"The Lay of Igor's Host": analysis. "The Lay of Igor's Host": a summary

"The Lay of Igor's Campaign" is an outstanding monument of ancient Russian literature, written in the 12th century. Reading this work still positively affects people, opens up new horizons for them.

"A word about the shelf of Igor." History of the work

"The Lay of Igor's Host" is a literary masterpiece, a work created in Ancient Rus. This work was written closer to the beginning of the twelfth century, and in 1795 it was found by Count Alexei Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin. In 1800 it was printed. The original "Words" disappeared on fire in 1812, during the Great Patriotic War of the Russian people with the French.

The summary of the work

Analysis "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" shows that this work has a composition, which is quite typical for the creations of ancient Russian literature. In its composition, there is the beginning and the main part, as well as toast.

The beginning is the author's greeting to the readers, and also reveals the author's opinion about those events that he will describe. The author wants to tell all about the campaign of Prince Igor honestly, without concealment, without superfluous speculation. An example for him is the famous artist Boyan, who always not only followed the ancient byliny, but also poetically sang praises to the princes of his time.

Analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" briefly shows that the author outlined the chronological boundaries of the narrative in this way: he talks about the life of Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kiev, and then smoothly proceeds to describe the life of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich.

The plot of the work

The Russian army is sent to fight with the formidable enemy - the Polovtsians. Before the beginning of the campaign the sun covers the sky, a solar eclipse begins. Any other inhabitant of Ancient Russia would have come to horror and would have refused his plans, but Prince Igor is not like that. He and his army still go ahead. This happened on May 1, 1185. Igor's intentions are supported by his brother, Bui Tour Vsevolod.

After a certain period of time, Igor encounters Polovtsy. Their number far exceeds the number of Russian people. But the Russians are still starting the fight.

Igor and Bui tour Vsevolod triumph in the first battle over the Polovtsy. Satisfied, they allow themselves to relax. But they do not see and do not feel that their forces are exhausted, and the number of Polovtsian troops still exceeds the number of Russians many times. The next day the Polovtsian troops attacked the Russian army and overpowered it. Many Russian soldiers are killed, Prince Igor is taken prisoner.

Throughout the Russian land there is a lament for the dead, and the Cumans, who have won the battle, triumph. The victory of the Polovtsians over Igor's army caused many misfortunes to the Russian land. Many soldiers were killed, and the Polovtsi continued to plunder the Russian land.

Svyatoslav of Kiev

Analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign," whose work is attributed to an unknown author, tells of a strange dream of Svyatoslav of Kiev, in which he saw himself in a funeral treasury. And his dream came true.

When Svyatoslav learned of the defeat of the Russian troops, he fell into sorrow. Prince Igor was taken prisoner. He lived under the supervision of the Polovtsians, but one day, one of them, Laurus, suggested that he hide. This was due to the fact that the Polovtsi decided to kill all Russian prisoners. Igor agreed to escape. Under the cover of night, he saddled his horse and secretly drove through the Polovtsian camp.

He made his way to the Donets River for eleven days, and the Polovtsi pursued him. As a result, Igor managed to get to the Russian land. In Kiev and Chernigov he was greeted with joy. The "Word" ends with a beautiful poetic paraphrase addressed to Prince Igor and his retinue.

Characters of the Lay of Igor's Host

The main character of The Lay of Igor's Campaign is, of course, Prince Igor Svyatoslavich. This is an outstanding commander, for whom the main thing is to defeat the enemy and protect the Russian land. Together with his brother and his victorious army, he is ready for anything for the glory of the Motherland.

By the way, if you search for the analysis "The Word about the regiment of Igorev," grade 9, you can find it in the libraries of our schools.

Igor Svyatoslavich makes a mistake, because of which his army is routed, Russian wives remain widows, and children - orphans.

The Kiev prince Svyatoslav is a man who wants peace and quiet for Russia, he condemns Igor and his brother Vsevolod for haste in making decisions and for the sorrow they brought to the Russian land. Svyatoslav advocates the unification of the princes, for their joint action against the Polovtsians.

The image of Yaroslavna in the work

Yaroslavna - Igor's wife - is the central female character of "The Lay of Igor's Host". If you analyze "The Lay of Igor's Host", Yaroslavna's weeping will be the most expressive part in the whole work. Yaroslavna cries at the highest defense tower of Putivl (this city was closer to the Polovtsian steppe). She speaks to the elements of nature. By the power of her words, they get enthusiastic. She rebukes the wind in that he dispelled its fun, and turns to the Dnieper and the sun.

The analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign," a brief summary of which you can read in the articles of linguistic researchers, shows that Yaroslavna evoked much more interest from subsequent generations than the protagonist of the work, and her Weeping was translated into many languages. The author of the "Lay" believes that Yaroslavna's Lament had an impact on the natural forces, and so Igor Svyatoslavich managed to escape from captivity. The most famous embodiment of the image of Yaroslavna is in the opera "Prince Igor" by A. Borodin (written from 1869 to 1887).

Polovtsy in the "Lay of Igor's Host"

The main opponents of Prince Igor and the Russian troops in the work are the Polovtsians. This is the inhabitants of the field, that is, the boundless steppe, the Russian Plains S.

The relations of the Russian people with the Polovtsians were different, they could be friends, could be at enmity. By the 12th century their relationship was becoming hostile. If you analyze the "Lay of Igor's Host", the golden word of Svyatoslav warns Igor of friendship with the Polovtsians. But his relations with the Polovtsi remain generally not so bad. According to historical research, Igor Svyatoslavich had good relations with the Polovtsian khans Kobyak and Konchak. His son even married Konchak's daughter.

The cruelty of the Polovtsians, which all subsequent historians emphasized, was no more than the customs of that time required. Prince Igor, being in captivity among the Polovtsy, could even confess in the Christian church. In addition, the interaction of Russians with the Polovtsians also benefited the Russian people, who were not influenced by the Catholic Church. In addition, Russian goods were sold in the Polovtsian markets, for example, in Trebizond and Derbent.

Historical backdrop of The Lay of Igor's Host

Analysis of "The word about the regiment Igorev" shows that this work was created in those years when Russia was divided into separate parts.

The significance of Kiev as the center of the Russian land by that time almost disappears. Russian princedoms become separate states, and the segregation of their lands is fixed at the Lubech congress in 1097.

The treaty concluded between the princes at the congress was broken, all the major cities began to strive for independence. But few noticed that Russia needs protection, that the enemies are already coming from all sides. Cumans rose and began to fight with Russian people.

In the middle of the 11th century, they already constituted a serious danger. "The Lay of Igor's Campaign," the analysis of which we are trying to hold, is a story about the tragic clash of Russians and Polovtsians.

The Russians could not effectively resist the Polovtsians for the reason that they could not come to an agreement with them. Constant squabbling weakened the might of the once great Russian state. Yes, at this time in Russia there was an economic recovery, but it was leveled due to the fact that the connections between various farms were weak.

At this time, there is a gradual establishment of contacts between Russian people. Russia is soon preparing to unite into one, but at this time too many problem factors.

The author of this work writes not only about the military actions of the Russians against the Polovtsians. He admires the beauty of his native steppes and forests, the picturesqueness of his native nature. If you analyze the "Lay of Igor's Campaign," nature plays a leading role in it. She helps Prince Igor escape from captivity and return to Russia. The wind, the sun and the Dnieper River become his main allies on the way from the Polovtsian kingdom home.

Authenticity of the "Lay of Igor's Host"

Almost immediately after the "Lay of Igor's Host" was published, doubts arose about its authenticity. Since the manuscript of this work was burnt on fire in 1812, only the first printed edition and handwritten copy remained for analysis and study.

Researchers doubted that the work is genuine, for various reasons. The fact is that it was not possible to find out the identity of the author, secondly, against the background of other works of that era, "The Word" was very beautiful, it seemed unreal, that in the 12th century one could write this.

In 1963, a prominent historical figure AA Zimin suggested, after analyzing the "Lay of Igor's Host", the golden word of Svyatoslav in which it seemed to him suspicious that the work in the 18th century was written by Joel Bykovsky, then archimandrite of the Spaso-Yaroslavsky Monastery.

But soon there were new proofs of the authenticity of the "Lay of Igor's Host". An incontrovertible proof of this was Codex Cumanicus, a dictionary of the Polovtsian language, which was compiled at the end of the 13th century. It was bought somehow by the great Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. It is known that the "Word" often contains borrowings from the Polovtsian language, that is, Polovtsian words. The same words can be found in Codex Cumanicus. It is well known that the Polovtsian people as such have ceased to exist already in the Middle Ages. Therefore, falsification in this case can not be. Already in the eighteenth century, no one in Russia spoke Polovtsian speech, so I could not insert Polovtsian words into the text of the work.

Analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign," the golden word of which Academician Likhachev once said, with the help of Codex Cumanicus, made an invaluable contribution to the study of Russian literature. Forge Codex Cumanicus was also impossible: the fact is that this dictionary was bequeathed by Petrarch in 1362 to the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, where it was kept until 1828. This year the German orientalist Julius Heinrich Klaproth found this book and published it. And in the second half of the nineteenth century Russian Orientalists got acquainted with Codex Cumanicus.

Place of writing "The Lay of Igor's Host"

Analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" says that this work is filled with love for the Russian land and its people. The place of writing this work is, most likely, Novgorod. And he created it Novgorod. This can be judged from the dialect words that come across in the "Word", and which were then used in Novgorod. These are such words as "karna, Osmomysl, haraluzhny, Goreslavich".

"The Lay of Igor's Host" - an analysis of this work clearly indicates that the author is originally from Novgorod. He mentions the city of Dudutka, which was then near Novgorod. Monetary units that mention the analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", nogata and resana, the researchers find only in one of the oldest chronicles - in Novgorod. There are no such words in the Ipatiev and Lavrentiev annals . The patronymic Goreslavich and Osmomysl, mentioned in the "Lay of Igor's Host", were also found by researchers in Novgorod manuscripts and birch bark letters.

The northern origin of the author of the "Word" is confirmed by the fact that the composition mentions the northern lights. With his help, God showed Prince Igor how to get home from captivity. Probably, the author of "The Word" was behind the Arctic Circle and saw there the northern lights.

Study of the "Lay of Igor's Host"

"The Lay of Igor's Campaign," whose analysis is very interesting for all readers of this literary work, has been conducted since the end of the eighteenth century, that is, from the time when the manuscript was found by Count Musin-Pushkin. At first it was difficult to work with the "Word". First, it had to be translated. Secondly, it was necessary to interpret all the incomprehensible places, all the difficult metaphors. Especially many outstanding scientists were engaged in the study of the "Word" in the Soviet era, among them Academician A. Likhachev and O. Tvorogov. They sought to restore the original version of the "Word" and give it the correct interpretation.

The study of the "word about Igor's Campaign" at school

"The Lay of Igor's Campaign" has long been studied in secondary schools and universities. His study deals with 7, 8, 9 classes. For a better study of the work, different means are used, including a disc on which the plot of the Old Russian work is depicted. The study of "Lay" specializes in the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve, and the students have the opportunity to get acquainted with various materials related to this topic.

Mysteries of the work

Despite the fact that "The Lay of Igor's Host" has been studied thoroughly and for a long time, not all of them are still understandable in the text of the work.

Analysis of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign," the nature of which has not been fully explained to the end, still shows that more needs to be explored. So, it is not clear whether the author of the "Words" wrote about ordinary animals, or the Polovtsians, who had the names of animal ancestors, were meant. It is still unclear why Prince Igor visited the Pirogoshchy church in Kiev. All these puzzles are still waiting for their researchers.