Legend is an oral narrative

We all heard the term "legend". Have you ever seriously thought about what it is? It turns out that even after the alphabet was invented, many remained illiterate. Writing allowed people to exchange information and knowledge, keep them in the centuries and transmit to descendants. Those people who could not, for some reason, learn to write, exchanged information verbally. Accordingly, the legend - this is the narration in the oral form.

Myths

This kind of retelling appeared in ancient times. They are about the very beginning - the beginning of the world. But that is not all. They also narrate about the appearance of man, about gods and heroes. It is not known for certain whether this is true or fiction. Legend is not always a reality or a story. Rather, it can be said that this reflects the views of the creators on the structure of the world, life in it. Heroes of myths are a model for listeners.

Epos

Another type of stories is the epic. It is not much different from the myth, but it can tell about real heroes, events or faces. Here the central figure is the hero and his life, deeds. Often in the epic works there are gods, but they are secondary characters. There is an opinion that modern literature comes from heroes and stories, which are described in the epic.

Saga

Legend - this is also a saga - stories about real people with a mention of all the details of the life of the characters. Usually they describe the life of a particular family: its way of life, children. The saga narrates about generations and time. For example, among the peoples of Scandinavia (usually Norway or Iceland), most families honored the memory of their ancestors, they collected information about their lives in bitterness and retold to the next generation. Over time, they became more and more. Sometimes a saga can narrate about whole ages.

Biblical Tales

This is probably the most extensive layer for our study and understanding, because they, in fact, constitute our entire concept of religion. They describe the life of saints and people who existed many years ago. Unfortunately, we also can not verify them for authenticity. With the development of mankind, many historians study biblical legends and find many confirmations to them. As for antiquity, many chroniclers also studied this genre.

Old Russian literature was created from the 11th to the 16th centuries. She too was very religious. It used to be that a chronicler is a person who can communicate with God. He directed it, and the scribe, in turn, glorified the Holy Scripture. We can safely say that the legend is a genre of Old Russian literature.

Literature

The alphabet of the Slavs appeared in the middle of the IX century. It was created by Cyril and Methodius in order to translate the sacred texts. Church language could not become one on which to publish art books. That is why in the ancient Russian literature there are no heroes, love, experiences, suffering, and so on, until the XVII century. Comic works were also banned due to the sinfulness of laughter. He was considered an occupation, which distracts from prayers and reasoning about the good.

The first recorded legend is "The Word of Law and Grace." It was recorded by the Metropolitan of Kiev, Illarion. Its approximate creation dates back to the 30th-40th years of the 11th century. Further, there are annals. They most often described the lives of saints who glorified faith and shared their knowledge with the people. We conclude that the legend is also a genre that covers the annals.

Tales of the people

There is still such a thing as epic. This is a folk-epic song, which is written in tonic verse. The folk tale is the epic. Each of them tells about the life of the heroes. They have their own story, which is associated with this or that event that occurred in Russia. Such legends are an obligatory part of folklore and are called "antiquities".

Russian epics and their features

The most important thing here is the melody, the beginning and the ending. The first part of them is very rarely connected with the main storyline. This is done in order to attract the attention of the reader or listener. The main event, described in the epic, is called the beginning. At the end, a feast is described, which is organized in honor of the victory over the enemy. Melodies in the epics are also of different types. For example, strict, majestic, fast, cheerful, calm, buffy.

Bylins are distinguished by patriotism, their subjects are always laudatory. They talk about how beautiful and invincible Russia is, illuminate the dignity of princes, defenders, their courage. Heroes immediately come to the rescue, help out and protect the population from impending disaster. Previously, before 1830, such songs were called in a different way. Only after this time, the scientist I. Sakharov introduced the concept of "epic".

The main hero in them is the mighty Russian hero. These people possessed such force that is beyond the control of an ordinary person. Also they were very brave and courageous. The heroes could defeat any enemy independently even without weapons. Their main task is to protect Russia from the enemy and encroachments on the life and freedom of the people.