Epithets in prophetic Oleg. A. S. Pushkin “Song of the prophetic Oleg”: analysis of the poem. Structural analysis of the poem
“The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” was written by Pushkin at the time of his creative heyday, in 1822. The poet worked on the creation of a not very long poem for almost a whole year, turning to the history set out in Volume V of Karamzin’s works. It is there that the biography of Oleg, the prince of Kyiv, who reached Constantinople and nailed his shield to the gates of the city, is retold.
The poem first saw the light in 1825: it was published in “Northern Flowers,” an almanac published by Delvig.
The main theme of the poem
The main theme on which, in fact, the plot is based is the theme of predetermination of fate and freedom of choice. This general concept has many complex shades that require consistent study.
The main event, the turning point in the life of the prophetic Oleg, is a meeting with a magician who predicts his death “from his horse.” This episode seems to split the prince’s entire existence into two parts: if earlier he acted in accordance with his idea of the world, was engaged in ordinary state affairs - for example, he was going to “take revenge on the foolish Khazars” - now he is forced to reckon with the information received. And Oleg makes a decision that seems to him the only correct one: he abandons his faithful horse, which was a companion in many battles, and changes to another.
This is a striking episode in which Pushkin, with his characteristic genius, draws the reader’s attention to an infinite number of significant little details. The image of Oleg is the image of a person who, despite his high position, is characterized by completely ordinary feelings and emotions. He does not want to die prematurely, but for the sake of self-defense he takes steps that are not the most pleasant for himself. He obviously loves his horse, gives the order to take care of him in every possible way, he is sad because of the need to part with his faithful friend, but the desire to live is much stronger.
The precautions turn out to be unnecessary: Oleg dies, as predicted, “from a horse”: a snake crawling out of the skull of an already dead animal stings the prince in the leg, and he dies.
There is a subtle and bitter irony hidden in this: the sorcerer’s prediction comes true one way or another. If Oleg had known what kind of death was in store for him, how would he have behaved then? Would he give up on his friend? How did the sorcerer’s prediction (asked for by him, by the way - to his own misfortune) change his life? Pushkin leaves these questions unanswered, leaving the reader to think about them on their own. At the same time, what is interesting is that Prince Oleg in the text is called “prophetic” - knowledgeable, capable of independently predicting the course of events. One gets the impression that the sorcerer’s prediction, which the prince could not unravel, is a kind of irony of evil fate.
Structural analysis of the poem
It’s not for nothing that the work is called “Song”. It belongs to the category of ballads - lyrical poems based on a historical figure or event. To recreate the appropriate atmosphere, Pushkin uses the melodic rhythm of an amphibrach with a complex rhyme pattern (a combination of cross and adjacent) and large-scale stanzas consisting of six verses. Numerous archaisms enhance the sense of historicity and focus the reader’s attention on it. The poem is characterized by deep emotional intensity.
Many epithets and unusual comparisons create a certain viscosity of the text, the reader can no longer skim the lines with his eyes, images, generously fueled by original personifications (a crafty dagger, for example), literally appear before the eyes. In addition, Pushkin uses outdated syntactic structures and varies the word order.
Conclusion
“The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” is a bright, multifaceted work. The poet talks about predestination and whether it is possible to avoid evil fate, talks about the human desire to resist fate and about the mistakes made on the way to this goal. The questions raised by Pushkin about fate, about human weaknesses, about sacrifices in the name of one’s life are important, and each reader finds answers to them independently.
Goal: to introduce students to the ballad of A.S. Pushkin’s “Song of the Prophetic Oleg”, comparing it with chronicle sources.
- Analyze the characters of the characters in the ballad, considering the interaction of a person’s character and his fate, revealing the features of the artistic and poetic image in Pushkin’s ballad, comparing it with the chronicle narrative.
- Develop skills in analytical work with diverse texts and reference literature,
- To form value guidelines in students, to cultivate a sense of patriotism and humanism.
Lesson type: research lesson
FOPD – heuristic conversation, work in groups, collective work, individual completion of tasks by students.
P.S.: teacher - students interlocutors
M.O: verbal-visual, partially search, research.
Means: illustrations for the poem by V. Vasnetsov, map - the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the Slavs in the 6th–11th centuries, literary dictionary, books by Karamzin, works of A.S. Pushkin, text of the chronicle, 7th grade phonograph, mm presentation lesson. ( Annex 1 ), table “Analysis of the poem by A.S. Pushkin “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” ( Appendix 2 ).
Literary theory: genre, chronicle, poem, ballad.
Vocabulary work:
- Brane field
Teacher's word. Today in the lesson, knowledge of history will help you understand the content and meaning of Pushkin’s work “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg”. Knowledge of Russian language and literature - to evaluate the artistic originality of this work. ( Annex 1 , slide 1)
I. Updating students' knowledge ( slide 2, 3, 4)
Answers to teacher questions:
- Remember To Is Oleg so prophetic?
- Why was he called prophetic?
- Student message "Oleg and his time"
Some historians consider Oleg to be a relative of Rurik. He gained power after the death of Rurik in 879 and ruled until Rurik's son Igor came of age. Prince Oleg was an enterprising and warlike man. He annexed the lands along the Dnieper to the state. He captured Smolensk, the city of the Krivichi, then took Lyubech, the city of the northerners. Under him, Novgorod became the second most important city. In 882, Oleg captured Kyiv and began to rule there, proclaiming Kyiv “the mother of Russian cities.”
At the behest of Oleg, new fortifications were built around Kyiv. The prince established taxes common to all territories. In subsequent years, Oleg annexed the lands of the Drevlyans, Dnieper northerners and Radimichi, freeing them from tribute to the Khazars. In 907, under the leadership of Oleg, a successful campaign was made against Constantinople (Constantinople), as a result of which the Russians received a rich tribute from the Byzantines and a few years later signed the first peace treaty with Byzantium.
Oleg’s extraordinary military success, his intelligence and insight earned him the nickname “Prophetic”. Many legends about his campaigns have been preserved. One of them says that Oleg reigned for 33 years and died in old age from the bite of a snake that crawled out of the skull of the prince’s favorite horse. Prince Oleg died in 912, leaving a strong state to Rurik's son Igor.
- When did the chronicles appear?
- What is the name of the first Russian chronicle?
II. Working with texts of historical documents(Excerpt from “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “History ..." by N. M. Karamzin) ( slide 5, 6)
Which of these two documents inspired Pushkin to create the “Song…”?
Teacher: In 1820, Pushkin, exiled to the south by Alexander I for his freedom-loving poetry, visited Kiev more than once, where one of the mounds on the banks of the Dnieper was called Oleg’s grave. While reading the Lvov Chronicle, Pushkin came across a legend about Prince Oleg and wanted to write about him. This is how “Song...” appeared.
III. Listening to the recording of A.S. Pushkin “Song of the Prophetic Oleg”.
Song is an ancient way of glorification. Why does the poet praise the prince?
IV. Analysis of the work
Questions for discussion with the class:
1. In what genre was “Song...” written? ( slide 7, 8)
Recording in student notebooks ( slide 8):
A ballad is a lyrical poem with a tense, poignant plot (legendary, historical, fantastic). The heroes in the ballad come into conflict with each other, with fate itself. There is often an element of the mysterious, fantastic, inexplicable, tragically insoluble.
2. What do the chronicle and ballad genres have in common and how do they differ from each other?
(General: they talk about one historical event.
Difference: chronicle is prose, ballad is a poetic text. The ballad uses means of artistic expression. Not in the chronicle.) ( slide 9)
| Chronicle | Ballad | |
| Action | “And he commanded that he be fed and not taken to him, and he remained for several years without seeing him, until he went to the Greeks.” | “Farewell, my comrade, my faithful servant, the time has come for us to part... Bathe, feed with selected grain... And they brought another horse to the prince...” |
| Character | -No - “And one magician spoke to him...” |
“An inspired magician is coming, An old man obedient to Perun alone..." |
| Character | -No - Oleg laughed and reproached the magician, the river: “It may be that what the wolves say is wrong, but it’s all a lie...” |
“Oleg grinned - but his brow And the gaze was darkened by thoughts" “The mighty Oleg bowed his head And he thinks: “What is fortune telling? Magician, you lying crazy old man..." |
3. Determine the poetic meter.
4. On March 1, 1822, Pushkin finishes work on the work, which he called “Song...” and writes to Alexander Bestuzhev:
“The old prince’s comradely love for his horse and concern for his fate is a trait of touching innocence, and the incident itself, in its simplicity, has a lot of poetry.” ( slide 10)
What poetic did Pushkin see in the incident that became the basis of the “Song…”? What is the theme of the work? ( slide 11)
5. What is the idea of the poem?
| Idea and ideological-emotional assessment | The coming years lurk in darkness; But I see your lot on your bright brow. ...you will receive death from your horse... “The old prince’s comradely love for his horse and concern for his fate is a trait of touching innocence, and the incident itself, in its simplicity, has a lot of poetry,” the poet wrote to Alexander Bestuzhev |
The prince is power, and the magician is higher than the prince according to God’s will. It was not blind fate that sentenced Oleg to death “by his horse,” but his attachment to the horse, which made him cast aside all fears and regret that they had no destiny. Fidelity to a sense of duty can lead to death, but fidelity to human memory is the key to immortality. |
6. Name the main and secondary characters of the work. ( slide 12)
7. Determination of the composition and plot of the work. ( slide 13)
How many parts can the work be divided into? ( In three parts
- The magician's prediction and farewell to the horse.
- “The Prophetic Oleg is feasting with his retinue...”
- “On a hill near the banks of the Dnieper...”)
Determining the main elements of the plot.
- Name the beginning of the action. (Meeting with a wise old man.)
– Name the climax in the development of the action. (Fulfillment of the prediction.)
– What struck you in the last final episode?
– Why does Oleg accept death from a horse? Because you can’t escape fate? Or because Oleg insulted the magician, calling him a “lying, crazy old man”? Or is this a punishment for the defection of the prince, who left his faithful horse?
Conclusion: The events of “The Song...” contain a lot of mystery, and each reader solves it in his own way.
V. Study of the episode “The Magician’s Prediction”
The class is divided into three groups: historians, literary critics, linguists. The work lasts 10 minutes .
Group assignments ( slides 14, 15, 16, 17)
1 group
Historians –
Expressive reading of stanzas 1, 2 of “Songs...”
Who are the Khazars? What event do the expressions “Tsaregrad armor” and “shield on the gates of Constantinople” remind of?
Which event happened first - the campaign against the Khazars or the capture of Constantinople? What historical discrepancy have you noticed?
2nd group
Literary scholars –
Expressive reading of stanzas 3, 4, 5 of “Songs...”
Where does the meeting of the prophetic Oleg with the magician take place?
When does this meeting take place? (determine the tense of the verbs used) Why does Pushkin use verbs of the present tense of the indicative mood and verbs of the imperative mood?
3 group
Linguists
Expressive reading of stanzas 6, 7 of “Songs...”
What do the words “armor”, “Perun”, “sling”, “cut”, “on the battlefield”, “magi” mean?
What words are used with the word “prophetic”? What meaning does Pushkin put into these expressions?
Students presenting the research results.
VI. Name what artistic and visual means Pushkin used when creating the work “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” (collective work) ( slide 18, 19)
| Artistic and visual media | - take revenge on the foolish Khazars, mighty Oleg, inspired magician | Epithets |
| – the coming years are hidden in the darkness... | Metaphors | |
| - like a black ribbon, wrapped around their legs... and their curls are white, like morning snow over the glorious head of the mound... | Comparisons | |
| -Both the waves and the land are submissive to you; | Personification | |
| – with the will of heaven | Inversion | |
| And the blue sea is a deceptive wave In the hours of fatal bad weather And the sling and the arrow and the crafty dagger The years are kind to the winner... And the cold and the cutting are nothing to him. But you will accept death from your horse |
Gradation |
VII. Lesson conclusions ( slide 20)
“The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” complements the content of the chronicle, helps to introduce historical heroes, to see their characters and destinies. Prophetic Oleg is endowed with a spiritual attachment to the horse. Neither time, nor even the death of a horse has power over his feelings. It was not blind fate that sentenced Oleg to death “by his horse,” but his attachment to the horse, which made him cast aside all fears and regret that they had more than one fate.
This is what makes Oleg a poetic person. Listen to the last lines of the poem:
Prince Igor and Olga are sitting on a hill,
The squad is feasting on the shore.
Soldiers remember days gone by
And the battles where they fought together.
They express hope for overcoming the bitterness of loss. Fidelity to duty can lead to death, but fidelity to human memory is the key to immortality.
VIII. Homework ( slide 21)
- Learn by heart “The Magician’s Prediction” or “Parting with the Horse”
- Analyze the episode “Farewell to the Horse” in the chronicle source and ballad (8, 9, 10 stanzas)
Literature:
- Azarova N.M.
Each of A. S. Pushkin’s poems, placed in the textbook for the fifth grade, expresses one or another feeling that reveals his attitude towards his homeland. In the stanza from “Eugene Onegin,” love for Moscow is openly expressed, a city that is dear to the “Russian heart.” “Winter Morning” expresses the joy of feeling oneness with one’s native nature. In the poem “Nanny,” the poet turns with tenderness and care to Arina Rodionovna, who for him personifies all the best that exists in the common people. And, finally, “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” is a manifestation of Pushkin’s interest in the past of his fatherland.
Turning to the “deep legends of antiquity,” he poetically reproduces the picture of life and customs of those distant years, when people naively believed the predictions of the magicians (we will reveal the semantic relationship of this word to the fairy-tale “miracle”), when they had many gods, and Perun was considered the main one , when they had to repel the attacks of foreign tribes and go on campaigns against them in order to protect their native land from new invasions.
The legend of Oleg's death was known to Pushkin from his youth. Probably its dramatic nature could have captured the poet’s imagination. It is significant that he created his “Song...” in 1822 in exile in the south, having directly seen the region where the action of his poetic ballad unfolds. Three years later (in 1825), the poet expressed his attitude towards the legend in a letter to Bestuzhev: “The old prince’s comradely love for his horse and concern for his fate is a feature of touching innocence, and the incident itself, in its simplicity, has a lot of poetic " However, when reworking the legend, Pushkin singled out not only this motive; next to Oleg, an “inspired magician” appeared, whose image is of particular significance.
The plot side of the poem is fascinating for students: you can notice how much they like the mystery of the prediction, how with pleasure and sadness they listen to the words of Oleg’s farewell to the horse, how tensely they await the denouement, mentally imagining a “coffin snake” crawling out from under the skull. All this, however, only happens if the teacher, when reading the poem, strives to convey the drama of the magician’s prediction and Oleg’s death. Therefore, taking care of the expressiveness of reading is very important when preparing for a lesson. A good reading by the teacher ensures that students are interested in the poem and that they want to understand and imagine everything.
It is necessary to construct the analysis in such a way that, by activating the imagination and empathy of the children, lead them to a feasible, but quite serious understanding of the “Song of the Prophetic Oleg.” It is important from the very first moment of the lesson not to get carried away by the historical basis of the work, the enumeration of military personnel. customs of antiquity or a detailed dictionary commentary (in particular regarding weapons: the study of epics prepared the understanding of such words as “shield”, “chain mail”, “axe”, etc.).
Let’s try to better resurrect before them not so much history as the poetry of that distant time conveyed by Pushkin. The teacher formulates for himself a methodological task that must be implemented in the process of analysis: to reveal to schoolchildren the features of Pushkin’s artistic and poetic depiction of events in comparison with the chronicle narrative.
According to various legends, he was buried near Staraya Ladoga. As the locals say, one of the ancient hills is the grave of the famous prince. Why "prophetic"? So he was called for his brilliant quality of foreseeing the situation. It was especially evident when, having unfurled the sails and put the ships on wheels, he reached the designated goal, one might say, quickly. It is not for nothing that Pushkin’s ballad “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” is included in the school curriculum after studying “The Tale of Bygone Years” - this makes it possible to compare two identical events described by different sources.
History of creation
Why does Pushkin even turn to such distant events? An analysis of “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” cannot be carried out without delving into the poet’s goals.
Pushkin's freedom-loving poems served as a reason for Alexander I to send the poet into exile to the south by decree of Alexander I. He visits many ancient cities, including Kyiv. Here the poet became interested in one of the ancient mounds. Local residents claimed that this was the grave of someone who died a very mysterious death.
Pushkin studies the works of Karamzin, where he retells the plot of “The Tale of Bygone Years” about the death of the glorious ruler.
This is how his “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” was born. The year it was written is 1822.
We should not forget that Pushkin was a true connoisseur of history. His works about “the affairs of bygone days” are very numerous. In Oleg, he saw, first of all, a hero capable of uniting Rus' and raising patriotic feelings.
Legend and plot
Any literary work of a historical nature is based primarily on historical facts. However, the vision of a writer or poet may differ from the original source: he can bring his own assessment, give life to events, even embellish them somewhere.
The plot of Pushkin’s ballad is similar to that which represents During the next campaign, a sorcerer, a magician, turns to the Grand Duke, the prophetic Oleg. He predicts that the master will meet death from his beloved horse, with whom he fought many battles.
Oleg immediately orders his faithful friend to be taken away, but orders that he be well looked after.
Next we see Oleg, already gray-haired. During the feast, he remembers his faithful friend - the horse. He is informed that the animal has died. Oleg decides to visit the resting place of his faithful friend and ask for forgiveness. The prince comes to the bones of the horse, is sad and lamented. At this time, a snake crawls out of the skull and inflicts a fatal bite.
The work ends with Oleg's funeral.
Features of the genre
If we carry out a genre analysis of the “Song of the Prophetic Oleg”, it will become clear that, by its definition, this is a poetic work based on some historical or other event. Often the plot is fantastic.
Another feature of the ballad is the dramatic nature of the events depicted and the unexpected ending. Pushkin embodied all this in his work. “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” contains a lot of fantastic things, starting with the old magician, his prophecy and ending with the death of the prince.
The poet himself, immediately reading about this event, saw in it a plot for his future work. He wrote about this to Alexander Bestuzhev, noting “a lot of poetry” in the story of the death of the famous prince.
Subjects
Let's consider what the “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” represents at the semantic level. The theme of the work does not fit into any one concept. Pushkin raises various topics:
Idea
Analysis of the “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” is impossible without an ideological outline. What does Pushkin want to say with his work? First of all, about the predetermination of what happens to a person. No matter how hard we try to push away evil rock, it will still overtake us.
Yes, Oleg was able to delay the moment of death by moving his horse away from him and not contacting him. However, death still overtakes the prince. Thus, Pushkin is trying to reveal a very important philosophical problem that great minds have thought about. Fate and freedom: how are these concepts related? Does a person really choose his own destiny (Oleg sends his horse away) or is it impossible to deceive fate (the death of the prince), as Pushkin believes? “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” clearly answers: everything that happens to people and is destined for them from above cannot be changed. The poet was convinced of this.
Artistic and expressive means
Let us analyze the “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” based on the means of expression used. Pushkin gave the legend from The Tale of Bygone Years his own vision, revived it, and made it sparkle with all its facets. At the same time, he conveyed the verbal flavor of Rus' in the 10th century.
Even the name itself is already poetic. "Song" is a method of worship that dates back to ancient times. Folklore works that came to us through the centuries immediately come to mind.
To convey the flavor of that era, special syntactic constructions are used in the speech; the poet’s speech is replete with archaisms (“trizna”) and archaic phrases (“feather grass”).
The text in Pushkin contains many apt epithets, which he carefully worked on (the poet's drafts remain). Thus, the original epithet “proud” as applied to the old sorcerer was replaced by “wise”. This is really so, because Oleg is proud and arrogant, and the magician is calm and majestic. Let us also indicate the most striking epithets: “glorious head of the mound”, “inspired magician”, “prophetic Oleg”. Metaphors are also abundant in the ballad: “the years are hidden in the darkness”, personifications: “the buckets are making noise.”
The poem is written in an even and calm amphibrach, characteristic of lyric-epic works. It slowly tells the story of the sad fate of Prince Oleg.