The theme of oral folk art in Russian literature is extremely diverse; there are numerous genres and types of folklore. All of them were formed gradually, as a result of the life and creative activity of the people, manifested over several hundred years. Currently, there are specific types of folklore in literature. Oral folk art is that unique layer of knowledge on the basis of which thousands of classical works were built.

Interpretation of the term

Folklore is oral folk art, endowed with ideological depth and highly artistic qualities; it includes all poetic and prose genres, customs and traditions, accompanied by verbal artistic creativity. Folklore genres are classified in different ways, but basically there are several genre groups:

1. Labor songs - formed in the process of work, for example, sowing, plowing, haymaking. They represent a variety of shouts, signals, chants, parting words, and songs.
2. Calendar folklore - conspiracies, signs.
3. Wedding folklore.
4. Funeral lamentations, recruiting lamentations.
5. Non-ritual folklore is small folklore genres, proverbs, fables, signs and sayings.
6. Oral prose - traditions, legends, tales and incidents.
7. Children's folklore - pestushki, nursery rhymes, lullabies.
8. Song epic (heroic) - epics, poems, songs (historical, military, spiritual).
9. Artistic creativity - magical, everyday tales and tales about animals, ballads, romances, ditties.
10. Folklore theater - raek, nativity scene, mummers, performances with dolls.

Let's look at the most common types folklore in more detail.

Labor songs

This is a song genre distinguishing feature which is mandatory accompaniment labor process. Labor songs are a way of organizing collective, social work, setting the rhythm using a simple melody and text. For example: “Wow, let’s get a little more friendly to make it more fun.” Such songs helped to start and finish work, united the working squad and were spiritual helpers in the hard physical labor of the people.

Calendar folklore

This type of oral folk art belongs to the ritual traditions of the calendar cycle. The life of a peasant working on the land is inextricably linked with weather conditions. That is why a huge number of rituals appeared that were performed to attract good luck, prosperity, large offspring of livestock, successful farming, etc. The most revered holidays of the calendar were considered Christmas, Maslenitsa, Easter, Epiphany and Trinity. Each celebration was accompanied by songs, chants, incantations and ritual actions. Let us remember the famous custom of singing songs to Kolyada on the night before Christmas: “Cold is not a problem, Kolyada is knocking on the house. Christmas is coming to the house, bringing a lot of joy.”

Wedding folklore

Each place had its own types of folklore, but mostly they were lamentations, sentences and songs. Wedding folklore includes song genres that accompanied three main rituals: matchmaking, farewell of parents to the bride and wedding celebration. For example: “Your product, our merchant, is simply a miracle!” The ritual of handing over the bride to the groom was very colorful and was always accompanied by both drawn-out and short cheerful songs. At the wedding itself, the songs did not stop; they mourned their single life, wished for love and family well-being.

Non-ritual folklore (small genres)

This group of oral folk art includes all types of small genres of folklore. However, this classification is ambiguous. For example, many of the types belong to children's folklore, such as pesters, lullabies, riddles, nursery rhymes, teasers, etc. At the same time, some researchers divide all folklore genres into two groups: calendar-ritual and non-ritual.

Let's consider the most popular types of small genres of folklore.

A proverb is a rhythmic expression, a wise saying that carries a generalized thought and has a conclusion.

Signs - a short verse or expression telling about those signs that will help predict natural phenomena, weather.

A proverb is a phrase, often with humorous twist, illuminating a phenomenon of life, a situation.

A saying is a short verse addressing natural phenomena, living beings, and surrounding objects.

A tongue twister is a small phrase, often rhymed, with words that are difficult to pronounce, designed to improve diction.

Oral prose

Oral prose includes the following types of Russian folklore.

Traditions are stories about historical events in folk retelling. The heroes of legends are warriors, kings, princes, etc.

Legends are myths, epic stories about heroic deeds, people covered with honors and glory; as a rule, this genre is endowed with pathos.

Bylichki - short stories, which tell about the hero’s meeting with some kind of “evil spirits”, real incidents from the life of the narrator or his friends.

Byvalshchina - a brief summary of what really happened once and with someone, while the narrator is not a witness

Children's folklore

This genre is represented by the most in different forms- poetic, song. Kinds children's folklore- something that accompanied the child from birth until he grew up.

Pestushki are short rhymes or songs that accompany the very first days of a newborn. With the help of them they nursed and nurtured children, for example: “The nightingale sings, sings, pretty, and pretty.”

Nursery rhymes are small melodious poems intended for playing with children.

Stretch, stretch,

Rotok - talker,

Handles - grips,

Walking legs.

Calls - poetic and song appeals to nature and animals. For example: “Red summer, come, bring warm days.”

A joke is a short fairy tale poem sung to a child, a short story about the world around him.

Lullabies - short songs, which parents hum to their child at night to lull them to sleep.

Riddle - poetic or prose sentences that require solving.

Other types of children's folklore are counting rhymes, teasers and fables. They are extremely popular in our time.

Song epic

Heroic epic demonstrates oldest species folklore, he talks about events that once happened in song form.

An epic is an old song told in a solemn but leisurely style. Glorifies the heroes and tells about their heroic deeds for the benefit of the state, the Russian fatherland. about Dobrynya Nikitich, Volga Buslaivaich and others.

Historical songs are a kind of transformation of the epic genre, where the style of presentation is less eloquent, but the poetic form of the narrative is preserved. For example, “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg.”

Artistic creativity

This group includes epic and song genres created in the spirit of folk and artistic creativity.

A fairy tale is a short or long epic narrative, one of the most common genres of oral folk art about fictional events and heroes. All this is folklore, the types of fairy tales in it are as follows: magical, everyday and reflect those ideas about the world, good, evil, life, death, nature that existed among the people. For example, good always defeats evil, and there are wonderful mythical creatures in the world.

Ballads - poetic songs, song genre musical creativity.

Anecdotes are a special type of epic narration about comic situations in people's lives. Initially they did not exist in the form in which we know them. These were stories that were complete in meaning.

Fables - a short narrative about impossible, incredible events, something that was fiction from beginning to end.

A chastushka is a small song, usually a quatrain with humorous content, telling about events and incidents.

Folklore theater

Street performances were very common among the people, the subjects for them were various genres, but most often of a dramatic nature.

Nativity scene - a variety dramatic work, designed for street puppet theater.

Rayok is a type of picture theater, a device in the form of a box with changing drawings; the stories told reflect oral types of folklore.

The presented classification is the most common among researchers. However, it is worth understanding that the types of Russian folklore complement each other, and sometimes do not fit into the generally accepted classification. Therefore, when studying the issue, a simplified version is most often used, where only 2 groups of genres are distinguished - ritual and non-ritual folklore.

Collective artistic creative activity, reflecting the life of an ethnos, its ideals, its views, has absorbed the folk art of Russia. The people created and circulated from generation to generation epics, fairy tales, legends - this is a genre of poetry, original music sounded - plays, tunes, songs, the favorite festive spectacle was theatrical performances - mainly it was a puppet theater. But dramas and satirical plays. Russian folk art also penetrated deeply into dance, art, arts and crafts. Russian dances also originated in ancient times. Russian folk art has erected historical background for modern artistic culture, has become a source artistic traditions, an exponent of the self-awareness of the people.

Orally and in writing

Written literary works appeared much later than those oral gems that filled the precious box of folklore since pagan times. Those same proverbs, sayings, riddles, songs and round dances, spells and conspiracies, epics and fairy tales that Russian folk art has cut to a brilliant shine. The ancient Russian epic reflected the spirituality of our people, traditions, real events, features of everyday life, revealed and preserved the exploits of historical characters. So, for example, Vladimir the Red Sun, everyone’s favorite prince, was based on a real prince - Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the hero Dobrynya Nikitich - the uncle of Vladimir the First, boyar Dobrynya. The types of oral folk art are extremely diverse.

With the advent of Christianity in the tenth century, great Russian literature and its history begin. Gradually, with its help, the Old Russian language took shape and became unified. The first books were handwritten, decorated with gold and other precious metals, gems, and enamel. They were very expensive, so people didn’t know them for a long time. However, with the strengthening of religion, books penetrated into the most remote corners of the Russian land, since the people needed to know the works of Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom and other religious translated literature. The original Russian one is now represented by chronicles, biographies of saints (lives), rhetorical teachings ("Words", one of them - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"), walks (or walks, travel notes) and many other genres that are not so well known . The fourteenth century produced a number of exceptionally significant folklore monuments. Some types of oral folk art, such as epics, became written. This is how “Sadko” and “Vasily Buslaev” appeared, recorded by the storytellers.

Examples of folk art

Oral creativity served as a reservoir of folk memory. Heroic Confrontation Tatar-Mongol yoke and to other invaders it was sung from mouth to mouth. It was on the basis of such songs that stories were created that have survived to this day: about the battle on Kalka, where “seventy great and brave” gain our freedom, about Evpatiy Kolovrat, who defended Ryazan from Batu, about Mercury, who defended Smolensk. Russia preserved the facts against the Baskak Shevkal, about Shchelkan Dudentievich, and these songs were sung far beyond the borders of the Tver principality. Compilers of epics conveyed the events of the Kulikovo Field to distant descendants, and old images of Russian heroes were still used by the people for folk works dedicated to the fight against the Golden Horde.

Until the end of the tenth century, the inhabitants of Kievo-Novgorod Rus' did not yet know writing. However, this pre-literary period brought to this day golden literary works passed on from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation. And now Russian folk art festivals are held, where the same songs, tales and epics of a thousand years ago are heard. Ancient genres that still resonate today include epics, songs, fairy tales, legends, riddles, sayings, and proverbs. Most of those that have come down to us folklore works- poetry. The poetic form makes it easy to memorize texts, and therefore, over the course of many centuries, folklore works have been passed down through generations, changing according to expediency, polishing from one talented storyteller to another.

Small genres

Small-sized works belong to small genres of folklore. These are parables: puns, tongue twisters, proverbs, jokes, riddles, signs, sayings, proverbs, what oral folk art gave us. Riddles are one of such artistic manifestations of folk poetry that originated in orally. A hint or allegory, circumlocution, roundabout speech - an allegorical description in a brief form of any object - this is what a riddle is according to V. I. Dahl. In other words, an allegorical image of the phenomena of reality or an object that has to be guessed. Even here, oral folk art provided for multivariance. Riddles can be descriptions, allegories, questions, tasks. Most often they consist of two parts - a question and an answer, a riddle and a guess, interconnected. They are diverse in topic and are closely related to work and everyday life: animals and vegetable world, nature, tools and activities.

Proverbs and sayings that have survived to this day from the most ancient times are apt expressions and wise thoughts. Most often they are also two-part, where the parts are proportional and often rhyme. The meaning of sayings and proverbs is usually direct and figurative, containing morality. We often see diversity in proverbs and sayings, that is, many versions of a proverb with the same moral. a generalizing meaning that is higher. The oldest of them date back to the twelfth century. The history of Russian folk art notes that many proverbs have survived to this day shortened, sometimes having lost even their original meaning. So, they say: “He ate the dog on this matter,” implying high professionalism, but the Russian people in the old days continued: “Yes, he choked on his tail.” I mean, no, not that tall.

Music

Ancient types of folk music in Russia are based primarily on the song genre. A song is a musical and verbal genre at the same time, either a lyrical or narrative work, which is intended purely for singing. songs can be lyrical, dance, ritual, historical, and they all express both the aspirations of an individual person and the feelings of many people; they are always in tune with the social internal state.

Are there love experiences, thoughts about fate, a description of social or family life- this should always be interesting to listeners, and without inclusion in the song state of mind as possible more people will not listen to the singer. People are very fond of the technique of parallelism when the mood lyrical hero transferred to nature. “Why are you standing there, swaying, “No night has a bright month,” for example. And it’s almost rare to come across folk song, in which this parallelism is absent. Even in historical songs - "Ermak", "Stepan Razin" and others - it constantly appears. This makes the emotional sound of the song much stronger, and the song itself is perceived much brighter.

Epic and fairy tale

The genre of folk art took shape much earlier than the ninth century, and the term “epic” appeared only in the nineteenth century and denoted a heroic song of an epic nature. We know epics sung in the ninth century, although they were probably not the first, they simply did not reach us, having been lost through the centuries. Every child knows well the epic heroes - heroes who embodied the ideal of people's patriotism, courage and strength: the merchant Sadko and Ilya Muromets, the giant Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich. The plot of the epic is most often filled with real-life situations, but it is also significantly enriched with fantastic fictions: they have a teleport (they can instantly cover distances from Murom to Kyiv), they can defeat an army alone (“if you wave to the right, there will be a street, if you wave to the left, there will be an alley.” ), and, of course, monsters: three-headed dragons - Gorynychi Snakes. Types of folk art in Russia oral genres this is not limited to. There are also fairy tales and legends.

Epics differ from fairy tales in that latest events completely fictitious. There are two types of fairy tales: everyday and magical. In everyday life, a variety of but ordinary people are depicted - princes and princesses, kings and kings, soldiers and workers, peasants and priests in the most ordinary settings. A fairy tales They always attract fantastic forces, obtain artifacts with wonderful properties, and so on. The fairy tale is usually optimistic, which is why it differs from the plot of others genre works. In fairy tales, only good usually wins; evil forces are always defeated and ridiculed in every possible way. Legend as opposed to fairy tale - oral history about a miracle, a fantastic image, an incredible event, which should be perceived as authentic by the narrator and listeners. Pagan legends have reached us about the creation of the world, the origin of countries, seas, peoples, and the exploits of both fictional and real heroes.

Today

Contemporary folk art in Russia cannot represent precisely ethnic culture, since this culture is pre-industrial. Any modern settlement - from the smallest village to a metropolis - is a fusion of various ethnic groups, and the natural development of each without the slightest mixing and borrowing is simply impossible. What is now called folk art is rather a deliberate stylization, folklorization, behind which stands professional art, which is inspired by ethnic motives.

Sometimes this is amateur creativity, like mass culture, and the work of artisans. In fairness, it should be noted that only folk crafts - decorative and applied arts - can be considered the purest and still developing. There is also, in addition to professional, ethnic creativity, although production has long been put on an assembly line and the opportunities for improvisation are scanty.

People and creativity

What do people mean by the word people? The population of the country, the nation. But, for example, dozens of distinctive ethnic groups live in Russia, and folk art has common features that are present in the sum of all ethnic groups. Chuvash, Tatars, Mari, even the Chukchi - don’t musicians, artists, architects borrow from each other in modern creativity? But their common features are comprehended elite culture. And therefore, in addition to the nesting doll, we have a certain export product, which is our joint business card. A minimum of opposition, a maximum of general unification within the nation, this is the direction contemporary creativity peoples of Russia. Today it is:

• ethnic (folklorized) creativity,
• amateur creativity,
• creativity of the common people,
• amateur creativity.

Craving for aesthetic activity will be alive as long as a person lives. And that is why art flourishes today.

Art, creativity hobby

Art is practiced by the elite, where extraordinary talent is required, and works are an indicator of the level aesthetic development humanity. It has very little to do with folk art, except for inspiration: all composers, for example, wrote symphonies using the melodies of folk songs. But this is by no means a folk song. Property traditional culture- creativity as an indicator of the development of a team or an individual. Such a culture can develop successfully and in many ways. And the result popular culture, like a master’s pattern, presented to the people for feasible repetition, is a hobby, an aesthetics of this kind, which is designed to relieve stress from the mechanicalness of modern life.

Here you can notice some signs of the original beginning, which draws themes and means of expression from artistic folk art. These are quite common technological processes: weaving, embroidery, carving, forging and casting, decorative painting, embossing, and so on. True folk art did not know the contrasts of changes in artistic styles a whole millennium. Now this has been significantly enriched in modern folk art. The degree of stylization changes as well as the nature of the interpretation of all the old borrowed motifs.

Applied arts

Russian folk arts and crafts have been known since ancient times. This is perhaps the only species that has not undergone fundamental changes to this day. These items have been used to decorate and improve home and public life since ancient times. Rural crafts mastered even quite complex designs that were quite suitable in modern life.

Although now all these items carry not so much a practical, but an aesthetic load. This includes jewelry, whistle toys, and interior decorations. Various areas and regions had their own arts, crafts and handicrafts. The most famous and striking are the following.

Shawls and samovars

The Orenburg shawl includes shawls, warm and heavy, and weightless scarves and web scarves. Knitting patterns that came from afar are unique; they identify eternal truths in the understanding of harmony, beauty, and order. The goats of the Orenburg region are also special, they produce unusual fluff, it can be spun thinly and firmly. Tula masters are a match for the eternal knitters of Orenburg. They were not discoverers: the first copper samovar was found in excavations in the Volga region city of Dubovka, the find dates back to the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Tea took root in Russia in the seventeenth century. But the first samovar workshops appeared in Tula. This unit is still held in high esteem, and drinking tea from a samovar on pine cones is quite an ordinary occurrence in dachas. They are extremely varied in shape and decoration - barrels, vases, with painted ligature, embossing, decorations on handles and taps, genuine works of art, and also extremely convenient in everyday life. Already at the beginning of the nineteenth century, up to 1200 samovars were produced in Tula per year! They were sold by weight. Brass ones cost sixty-four rubles per pood, and red copper ones cost ninety. This is a lot of money.

Throughout our lives we are surrounded by different objects and things. These are clothes, dishes, furniture... They represent our second, man-made nature, reflecting the level social development influencing spirituality. Therefore it has great importance, what toys our children play with and what things serve us in everyday life. In the old days, people surrounded themselves with objects that today appear to us as Russian folk art - a towel embroidered with flowers, colorful nesting dolls, woven bright scarves, wooden and clay dishes decorated with ornaments, dolls sewn from fabric.

Today we are surrounded by household items made on an assembly line. We don’t cut out a kitchen item as a gift for mom and don’t decorate it with burnt ornaments, don’t embroider towels, don’t knit socks, because all this can be bought ready-made, beautiful and new. But for some reason ours spirituality sad and joyless. We don’t sing songs to our children before bed and we increasingly suffer from depression, having forgotten how to create and make things for the joy of our loved ones. But at the same time, we vaguely remember that Russian was once the basis for the education of the younger generation.

Today we make money. Returning from work, we buy food along the way. We come home and hurry to turn on the TV. Everything seems to be fine, but some kind of emptiness oppresses us. We lack spirituality and aesthetics in life, so handmade crafts are again becoming very fashionable in everyone developed countries. The higher the level of human development, the dearer our Russian folk art is to him.

Foreigners go to Russia to get acquainted with the arts and crafts wealth of our people. Ceramics, lace, Khokhloma, palekh, painted boxes and painted eggs - this is just a small list of the wealth that represents Russian folk art- hand-made, cheerful, with a colorful character. Nature itself chose the best from these nuggets and preserved them for centuries, passing on unique traditions to us.

Even crafts made by a less than skillful hand, drawings on popular prints or birch bark have amazing power and convey a miraculous sense of beauty, because unknown craftsmen made these objects with love in order to please their relatives and decorate their difficult life in the harsh northern country.

It conveys to us images formed by people’s worldviews. Even having spotted a plot for his product somewhere, the master adds his vision and soul to it. For example, in the 18th century, nobles began to decorate their palaces with lions, and Nizhny Novgorod woodcarvers spied the appearance of these wonderful animals and decorated their huts with them, carving very good-natured lions on the windowsills, reminiscent of domestic cats with their faces.

Isn't this a confirmation of the rule that Russian folk art does not copy anything? This is always a separate and unique art, with roots in ancient times. While creating, our Russian people believed in good forces and cajoled them. So, embroidering a towel or undershirt, the woman depicted among bright flowers. By popular belief When this bird sings, people live in happiness for many years and do not know grief. Sitting at embroidery or at a weaving loom, the woman sang soulful songs, attracting goodness and happiness into the house.

There is a huge number of works devoted to the forms of manifestation of folklore consciousness and folklore texts. The linguistic, stylistic, ethnographic features of folklore texts are studied; their compositional structure, including images and motifs; the genesis of some folklore genres and folklore works is studied; the question of the essential properties and features of folklore, manifested in folklore texts, is considered; the moral aspect is analyzed folklore creativity and, accordingly, the importance of folklore in the education of the younger generation, as well as much more. In this huge stream of literature about folklore, one is struck by the multiplicity and diversity of its definitions, ranging from folk wisdom and the art of memory and ending with a special form of social consciousness and a means of reflecting and understanding reality. Of course, the variety of definitions of folklore is generated by the complexity of this cultural phenomenon, its constant variability and, as a result, the heterogeneity of forms of manifestation at one or another historical stage in the development of society.

The relevance of turning to folklore consciousness as a way to harmonize a person’s relationship with reality is also explained by the trends that are taking place in the development of modern society. The most pressing of them, threatening the spiritual and physical survival of humanity, are, on the one hand, the development of technogenic civilization with its dominant technocratic thinking and the principle of scientific and technical rationality, which enslaves man and makes him a hostage to the intensification of sociocultural processes in general; on the other hand, the worsening of the environmental crisis on the planet.

Oral folk art and folklore

Epic. Epic as a genre (or group of genres), i.e. a heroic narrative about the past containing a holistic picture folk life and representing in harmonious unity a certain epic world and heroic heroes. The heroic epic exists in both book and oral form, and most book monuments epics have folklore origins; The very features of the genre developed at the folklore stage. Therefore, the heroic epic is often called the folk epic. However, such an identification is not entirely accurate, since the book forms of the epic have their own stylistic and sometimes ideological specificity, and, of course, relate to folk epic ballads, historical legends and songs, folk novel and so on. can be considered a heroic epic only with significant reservations.

The heroic epic has come down to us both in the form of extensive epics, book ("Iliad", "Odyssey", "Mahabharata", "Ramayana", "Beowulf") or oral ("Dzhangar", "Alpamysh", "Manas", and in the form of short “epic songs” (Russian epics, South Slavic youth songs, poems by Edda the Elder), partly grouped into cycles, less often - prose tales.

A fairy tale is one of the main genres of oral folk poetry, an epic, predominantly prosaic work of art of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature with a focus on fiction. A fairy tale refers to different types of oral prose, hence the discrepancy in its definition. genre features. A fairy tale differs from other types of artistic epic in that the storyteller presents it, and listeners perceive it primarily as a poetic invention, a play of fantasy. This, however, does not deprive the fairy tale of its connection with reality, which determines ideological content, language, nature of plots, motifs, images. Many fairy tales reflect primitive social relations and ideas, totemism, animism, etc. Fairy tales that developed under feudalism are characterized by such images as king, prince, knight, king. In the era of capitalism, the interest of storytellers in the topic of money and trade increases; Fairy tales depict the contrast of wealth and poverty, and the motives of class antagonism are increasingly heard. Currently, some fairy tales continue their life in books, others leave folk life or become the property of children, and others continue to interest adult listeners. The fairy tales of the peoples of the world have a lot in common, which is explained by the similar cultural and historical conditions of their lives. At the same time, fairy tales have national characteristics and reflect the way of life of a particular people, their work and life, and natural conditions. Storytellers bring their own individual traits to the tales they perform, which is why most fairy tales are known in many versions.

A legend is originally the life of a saint, written to be read on the day of his memory. The term originated in medieval Catholic writing. In the 13th-15th centuries. in Europe, numerous consolidated collections of legends on Latin, including " Golden Legend” (“Legenda aurea”, 13th century), translated into most Western European languages ​​and becoming a source of plots for epics, dramas, and lyrics. Later, legends - religious and didactic narratives, parables about animals, plants, objects of Christian worship. In modern everyday meaning, a legend is often called, regardless of genre, works that are distinguished by poetic fiction and at the same time claim to be authentic.

Myths are creations of collective national fantasy, generally reflecting reality in the form of sensory-concrete personifications and animate beings, which are considered by the primitive consciousness to be quite real. The specificity of myths appears most clearly in primitive culture, where myths are the equivalent of science, an integral system in terms of which the whole world is perceived and described. Later, when such forms of social consciousness as art, literature, science, religion are isolated from mythology, political ideology etc., they hold a number of mythological models, which are peculiarly rethought when included in new structures; myths are experiencing their second life. Of particular interest is their transformation in literary creativity.

Epics, epic songs, folded by the people into Ancient Rus' and reflecting the historical reality mainly of the 11th-16th centuries. In the process of centuries-long development, epics changed, absorbed events of later times, and sometimes events of more recent times. early era. Epic riches were discovered in the regions of Zaonezhye, Pinega, Mezen, Pechora, and the White Sea coast. From the end of the 18th century. epics attracted the attention of writers and scientists as highly artistic monuments of folk art.

In the center of the epics are images of heroes endowed with high moral qualities, selflessly devoted to the Motherland. In the image of the beloved hero Ilya Muromets, the people created a poetic biography peasant son with his calm self-confidence and strength alien to affectation. He stands at the head of the heroic outpost, blocking the path of enemies (this theme was formed even in the conditions Mongol invasion). Equally poetic are the images of other heroes protecting their native land - Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. The theme of defending the Motherland is naturally merged in epics with the theme of people's life and work. So, the first feat that Ilya Muromets performed after healing was uprooting stumps and clearing a field for arable land. The epic about Volga and Mikul Selyaninovich reflected the eternal dream of the working people about easy plowing, about work that ensures life.

A proverb is a short, rhythmically organized, stable in speech, figurative saying of the people. Has the ability to use multiple meanings based on the principle of analogy. The proposition “They cut down the forest, the chips fly” is interesting not because of its direct meaning, but because it can be applied to other similar situations. The subject of the statement is considered in the light of the generally accepted truth expressed by the proverb. Hence its ideological and emotional character. The compositional division of judgment in proverbs, often supported by rhythm, rhyme, assonance, and alliteration, coincides with the syntactic division.

Riddle is a genre of folk poetry among all peoples of the world; a poetic, often allegorical description of an object or phenomenon. In ancient times it had a cult significance and was associated with beliefs and rituals that prohibited calling objects by their proper names.

Later, the riddle acquires mostly aesthetic and cognitive significance. Serves to test ingenuity. The riddles are distinguished by their variety of themes and richness artistic techniques, they are characterized by compositional clarity, rhyme, the presence of rhythm, and sound writing. In riddles there are comic elements that have social meaning: “The pope is low, there are a hundred rizok on it” (cabbage). The riddle is widely included in other genres of folklore, as well as in literature.

Conclusion

In the process of existence, genres of verbal folklore experience “productive” and “unproductive” periods (“ages”) of their history (emergence, distribution, entry into the mass repertoire, aging, extinction), and this is ultimately associated with social and cultural everyday changes in society. The stability of the existence of folklore texts in folk life is explained not only by their artistic value, but also by the slowness of changes in the lifestyle, worldview, and tastes of their main creators and guardians - the peasants. The texts of folklore works of various genres are changeable (albeit to varying degrees). However, in general, traditionalism has immeasurably greater power in folklore than in professional literary creativity.

The collectivity of verbal literature does not mean its impersonality: talented masters actively influenced not only the creation, but also the dissemination, improvement, or adaptation of texts to the needs of the collective. Under the conditions of division of labor, unique professions of performers of works arose (ancient Greek rhapsodes and aeds, Russian buffoons, Ukrainian kobzars, Kazakh and Kyrgyz akyns, etc.). In some countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, in the Caucasus, transitional forms of verbal folklore developed: works created by certain individuals were distributed orally, but the text changed relatively little, the name of the author was usually known and was often introduced into the text (for example, Toktogul Satylganov in Kyrgyzstan, Sayat-Nova in Armenia).

The richness of genres, themes, images, poetics of verbal folklore is due to the diversity of its social and everyday functions, as well as methods of performance (solo, choir, choir and soloist), combination of text with melody, intonation, movements (singing, singing and dancing, storytelling, acting , dialogue, etc.).

Oral folk art (folklore) is a collection works of art created by the people in the process of oral, collective, non-professional creativity based on traditions. Oral folk art includes fairy tales, heroic epics, proverbs and sayings, riddles, nursery rhymes, songs, etc. A fairy tale is a free retelling of a legend, an epic, just a story, somewhat simplified for perception, often devoid of some semantic aspects, supplemented with magic and miracles , mythical characters. The heroic epic (epics) is very reminiscent of a fairy tale, but unlike it, the epic contains not fictitious, but real heroes (Ilya-Muromets, Sadko, etc.). In the epic, the people glorify bravery, courage, and love for the Motherland. Proverbs and sayings are a source of folk wisdom. They
reflect everyday life, customs, and very often echo fairy tales. This
a form of preserving edification among the people, trusted for thousands of years,
moral teachings, teachings, commandments.

The basis of ancient Russian culture was oral folk art. The most vivid reflection in oral folk art is found Slavic mythology and the most important historical events. Thus, fairy tales are replete with plots in which there are mythical creatures: mermaids, goblin, ghouls - representatives different levels Slavic pantheon. The epics reflected specific historical facts and figures. Epics, a very original and extraordinary cultural phenomenon, provide evidence of cultural level the masses, their education and literacy. There is a point of view on epics as a phenomenon of folklore, reflecting the most general processes of social and political life, and on epic heroes as combining different chronological layers. But there is no reason to attribute epics to some epic period earlier than the era of Kievan Rus. As stated in Lately(I.Ya. Froyanov, Yu.I. Yudin), epics quite adequately reflect the democratic system of Kievan Rus. The most famous is the heroic epic cycle, which glorifies folk heroes, defenders of Rus' - Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikntich, Alyosha Popovich and others.

Associated with the fight against the Mongol-Tatars further development oral folk art. IN epic epic almost no new stories appeared, but it was rethought. The Pechenegs and Polovtsians of ancient Russian epics now began to be identified with the Tatars, they began to be portrayed as stupid, cowardly, boastful rapists, and the Russian heroes - as smart, brave, “vehement” defenders of Rus'. By the 14th century refers to the emergence of new folklore genre - historical song. An example of this is “Song about Shchelkan Dudentievich.” It talks about specific events of 1327 in Tver - the anti-Horde uprising of the townspeople.

Folklore of the 16th century differs from the previous one both in type and content. Along with the existence of genres of previous eras (epics, fairy tales, proverbs, ritual songs, etc.), in the 16th century. The genre of historical song blossoms. Historical legends were also widespread. Songs and legends were usually dedicated to outstanding events of that time - the capture of Kazan, the campaign in Siberia, wars in the West, or outstanding personalities- Ivan the Terrible, Ermak Timofeevich.

The historical song about the campaign against Kazan glorifies the skill of Russian warrior-gunners who made a “cunning” tunnel under the city walls. Ivan the Terrible himself is portrayed in it as an intelligent ruler and commander. His folklore image is characterized by idealization. So, in one of the songs, the people bitterly mourn him as the people's intercessor: “You rise, rise, you, our Orthodox Tsar... Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, you are our father!” However, folklore also reflected other features of it: cruelty, power, ruthlessness. In this regard, Novgorod and Pskov songs and legends are characteristic. In one of the songs, Tsarevich Ivan reminds his father: “And on the street you were driving, father, you whipped everyone, and stabbed them, and put them on stakes.”

In the songs about the conquest of Siberia, which existed mainly among the Cossacks, the main character is Ermak Timofeevich - a daring and brave ataman of free people, the people's leader. His image combined the features of the heroic heroes of the Russian epic with the features of people's leaders who fought against social injustice.

Interesting songs about the heroic defense of Pskov during the Livonian War. Having been defeated, the Polish king Stefan Batory swears on his own behalf and on behalf of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to ever attack Rus'.

A song about Kostryuk was widespread during the time of Ivan the Terrible. It tells about the victory of an ordinary Russian man (“a hillbilly peasant”) over the foreign prince Kostriuk, who boasted of his strength, but became a laughing stock for the entire people.