The ballad genre in Russian literature. What is a ballad? Famous modern ballads

The ballad genre in Russian literature

Ballad- one of the favorite lyrical-epic genres of Russian romantics, which allowed them to completely move away from reality, to create their own fantasy world, opposed to the world of reality. Such great poets as Zhukovsky, Pushkin and Lermontov turned to this genre.

V. A. Zhukovsky, who is rightfully considered the founder of Russian contemplative romanticism, was the first to turn to the ballad. The development of this genre was very important for the self-determination of Russian romanticism. Most of the poet’s ballads are translated (“Lyudmila”, “The Forest Tsar”, “Ivikov Cranes” and others), but they give the impression of being original.

Many of Zhukovsky’s ballads are characterized by the poetics of horror and an atmosphere of mystery. In this regard, constant images arise: the moon, crows, owls, coffins, shrouds, the dead.

The moon glows dimly in the twilight of the fog...

"Svetlana"
Your house is a tomb; the groom is a dead man.

"Lyudmila"
The raven croaks: sadness!
"Svetlana"

Ballads often take place around midnight. The characters are constantly in a state of horror and fear.

The world of ballads is built on the antithesis: good - evil.

Ok, in “Svetlana” good triumphs over the forces of evil, all horrors and nightmares turn out to be just a dream. And the heroine of another ballad, Lyudmila, is punished for grumbling about fate. It should be noted here that there is a certain moralistic element in Zhukovsky’s ballads, but didacticism does not reduce their romantic pathos.

The motif of rock, which runs through all the work of the poet, is important. Thus, in ballads life is shown as a constant opposition to fate, as a duel between a person and circumstances, we see the inevitability of retribution. The basis of the ballad plot is to overcome the barrier between the real and the other world.

Zhukovsky often turned to images of the feudal Middle Ages and antiquity. They allowed him to rise above the surrounding reality and be transported into the world of fantasy, in this way he escaped from reality, like all romantics.

Translating Ballads, Zhukovsky retained many of the features of the original, but focused his attention on the most important stages of the plot. Thus, in the ballad “Lyudmila” Zhukovsky conveys a greater degree of thoughtfulness, strengthens the moralistic element, and affirms the idea of ​​humility before fate. And in “Svetlana” it goes even further, it moves away from the original (“Lenora” by Burger), the national flavor is enhanced, which is created by the details of everyday life, pictures of Russian nature. In the ballad “The Forest King” we see a different image of the king from Goethe’s: “He wears a dark crown, with a thick beard.”

A characteristic feature of transfers Ballads Zhukovsky is that they are Russified. For example, “Lyudmila” is a translation of Burger’s “Lenora,” but the action is moved to the Muscovite kingdom of the 16th-17th centuries, and the main character is Lyudmila, a Russian girl. In the ballad “Svetlana” we see even more Russian features: a description of fortune-telling “on Epiphany evening”, omens and customs, and elements of folklore (“planked gates”, “greyhounds”). Later (in 1831) Zhukovsky again turned to this ballad and wrote a ballad of the same name (“Lenora”), but this time quite close to the original.

So, it is characteristic of Zhukovsky’s ballad creativity that most of his works in this genre are translated. But he introduces national Russian characteristics into them. In Zhukovsky's ballads, it is not the plot that is important, but the mood that the events evoke.

At a certain stage of his work, Pushkin, like Zhukovsky, was a romantic. It was during this period that he wrote the ballad “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” (1822). The material for the work was an event taken from medieval history, as well as many subjects Ballads Zhukovsky. The main motive is also similar - the motive of predetermination of fate. But there are also important differences between the ballads of Pushkin and Zhukovsky. First of all, Alexander Sergeevich’s poems are written on a Russian historical plot, while the material Ballads Zhukovsky is, as a rule, the European Middle Ages. An important role is played by the fact that the plot of “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” is based on a chronicle story, and Pushkin tries to be historically accurate. To do this, he introduces historical realities:

Your shield is on the gates of Constantinople...

The poet shows ancient customs and traditions, which gives Pushkin's ballad an air of authenticity. Compared to historical Ballads of Zhukovsky“The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” seems more national and more folk.

In connection with the theme of inevitable fate, such images as a skull, bones, and a coffin snake arise:
From the dead head the grave snake, Hissing, meanwhile crawled out...

So, Ballad of Pushkin historically reliable, that is, we can say that, in comparison with Zhukovsky’s ballads, it is closest to reality. The main thing in this work is that a person is not able to change what is destined for him.

Continuing traditions Zhukovsky, Lermontov Also refers to Ballad genre(“Airship”, “The Glove” and others). Lermontov rarely turns to themes from the Middle Ages. Ballad"Air-
New Ship" is dedicated to Napoleon. The main motive is the motive of loneliness:
But in the bloom of hope and strength, his royal son faded away, And for a long time, waiting for him, the emperor stood alone...

Just as in Zhukovsky’s ballads, we see a mystical landscape: night, stars, rocks - romantic images appear, loved by both poets (grave, coffin, dead man), we find ourselves in a fantasy world, far from reality.

Like most BalladsZhukovsky, "Airship" is a translation (from Zeidlid).

Ballads are mainly written on subjects taken from the past, and various means are used to convey the corresponding mood. The language of ballads is also subject to this. Poets use various epithets and metaphors, and in Ballads of Zhukovsky and Pushkin there are archaisms, folklore, fairy-tale elements.

Thus, most of the ballads of Russian literature of the early 19th century were translations of the ballads of Western European romantics, but on Russian soil they acquired a number of features. The ballad genre plays an important role in the development of Russian romanticism and occupies a significant place in the works of V. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov.

Among the genres of world literature, ballads stand out, which romantic poets loved to turn to. Initially, the genre originated in the poetry of the Middle Ages, but later it was rethought and acquired a new sound and meaning. We invite you to get acquainted with the key features of a ballad that will help distinguish it from other poetic works.

Distinctive features

Robert Burns is considered to be the creator of the literary ballad, who actively turned to folk stories, but put them in a more correct poetic form. His works harmoniously intertwine the features of the song itself and a fascinating story with a plot. What are the main features of a ballad identified by literary scholars?

• The author's feelings or sensations of the characters are expressed clearly and expressively.
• A plot is required, but in some cases it can be replaced by dialogue in which some action is present.
• An element of mystery, mysticism, and something unknown is often used, this gives the text a special sound. Examples of such text construction can be found in Zhukovsky (for example, “Svetlana”, “Lenora” - the author’s translation of the work of the same name by Burger).
• Often the action takes place against the backdrop of a striking landscape: incredibly beautiful or fantastic.

It is equally important to note that the distinctive feature of the ballad as a literary genre is the combination of epic and lyrical principles in a single text, often small in volume.

Difference from other genres

Let's consider how the ballad differs from similar genres, epics and fairy tales. For convenience, the material is presented in table form.

Using the table, you can understand the characteristics of a ballad and quickly distinguish works of this genre from any others.

Texts by Zhukovsky

This romantic poet loved the genre in question so much that he was jokingly nicknamed the “balladeer.” He has written a huge number of translations and his own texts, which are still interesting to the reader thanks to his simple style and fascinating plot. What are the main features of Zhukovsky’s ballads that can be identified?

• In many tests, the motive of the struggle between evil and good is heard, and the author’s sympathies are on the side of the latter, but victory often goes to negative characters (the girl Lyudmila in the work of the same name died only because she wanted to stay with her lover forever).
• The presence of otherworldly powers, a mystical component (fortune telling, ghosts, fantastic creatures - all this makes the texts interesting for the modern reader).
• A large number of dialogues that make the perception of the text even easier.
• The description of nature plays a special role; sometimes the landscape becomes a kind of character.

The hallmark of love ballads is deep penetration and expression in the poetic text of the subtlest shades of feelings.

Let's give an example from “Svetlana”:

How can I, girlfriends, sing?

Dear friend is far away;

I'm destined to die

Lonely in sadness.

The year has flown by - no news;

He doesn't write to me;

Oh! and for them only the light is red,

Only the heart breathes for them...

Or won't you remember me?

Where, which side are you on?

Where is your abode?

I pray and shed tears!

Quench my sorrow

Comforter angel.

The text conveys all of Svetlana’s experiences, her melancholy, doubts and hope that her beloved will eventually return to her.

"Forest King"

Let us consider the signs of a ballad in “The Forest Tsar” by Zhukovsky, a small work built in the form of a dialogue. What features allow us to classify the text as a ballad?

• The presence of a plot that has a certain dynamics.
• Great role of dialogues.
• Expression of feelings: reading the ballad, you begin to experience the horror that the child and his father feel from the presence of the Forest King.
• The mystical component is the king himself, the death of the baby.

Finally, despite the fact that the work is complete in meaning, it retains an element of mystery. Such signs of a ballad can be found in “The Forest Tsar” by Zhukovsky.

Ballad is an amazing genre that has now undeservedly lost its popularity. These poetic texts allow you to talk about an unusual event and express your attitude towards the characters in the story.

The term “ballad” comes from a Provençal word and means “dance song.” Ballads arose in the Middle Ages. By origin, ballads are associated with traditions, folk legends, and combine the features of a story and a song. Many ballads about a folk hero named Robin Hood existed in England in the 14th and 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 feature bright heroes with clearly defined characters.

The creator of the literary ballad genre was 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 human powers do not always provide the opportunity to answer all questions and become the absolute master of one’s destiny. Therefore, often literary ballads are a plot poem about fate, for example, the ballad “The 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 Groom”, “The Drowned Man”, “The Raven Flies to the Raven”, “Once upon a time there lived a poor knight...”. His cycle of “Songs of the Western Slavs” can also be classified as a ballad genre.

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov has some ballads. This is the "Airship" from Seydlitz, "The Sea Princess".

Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy also used the ballad genre in his work. He calls his ballads on themes from his native antiquity epics ("Alyosha Popovich", "Ilya Muromets", "Sadko" and others).

Entire sections of their poems were called ballads, using this term more freely by A.A. Fet, K.K. Sluchevsky, V.Ya. Bryusov. In his “Experiments,” Bryusov, speaking about the ballad, points to only two of his ballads of the traditional lyric-epic type: “The Abduction of Bertha” and “Divination.”

A number of comic ballad parodies were left by Vl. Soloviev (“The Mysterious Sexton”, “The Autumn Walk of Knight Ralph” and others)

The events of the turbulent 20th century once again brought to life the genre of literary ballads. E. Bagritsky's ballad "Watermelon", although it does not tell the story of the turbulent events of the revolution, was born precisely of the revolution, the romance of that time.

Features of the ballad as a genre:

presence of a plot (there is a climax, beginning and denouement)

combination of the real and the fantastic

romantic (unusual) landscape

mystery motive

the plot can be replaced by dialogue

brevity

combination of lyrical and epic principles

This is a ballad lyric-epic folklore and literary genre.

1. In French poetry, a poetic form of three stanzas with the same rhyme scheme and a refrain at the end;
2. A song or instrumental piece with a dramatic plot.

The plot of the ballad, which often involves tragic events, is based on folklore: it is associated with traditions, folk beliefs, fairy tales and legends; The genre combines the characteristics of a story and a song, which determines the spread of musical ballads. During the period of sentimentalism and romanticism, the ballad is one of the main genres of poetry.

The emergence and development of the ballad

The ballad appeared in medieval France at the end of the 13th century., her term is first applied to Provençal poetry. Originally a ballad in the Middle Ages, it was a folk dance song popularized by troubadours and trouvères; later in the culture of Western Europe - a narrative song or poem of a social, historical, mythical or heroic nature with an element of fantasy.

The classical literary form of the ballad is determined towards the end of the French Middle Ages and is a lyric poem of three stanzas, each of which consists of eight 8-syllable or ten 10-syllable verses, with the same three or four rhymes in a certain sequence, repeated from stanza to stanza. Examples of the ballad genre in the 14th century. left by the French poet and composer, author of about two hundred ballads, Guillaume de Machaut.

Example of a ballad

In the 15th century The French poet Francois Villon significantly expanded the theme of ballads, often touching on historical, political and patriotic themes:
Prince, may the mighty Aeolus take away
The one who betrays his native land,
Dishonors the sanctity of friendly alliances,
And forever be cursed the one
Who will encroach on the homeland of the French!
(excerpt from “The Ballad of Curses on the Enemies of France”, translation by F. Mendelssohn)

In the sixteenth century. The French ballad is used less and less; in the 17th century, simple and witty ballads were written by the famous French fabulist La Fontaine, but the ballad genre finally returned to French poetry in the 17th-19th centuries. thanks to the romantic poets J. de Nerval, V. Hugo and others, it established itself as one of the main genres of poetry of romanticism and sentimentalism.

Ballad in Italy

The medieval ballad entered Italy and served as a lyric poem in the 13th–14th centuries. Unlike the original French ballad, the Italian ballad was not associated with a folk dance song; its form was somewhat modified, including a change in stanza and the elimination of the refrain. Such ballads take place in the works of D. Alighieri, F. Petrarch and others.

Ballad in England, Scotland

In the 18th century, recordings of ballads from the peoples of England and Scotland first appeared. The ballad emerged as a special lyrical genre of Anglo-Scottish poetry in the 14th–16th centuries. A whole cycle of folk ballads, more than forty works, developed around the kind and brave defender, the folk hero Robin Hood, who embodied the strength and invincibility of the English people, their love of freedom and determination, their readiness to always come to the rescue, and sympathy for the grief of others. Eg:
– I remember you and your sons.
I have been in their debt for a long time.
I swear on my head, said Robin Hood,
I will help you in trouble!
(excerpt from the ballad “Robin Hood and the Sheriff”, translation by S. Marshak)

During the period of romanticism, the Anglo-Scottish literary tradition of the ballad, reproducing old legends, was continued by R. Burns, W. Scott, T. Campbell and others. Lyric-epic poems written in the ballad genre were published in the poetry collection “Monuments of Ancient English Poetry” (1765) by the English writer and priest T. Percy and represent a valuable Anglo-Scottish cultural heritage.

Ballad in Germany

The meaning of the ballad in Germany corresponded to its origin: a poem written in the spirit of old English and Scottish folk songs.
The development of the ballad in German literature occurred in the 18th-19th centuries, the heyday of romanticism, when ballads by F. Schiller, G. A. Burger, L. Uland, J. V. Goethe, G. Heine and others were written, one of the most famous among which is the tragic ballad of J. V. Goethe “The Forest King” (1782).

Ballad in Russia

Due to the influence of German romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century, the ballad genre began its development in Russia. Its main representative was the outstanding Russian poet, “ballad writer” V. A. Zhukovsky, whose translations included ballads by Austro-German, Scottish and English authors. The most famous ballad by V. A. Zhukovsky “Svetlana” (1813) is a free adaptation of the ballad “Lenora” by G. Burger. The work is written in the form of a dream, tragic motives predominate in it:
ABOUT! don't know these terrible dreams
You, my Svetlana...
Be the creator, protect her!
No sadness or wound
(excerpt from the ballad “Svetlana”)

In Russian poetry, the ballad genre is also represented by A. S. Pushkin (“Song of the Prophetic Oleg”), M. Yu. Lermontov (“Airship”), A. K. Tolstoy (“Ilya Muromets”), A. A. Fetom (“Hero and Leander”), etc.

The word ballad comes from French ballade, and from Provençal balada, which means dance song.