A fable is a small poem of a satirical character, in which certain vices of society are ridiculed and criticized in allegorical form. The founder of the genre is considered to be the Greek slave Aesop. It was he, not being able, due to his dependent position, to express directly to the offenders anything that he wanted, and he came up with a veiled form to express his attitude to certain people, their actions, and character traits. The traditions of Aesop were continued by the French poet Lafontaine, Moldavian - Dmitry and Antioch Cantemira. And in Russian literature A.P. Sumarokov and I.A. Krylov developed them and raised to a new height.
Primary source of history
Krylov wrote his fable “The Wolf and the Lamb” based on a plot invented by Aesop. In this way, he creatively reworked more than one famous story, creating on its basis an original, original work. Aesop's story is as follows: a lamb drank water from a river. A wolf saw him and decided to eat. Here are just an excuse I tried to choose more decently. At first, the wolf rebuked the baby that he muddied the water - you can’t drink! The lamb was discouraged by the fact that it barely wet its lips, and it is located downstream of the wolf. Then the predator accused the opponent of defiling him - the wolf - his father. But the lamb even then found what to answer: he was not even a year old, by age he could not do this. Wolf tired of pulling a mask of decency. He said openly: no matter how cleverly you make excuses - I will eat anyway! The moral of the story is obvious: no matter how you try to prove your innocence, the better you do it, the less chance you will win. Of course, if the enemy decided your fate in advance. Aesop's virtue is not triumphant, but defeated.
Option Krylova
The poem "The Wolf and the Lamb" Krylov created in 1808, it was published in the "Dramatic Bulletin". And its author began right away with morality, that is, the logical conclusion that readers should have come to the end of their acquaintance with the text: “The strong is always to blame for the powerless ...”. So that his “Wolf and the Lamb” does not turn out to be unfounded, Krylov relies on historical perspectives, emphasizing that there is a “darkness of examples” to this principle. But in the following lines, he contrasts what was said by his own installation: "... we do not write history." It turns out that the fable is a manifestation of an individual case. And generally accepted postulates are precisely verified by such specific cases.
Artistic features
Krylov’s fable “The Wolf and the Lamb” is an epic work. This can be seen, for example, from such a detail: the
author’s position can be traced clearly from the very beginning of the fable. But instead of a direct “I”, Krylov uses a generalized “we”. The reception of detachment makes it possible to depict the inner space objectively. In general, the whole poem is quite realistic in terms of credibility. The wolf is precisely the predator, the lamb is the embodiment of the victim. Between them are relations characteristic of those that exist in the natural environment. True, the wolf is hypocritical. He is going to crack down on his victim “legally”, that is, to legitimize lawlessness. Thus, the motive of social relations in the fable "Wolf and the Lamb." Krylov reveals the morality of the work, revealing the true price of the speeches and actions of the predator. As soon as the wolf showed his hypocrisy, laid bare an open calculation, he fired the lamb to be torn to pieces. Intelligent life, based on strict but just laws, is one thing. And the immorality and falsehood of reality is a completely different matter. And her immorality is criticized by the great fabulist.
This is the deep meaning hidden in this simple work known to us from school!