In the old days, people accumulated their wisdom for centuries and passed it on to future generations. Tales, epics, sayings, fables - this is a storehouse of worldly wisdom of the hardworking people. Through folklore people conveyed their aspirations about a good future, talked about the past, warned about mistakes. Often, fantastic stories helped instill in children a love of the homeland, the right moral values.
What is epic? This is a special form of oral folk art in the epic genre. It is characteristic of the Russian tradition and tells of some remarkable episode from the story. The name comes from the word "past", that is, what was actually in the old days. Russian epics are distinguished by peculiar methods, poetics, melodious speech, as well as the way they are performed. Scientists believe that in ancient times, storytellers accompanied the epic by playing the harp, and later began to perform as a recitative. They used only a few tunes, but changed the timbre of the voice, intonation. The epic was set out in an emphasized solemn style: it was best suited for the narration of heroic events of the past, often tragic.
So what is epic is already clear. Now let's talk about the techniques used in this genre. The first thing you pay attention to when you read or listen to this work is repetition. Ancient authors repeated the words (for example, a long time ago, far, far), and also widely used several synonyms in one place (tribute duties, fight-fight). Sometimes the end of one line became the beginning of another, whole episodes could be repeated three times. Tricks such as alliteration and assonances are also widely used. All this made it possible to more emotionally and accurately convey the details of the event, to strengthen the effect of words.
What is epic in the work of the population of Kievan Rus? This is an ode to the defenders, the glorification of the good fellows, their heroism and selflessness. Hyperbolas are often used to describe the character or appearance of characters. The narrator’s attitude toward them can be understood by the epithets, which are often stable: hot blood, violent head, tears of fuel. Favorite characters are often called diminutive and affectionate names (Aleshenka, Dobrynyushka).
What is epic? As a rule, this is a work that consists of three parts: a song (an introduction that is not related to the further part of the content), a conception (the main part, where the action unfolds) and the ending. The narrator does not look to the past and does not look into the future, his eyes are completely focused on the hero and his exploits. It is as if he lives the life of his character, following along with him, passing from one event to another.
According to the plot, epics can be varied. Today, about a hundred stories are known, except for different versions of the same work. The main ones are: the struggle for the wife or her search, the struggle with fabulous monsters or foreign invaders. A special category is epics-parodies or satirical epics (Competition with Churila, Dyuk Stepanovich).
Take a look at the treasury of folk wisdom, whose age is a thousand, and maybe even more years!