“The Word about Igor’s Regiment” was created by a man who was poetically brilliantly gifted and knew well both Boyan’s songs and folk poetry of his time. It is filled with vivid epithets, comparisons, metaphors that organically create the fabric of the work.
Short story
In order to conduct a literary analysis, which will reveal in such a work as “The Word of Igor's Campaign”, epithets, metaphors, comparisons, we briefly recall the contents. So, it begins with a metaphorical inception about the singer Boyan, who, leading the story, “spread his thoughts, put ten falcons into a herd of swans”, that is, fingers laid on strings.
Only then begins the story of the unsuccessful campaign of Igor and his team. Despite a terrible omen, an eclipse, they continue to march on the Polovtsy and even triumph in the first battle. But in the second they suffer not just defeat, but complete defeat. The whole army is dying. Igor and his son are captured by the leaders of the Polovtsy Konchak and Gzak. Then Igor secretly runs, and the son returns later.
Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev is portrayed as a formidable ruler, able to unite Russian lands.
Theme of the work
With love for the Motherland and the desire that the princes, having stopped the strife, finally united, almost every phrase of the monk-scribe is penetrated. The artistic and ideological sides are inseparable. Let us demonstrate some comparisons in the “Word on Igor's Regiment”. Examples: the battlefield on Kayal is like arable land, where the land is seeded with bones, or a feast with bloody wine, when the battle ended with the victory of the Polovtsians, and in Nemiga - a harvest with sheaves of heads. Peaceful labor is opposed to war, destruction is to creation.
Almost no book comparisons are used in The Word on Igor's Campaign. Examples: enemies are crows, their carts do not creak in the darkness, but shout like swans, and the Polovtsy are likened to a brood of cheetahs. While Russian princes are compared with falcons hovering in the winds, who defeat a bird in courage. And in the long past, the princes' squads were formidable, like tours, bravely growling when arrows shot them. Igor himself appears in the images of a falcon, an ermine, a wolf. Svyatoslav of Kiev compares himself with a molten falcon. The buoy tour is the nickname of Igor’s brother. There are such comparisons in the "Word on Igor's Regiment". Examples show their connection with folk poetry.
Images of women
They are gentle and affectionate, always in thought about family and home affairs. The sadness and concern of women is inextricably linked with the grief of the state, as evidenced by comparisons in the “Word on Igor's Regiment”. Examples: the young wife of a prince is compared to a cuckoo.
The wind in her weeping is the gentleman who dispelled her amusement. The master is also the sun, warm and beautiful for everyone, but for Igor’s squad it became tragically dangerous, withered everything around, ruined her thirst. Yaroslavna begs Mr. Dnepr to return her dear, so that she
no longer cry for her husband’s bitter share. Yaroslavna calls for peace. She mourns not only her husband, but all Russian soldiers. And the Kursk prince even in a hot battle recalls his dear wife Glebovna and all her habits. Each line of "Words about the shelf ..." appeals to the world.
The image of the motherland
The listener or reader faces a vast country. Wide geographical expanses are drawn into action. Polovtsian steppe ("the country is unknowable"), the blue endless sea, many rivers and cities. Before the author spreads all of Russia, from edge to edge.
Its vastness is emphasized by the simultaneity of actions in different places. Girls on the Danube sing - their songs fly over the sea - and to Kiev itself. At the same time, the Polovtsy are moving along with Igor’s squad, whose roads are not ready, their carts creak.
Epithets, metaphors, comparisons fill the “Word about Igor’s Regiment”. Typically, folklore epithets overwhelm him: if wolves, then gray, if swords, then sharp, if arrows, then red-hot, if horses, then greyhounds, if raven, then black. Virgin red, the sun is bright, bloody dawns, a pearl tear, a live string ...
Nature does not remain indifferent to the joys and sorrows of the people. A river with silver banks gives Igor a green bed to Igor, who escaped from captivity. A warm fog serves Igor's shelter; he is guarded by gogol and wild ducks. The author covers events over a millennium and a half, “winding the glory of both halves of this time” (metaphor), constantly connecting the past and the present. He combines nature, people, and history in The Word of the Regiment ... The artistic form of the work contributes to the identification of one idea - the thought of the necessary unity of Russia. All the poetic paths that fill the "Word of Igor's Campaign" work on this - comparisons, epithets.
How else is Igor’s campaign described
Dry, but detailed and extensive "Ipatiev Chronicle." “A word about Igor’s regiment” (a comparison if you make), firstly, in short, and secondly, of course, a poetic phenomenon. From the annals you can set the date of the campaign and the date of the eclipse, how many days Igor was waiting for his brother, and how unexpectedly the news came to Igor that the Polovtsy were ready for battle. The annals reflect the construction of troops of both Russian and Polovtsian, as well as the story goes that after the first victory of the Russian Polovtsians suddenly began to advance, like a dense forest. From there, we learn that a dozen and a half people were left from the entire Russian army.
"A word about the regiment ..." is an important piece for our country. It can be analyzed not only from a literary, but also from a historical point of view.