the ballad Deceived Knight".
Comic ballads are diverse in content and are by no means confined to everyday subjects. They affect social sphere, complex psychological relations between people, love themes ("The Tramp", "The Shepherd's Son", "A Trip to the Fair"). In a number of ballads, which in terms of content it would be wrong to classify as "purely" comic, the comic element is nevertheless unusually strong ("The King and the Bishop", "Two Wizards", etc.)
"Features of the ballad genre and its development in European literature of the 18th - 19th centuries".
The word "ballad" comes from the French "ballade", and then, in turn, from the late Latin "ballo" - "I dance." The ballad genre developed in the Middle Ages. Initially, this was the name of the folk dance song; then ballads about crimes, bloody feuds, unhappy love and orphanhood became widespread. The development of ballad plots went in two main directions: plots of a heroic-historical nature turned out to be extremely productive; in parallel, they developed plots related to love themes. In fact, there was no clear line between these two groups. Heroic and love stories were often intertwined, absorbed fabulous folklore motifs, sometimes interpreted in a comic way, acquiring some specific features associated with the place of origin or existence of a particular ballad.
Heroic ballads were formed when the times of myths, legends, epic heroes receded into the distant past. Heroic ballads are based on specific historical events that can be traced to a greater or lesser extent in each of them, which gives the right to call them heroic-historical.
Ballads of love made up the largest group. Are they only about love? Rather, about love sorrows, innumerable dangers and obstacles that lay in wait for lovers at every step in those distant times.
Such was the ballad in the Middle Ages. With the development of other literary genres, the ballad faded into the background and was not widely popular.
In the 18th century there is a revival of this genre. The reason for this was the amazing lyricism and plasticity of the ballad: it combines the historical, legendary, terrible, mysterious, fantastic, funny. Perhaps that is why S. Coleridge, G. Burger, F. Schiller, I.V. Goethe, R. Burns, W. Scott, A. Mickiewicz. These writers not only revived this genre, but also found new sources for it, proposed new themes, and outlined new trends. What they were, we have to consider on the example of I.V. Goethe, F. Schiller, R. Burns and W. Scott.
The great German writer and scientist, classic of German and world literature, Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749 - 1832) was a great master of lyrics. Here the diversity of the poet's genius was especially clearly manifested. He owned the most various forms verse and poetic style: philosophical lyrics, folk song; he has the ancient cycle "Roman Elegies", the eastern cycle "West-Eastern Divan". Often Goethe turned to the ballad, was the initiator of its revival.
The early Goethe ballads of the epoch of storm and onslaught (Rose of the Steppe, 1771, King of Ful, 1774, etc.) approach in style and manner to the folk song with its predominantly emotional impact and lyrical, love themes. The ballads of the transitional period (“The Fisherman”, 1778, “The Forest King”, 1782) are already somewhat moving away from the simplicity of the composition of the folk song style, but retain a common lyrical character: their themes are drawn from folklore, but used to express a modern, romantically colored sense of nature. . Ballads of a later period (“The Corinthian Bride”, “God and Bayadere”, etc. 1797) are extensive and complex narrative compositions, small poems in which a specific narrative plot becomes a typical case, embodies a general moral and philosophical idea; such classical typification and objectivity are promoted High style, devoid of subjective emotional coloring, and the use of complex strophic forms as a method of metrical stylization.
In Goethe's ballads there is certainly something mysterious, instructive, scary, less often funny. Many of them are written in the tradition of a terrible gloomy ballad (for example, "The Pied Piper", "The Forest King", "The Corinthian Bride" permeate the sensations of night fears). But there are also works whose motive is the affirmation of earthly joys; neither divination nor treasure hunting will bring happiness, it is in love, in friendship, in the person himself.
Goethe's ballads combine the fantastic and the improbable, the terrible and the funny, but all this is always permeated by a clear thought, everything logically follows one from the other - and suddenly an often unexpected tragic ending. The nakedness of feelings, so characteristic of folklore works, is another important feature of Goethe's ballads.
For a long time Goethe was fond of ancient art. That is why the main sources of his ballads are ancient myths, legends and traditions. But Goethe humanizes reality, he endows even nature with real properties, using the method of forcing. Thus, a complete dramatic work is obtained, in which everything is important, and even the smallest detail plays its role.
We are familiar with Goethe's ballads from V.A. Zhukovsky, F.I. Tyutcheva, B.L. Pasternak, who managed to clearly convey the emotional mood, and the unique atmosphere, and color created by the genius of Goethe. Later, his works were translated by romantics (Venevitinov), poets of "pure art", symbolist poets.
One of the leading places is occupied by the ballad genre in the work of another German writer - Friedrich Schiller (1759 - 1805). Schiller turned to this genre at the same time as Goethe, in a number of cases his influence is felt. The writers were friendly, together they published the Ory magazine. In the process of creating ballads, constant creative communication was maintained, and in 1797 a friendly competition was arranged in writing them.
The first cycle of Schiller's ballads - "The Cup", "The Glove", "Polycrates' Ring", "Ivikov's Cranes" - was published in 1798 in the Almanac of the Muses, following the epigrams.
The writer's interest in this genre turned out to be very long. And subsequently, he repeatedly expressed his innermost thoughts in ballads. Until the end of the 90s, “Knight Togenburg”, “Walking for the Iron Hammer”, “Bail”, “Battle with the Dragon”, etc. were written.
Just like Goethe, Schiller was interested in ancient art, which was reflected in a number of poems ("Gods of Greece", 1788, "Artists", 1789) and ballads. The best of them in terms of ideological orientation and style are closely connected with his philosophical position and historical dramaturgy. They are dramatic in the development of the plot, the historical or legendary conflict reflected in them is significant. Schiller widely used in ballads such means of dramaturgy as monologue and dialogue ("Glove", "Polycrates' ring", "Cassandra"). All this gives grounds to call them "little dramas" or "dramatic episodes".
Schiller's ballads reflected his reflections on the meaning of human existence, the power of moral duty, through which he still hoped to improve social relations.
Schiller uses ancient Greek legends and stories, ancient folk legends and myths as sources.
Thus, the ballad “The Cup” (“The Diver”) is based on a German legend of the 12th century. But it is devoid of romantic motives: the reason for the death of the swimmer was supposedly his greed. Schiller, on the other hand, has a tragic theme of the struggle of a person with unequal forces.
The ballad "The Complaint of Ceres" is an adaptation of the ancient myth about the marriage of Proserpina (Greek - Persephone), the daughter of the goddess of fertility Ceres (Demeter) with Pluto, the god of the underworld (Greek - Hades). According to the myth, Proserpina leaves Pluto's domain in the spring and visits her mother: the time of her stay on earth is marked by the awakening of nature, flowering and fertility. Schiller psychologizes the myth, endows the gods with human feelings and traits, emphasizes the humanity of the motherly feeling of the goddess.
Schiller also creates ballads on the plot of medieval feudal life ("The Glove").
New - social - motives appear in Schiller's work, he seeks to solve global, universal problems: relations between people, the connection of man with nature, with art, with the outside world. There is nothing terrible and inexplicable in his ballads. However, some of them show romantic tendencies: the idea of a dual world (the world of dreams is better than the real world), the appearance of symbols, the dynamism of the development of events, and later - a departure from reality.
Among German writers, Gottfried August Bürger (1747 - 1794) also turned to the ballad genre. His "Lenora", "The Wild Hunter", "The Song of an Honest Man" and other ballads brought him European fame. Burger's main source is German folklore. So in Lenore, he masterfully uses his lyrical and fantastic motifs.
The most famous are the ballads of Schiller and Burger in the translations of V.A. Zhukovsky. He managed to preserve the "stately - epic architectonics" of Schiller's ballads and the "common folk" style of Burger.
The oldest Anglo-Scottish ballads have retained a genetic connection with the legends and tales of the tribal system. Their distinguishing feature- focus on a single event, usually tragic and bloody. The reasons that led to this event, the circumstances that preceded it, are given only as a hint, giving the plot a touch of mystery. This construction of the plot, as well as much more, was borrowed from English and Scottish ballads by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796). His passion for old folklore began with a book by Robert Ferguson, who published a small volume of poetry in the Scottish dialect. Then Burns realized for the first time that his native language exists not only as the language of old half-forgotten ballads, but also as a real one. literary language. Subsequently, Burns devoted all his free time to collecting old songs and ballads. For years he participated in the creation of the multi-volume "Music Museum", restoring the most undistorted texts from a variety of oral versions and composing new words to old melodies if the texts were lost or replaced by vulgar and illiterate verses.
So Burns became one of the direct participants in the revival of rich folklore, not only as the best poet of Scotland, but also as a scientist, as a great connoisseur of her life, legends. That is why most of his works are deeply original reworkings of old songs; Burns used the plot, melody, rhythm, meter of old poems. But under his pen, weak, half-forgotten ancient stanzas and plots acquired a modern edge and were filled with new content.
So, for example, the ballad "John Barleycorn" was born, in which the idea of the immortality of the people is expressed in an allegorical form.
The ballad Tam O'Shanter is based on an anecdote about farmer Douglas Graham O'Shanter, a desperate drunk who feared his grumpy wife more than anything in the world. Once, while Douglas was sitting in a tavern, the boys tore the tail off his horse. He noticed it only after returning home. To justify himself in the eyes of his wife, Douglas composed a story about devils and witches. This episode prompted Burns the plot of the ballad, which he himself was very fond of.
And here is an adaptation of the old Scottish folk ballad "Lord Gregory", which tells a simple story about how a handsome young lord deceived a gullible peasant woman and then left her. The ancient text of this song contains only endless sad complaints and describes the bitter tears that a deceived girl sheds. There is no action, no plot. Burns altered the old text beyond recognition: he put a passionate monologue into the mouth of the heroine - now she does not cry, but accuses. As a result of this reworking, the ballad acquired a modern sound, and the stingy, passionate and exciting speech gave it a genuine artistry.
The composition and style of Burns' works is dominated by elements of folk poetry: repetitions, refrains, beginnings ("The Tree of Freedom", "Honest Poverty"). Syncretism, a mixture of various genres, are taken from folklore, poetic sizes, various metric lengths. At the same time, elements of dramatic poetry are more inherent in Burns's ballads: he uses dialogues and monologues, skillfully uses impersonal direct speech.
As his poetic skills improved, Burns, without abandoning folklore traditions, also turned to the creation of realistic pictures of morals: the detail begins to play an increasingly important role in his work, the analysis of the feelings of the characters is combined with the image and analysis of the social environment in which they live and act. The desire to show the characters in dynamics, in development, made us carefully consider the construction of the narrative: some ballads develop into a miniature story with a well-developed plot, well-aimed, vivid characteristics of the characters ("Tam O'Shanter").
The main theme of Burns' ballads is love, friendship, human freedom, the theme of pride of the "honest commoner". The poet most often finds true friendship, love, cordiality and sincere participation among the poor. This theme becomes a leitmotif in Burns's later ballads.
The first translations and reports about R. Burns appeared in Russian journals at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The lyrics of Burns were translated by I. Kozlov, M. Mikhailov, T. Shchepkina - Kupernik, E. Bagritsky, S. Marshak.
With the realization that the era of creating folk ballads has passed, and their existence among the people is about to stop, in England and Scotland, an intensive collection of songs and ballads began, no longer for further processing, but as independent values. However, the right to interfere with the text of a folk ballad - whether it be the publication of an old manuscript or a recording of an oral performance - is still for a long time was perceived as a principle quite acceptable and even desirable. Ballads were collected by scholars - literary critics, folklorists, poets and writers: Percy, Hurd, Ritson.
Walter Scott (1771 - 1831) also published folk ballads. More than once he was tempted to enhance their poetic sound. In any case, he repeatedly mentions the adjustment and combination of options in the explanations to his publications.
In addition to collecting ballads, V. Scott was also involved in their creation. But Scott's ballads are not processing antique material, these are the most interesting works written in the tradition of a medieval chivalric romance. Often their plot and themes echo Scott's prose works, especially Ivanhoe. The basis of W. Scott's ballads is not only historical facts or legends, but also national Scottish folklore. Such an organic combination formed the basis of such ballads as “The Song of the Last Minstrel”, “Grey Brother” (i.e. “Gray Monk”). In many of Scott’s ballads, themes of duty, love, honor, moral and ethical themes can be traced. Thus, in "The Gray Brother" the author poses the problem of atonement for sin, earthly and heavenly.
In Scott's ballads, romanticism manifests itself quite clearly: gloomy landscapes, haunted castles appear in them, and there is romantic symbolism. According to such works, in the minds of most people, the ballad is supernatural events that pile up one on top of the other: coffins are torn off their chains, ghosts scurry through castles, forests and glades are inhabited by goblin and fairies, waters are teeming with mermaids. But these performances are inspired by a romantic ballad, and in the 18th century romanticism had not yet taken shape. Scott's work is at the turn of the century, and it is quite reasonable that it has absorbed "the current century and the past century."
The ballad genre is a traditional genre in English and Scottish literature. Later, S. Coleridge, R. Southey and others addressed him.
Obviously, the 18th century was the century of the revival of the old ballad genre. This was facilitated by the formation of national self-consciousness, and consequently the awakening of interest in folk art, its history. The revival of the ballad went through three stages:
recording and collecting ballads;
creation of their own poetic variants on their basis;
The third stage is the most interesting, since it contributed not only to the revival, but also to the development of the ballad genre. A new, broader and more relevant topic appeared, the ballad became more problematic. The ever-increasing role of the plot, the ever more complete disclosure of its potential possibilities, was precisely the path along which the development of the ballad proceeded. "Subjectivity" gradually becomes that special feature that distinguishes the ballad from other genres. It is in this sense that it is customary to speak of the ballad as a lyrical-epic form of poetry.
As the ballad genre develops, it becomes psychologized, concrete, particular, and not abstract concepts of good and evil, as among the Enlighteners, come to the fore, but the main source (antiquity) remains.
In the course of the further development of the ballad, especially as the genre of the literary ballad developed, the lyrical beginning, now reinforced by psychologism, again begins to prevail over the plot. The mixture of genres, the penetration of epic and dramatic elements into lyrical poetry unusually enriched the ballad, made it more flexible, made it possible to show the world of feelings deeper and more truthfully, which contributed to the fact that the ballad became one of the main genres of sentimentalism and romanticism.
English and German ballads become known in Russia at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. At this time, the mythological images of antiquity (which would adorn Russian poetry many years later) were subjected to a powerful onslaught of the “northern muse”. Through the efforts of Karamzin and Andrei Turgenev, who died early, and then Bayushkov about Zhukovsky, the Russian reader first became acquainted with Shakespeare, and then with the pre-romantic and romantic literature of England and Germany. The motifs of German, English, Scottish ballads and legends have flowed into Russian literature like a wide river. Thanks to the translations of Pushkin, Batyushkov, Zhukovsky, Lermontov, the ballad genre adapted and developed on Russian soil.
Literature
1. Alekseev M.P. Folk ballads of England and Scotland // History of English literature. M.; L., 1943. T. 1. Issue. I.
2. Balashov D.M. Russian folk ballad//Folk ballads. M.; L., 1963.
3. Gasparov M.L. Ballad // Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1987.
4. Levin Yu.D. "Poems of Ossian" by James Macpherson // Macpherson D. Poems of Ossian. L., 1983.
5. Literary manifestos of Western European romantics / Comp. and before. A.S. Dmitriev. M., 1980.
6. Smirnov Yu.I. East Slavic ballads and related forms. Experience index plots and versions. M., 1988.
7. Aeolian harp. Ballad Anthology: Language Student's Library. M., Higher school. 1989.
Genre definition.
Classification of ballads.
Tragic in ballads.
Types of tragic heroes.
Folk ballad structure and system artistic means.
Features of poetic language
Genre Definition. The ballad is a poetic genre. This is an epic (narrative) song, which is characterized by family and everyday themes and frequent tragic conflict resolutions.
Putilov B.N. notes: “The main content of ballads is a story about dramatic individual destinies, about family conflicts caused by social and domestic circumstances ... When such stories grow on the basis of political history, a historical ballad arises.
Thoughts are often expressed that the ballad is a lyrical-epic genre. A.V.Kulagina highlights the epic features of the ballad: an objective and consistent depiction of events and characters; the presence of objectively epic images; the image of characters in their actions, speeches and thoughts; the dominance of typification of the phenomena of reality, and not the expression of attitude towards it. Thus, the Russian folk ballad belongs to the epic genre of poetry.
^ Classification of ballads. The generally accepted classification of a folk ballad is the classification according to the thematic principle (although the classification according to the chronological principle is also known: ballads of the 11th - 16th centuries; 17th century and the end of the 18th - the beginning of the 20th century).
According to the thematic principle, 4 groups of ballads can be distinguished: historical, love, family and social.
In historical ballads, a person or family members find themselves in a tragic situation in special historical conditions(enemy invasion, war). B.N. Putilov divides the plots of historical ballads into 2 cycles: about the Tatar or Turkish crowd (“The girl is fleeing the Tatars”) and about the tragic meetings of relatives (“Husband-soldier visiting his wife”).
The plots of the love ballads are built on the relationship between a good girl and a girl, and only one ballad "Vasily and Sophia" tells about the mutual love of the heroes ruined by Vasily's mother. Family ballads are divided into groups depending on the relationship of family members: husband - wife, mother-in-law - daughter-in-law, brother - sister, parents - children. The largest and most popular group of ballads about the tragic conflicts between husband and wife. Usually the wife dies at the hands of her husband ("Slandered Wife").
In social ballads, social conflict is usually intertwined with family conflict. They distinguish 4 cycles: 1) about tragic conflicts as a result of social inequality (“Prince Volkonsky and Vanya the Keymaster”), 2) anti-clerical ballads (“Prince and old women”), 3) ballads about grief and poverty; 4) ballads about robbery and its tragic consequences (“Sister and robbers”).
The specificity of ballads is manifested not only in their subject matter, but also in the various plots and motifs that make them up. Motives can be defined as realistic (reproducing events that took place or could take place in reality) and fantastic (depicting supernatural events).
The central motif of a ballad is usually the motif of a crime (murder, suicide).
^ Tragic in ballads. The theme of the ballads is the tragic fate of a person in a feudal society, suffering from enemy raids, social inequality, and family despotism. The tragic in historical ballads is manifested in the disclosure of the plight of the people.
The social ballads reveal the tragic contradictions between those who hold power and the disadvantaged.
The basis of the tragic in family ballads is, on the one hand, the despotism of parents, husband, brother, mother-in-law, and, on the other, in the lack of rights and obedience of children, wife, sister, daughter-in-law.
In a group of love ballads, the victim is usually a girl. The behavior of people in ballads is regarded from the standpoint of an ideal family. Tragic occurs when sharp contradictions are created between strict moral principles and human behavior.
^ Types of tragic heroes. Destroyer. Victim. Suffering character. In the tragic outcome is the poetic essence of the ballad, and the people are aware of this.
In life, tragic conflicts are possible both between strangers and between relatives, but it is more shocking when the participants in the conflict are close people. The characters in ballads who encounter such a conflict are usually family members.
The impact of the tragic in ballads is compassion for the heroes, fear for their fate leads to purification, to spiritual enlightenment.
By the nature of the development of the plot, three types of ballads are distinguished:
^ Open action move- in those ballads where its development begins with the central episode-atrocity ("Vasily and Sophia"). The predicted fatal outcome. tragic recognition. Such plots are built on an unexpected meeting of relatives, according to signs or from inquiries of those who recognize each other.
^ The structure of the folk ballad and the system of artistic means. The structure of the folk ballad and the system of its artistic means are subject to the ideological purposefulness of the genre - the condemnation of evil, violence, untruth, slander, hatred, injustice. This condemnation can be most clearly expressed by contrast. The composition of the genre is determined by the antithetical nature of the plot and the antithetical grouping of images. Features of poetic language. In the system of poetic means of the ballad, the main role is played by the epithet. Permanent epithets often define the personal relationships of the characters. Pictorial epithets are more common than expressive ones. Both simple epithets (formed from single-root words) and double epithets are revealed - less often - triple ones (thin is a pale red maiden).
Main literature
Russian folk poetry. Reader / Comp. Kruglov Yu.G. –M., 1993.- S.369-378
Russian folk poetry. Epic poetry./Comp. Putilov B.N. – L., 1984
Kravtsov N.I., Lazutin S.G. Russian oral folk art. – M., 1983.- S.189-199.
Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore. Textbook for higher educational institutions. - M., 2002. –S.267-277.
additional literature
Balashov D.M. The history of the development of the Russian ballad genre. Petrozavodsk, 1986
Kulagina A.V. Russian folk ballad. - M., 1977
Propp V.Ya. Poetics of folklore. –M., 1998.- P.92-139