On Metrics of the Lamentations of Northern Russia

Occupation: Head of the Department of Ethnolinguistics and Folklore
Affiliation: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Address: 32а Leninsky Prosp., Moscow, 119334, Russia

Journal name

Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka

Edition

Volume 79 Issue 6

Pages

5-19

Abstract

The article deals with the metric of Northern Russian lamentations collected and published by E.V. Barsov 150 years ago (more than 26,000 verses). The first part of the article analyzes the syllable count (length) of lamentations. “Long&8j1; 14-and 13-syllable lines are typical for recruitment and wedding lamentations (80% and 85%, respectively), and 13-and 12-syllable ones – for funeral lamentations (more than 82%). “Short&8j1; lines (8-, 9-, 10-, 11-syllable) are used in all types of lamentations; as a rule, they are not mixed with “long&8j1; ones and usually form separate blocks. The choice of a long or short model depends, to a large extent, on the performer and the features of the local lamentation tradition. The second part contains an analysis of the lamentation rhythmic patterns (the distribution of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line). The most consistent pattern of the large-line lamentations (14-, 13- and 12-syllables) is a three-stressed structure with an interval of three syllables between them; for the small-line lamentations (8-, 9-, 10-syllables), respectively, a two-stressed structure with the same interval prevails; in general, the last rhythmic pattern is less consistent. The above data does not support the interpretation of the lamentations as a iambus or trochee (6 - or 4-syllable) and support their definition as a folk recitative verse with 3 rhythmic accents.

Keywords

folklore, lamentations, Northern Russia, poetic meter, syllable count of a verse, rhythmics, rhythmic pattern of a verse

Acknowledgment

This study was funded by the RFBR, project no 20-012-00205А.

Received

25.12.2020

Publication date

25.12.2020

Number of characters

38095

Cite

GOST	Tolstaya S. On Metrics of the “Lamentations of Northern Russia” // Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka – 2020. – V. 79. – Issue 6 C. 5-19 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://izv-oifn.ru/S241377150013059-7-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S241377150013059-7
MLA	Tolstaya, Svetlana "On Metrics of the “Lamentations of Northern Russia”." Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 79.6 (2020):5-19. DOI: 10.31857/S241377150013059-7
APA	Tolstaya S. (2020). On Metrics of the “Lamentations of Northern Russia”. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 79(6), pp.5-19 DOI: 10.31857/S241377150013059-7

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 605

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Bailey, J. Izbrannye statii po russkomu narodnomu stikhu. Perevod s angl. pod. red. M.L. Gasparova [Selected Articles on Russian Folk Verse. Translated from English. Under the General Editorship of Gasparov, M.L.]. Moscow, Languages of Slavic Culture Publ., 2001. (In Russ.)

2. Bailey, James. On Analyzing the rhythm of a Russian funeral lament. American Contributions to the Eleventh International Congress of Slavists. Columbus, Ohio, 1993. P. 214–229. (In Engl.)

3. Prichitanija Severnogo kraja, sobrannye E.V. Barsovym. Izd. podgotov. B.T. Chistova, K.V. Chistov [Lamentations of Northern Russia, Collected by E.V. Barsov. Text Prep. by Chistova, B.T., Chistov, K.V.]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1997. Vol. 1. Pokhoronnye prichitanija [Funeral Lamentations]. Vol. 2. Rekrutskije i svadebnyje prichitanija [Recruitment and Wedding Lamentations]. Serija Literaturnye pamiatniki [Literature Monuments]. (In Russ.)

4. Trubetskoy, N.S. K voprosu o stikhe “Pesen zapadnykh slavian” of A.S. Pushkin [On the Question of the Verse of the “Songs of the Western Slavsˮ by A.S. Pushkin]. Trubetskoy, N.S. Izbrannyje trudy po filologiji [Selected Works on Philology]. Moscow, Progress Publ., 1987, pp. 359-370 (first publication 1937). (In Russ.)

5. Efimenkova, B. B. Severnorusskaja prichet. Mezhdurechje Sukhony i Juga i verkhnej Kokshengi [Lamentations of Northern Russia. The Interfluve of the Sukhona and the Jug and the Upper Kokshenga (Vologda Region)]. Moscow, Soviet composer Publ., 1980. (In Russ.)

6. Jugaj, E.F. Chelobitnaja na tot svet: vologodskie prichitanija v XX veke [Petitions to the Next World: Vologda Lamentations in the 20th Century]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2019. (In Russ.)

7. Khvorostinina, E.V. Stikh prichitanij Russkogo Severa [Verse of the Russian North Lamentations]. Khvorostinina, E.V. Ritmicheskaja kompozicija russkogo stikha: istoricheskaja tipologija i semantika. Diss. doct. filol. nauk [Rhythmic Composition of Russian Verse: Historic Typology and Semantics. An Abstract of the Diss. Doct. Philol. Sci.]. St.Petersburg, 2009, pp. 60–91. (In Russ.)

8. Matochkin, A.A. Pokhoronno-pominal’naja prichetnaja tradicija Mezenskogo rajona Arkhangelskoj oblasti v zapiskakh 2007–2009 gg. [Funeral and Memorial Lamentation Tradition of the District Mezen of the Arkhangelsk Region in Records of 2007–2009 ]. Rechevaja i obriadovaja kultura Russkogo Severa [Speech and Ritual Culture of the Russian North]. Philological Workshop. Comp. Veselova, I.S., Stepikhov, A.A. St. Petersburg, 2012, pp. 247–358. (In Russ.)

9. Kormina, Zh. Provody v armiju v poreformennoj Rossii. Opyt etnograficheskogo analiza [Seeing off to the Army in Post-Reform Russia. The Experience of an Ethnographic Analysis]. Moscow, NLO Publ., 2005. (In Russ.)

10. Balashov, D.M., Marchenko, Yu.I., Kalmykova, N.I. Russkaja svadba. Svadebnyj obriad na verkhnej i srednej Kokshenge i Uftiuge (tarnogskij rajon Vologodskoj obl. [Russian Wedding. Wedding Ceremony on the Upper and Middle Kokshenga and on Uftyug (Tarnogsky District of the Vologda Region)]. Moscow, 1985. (In Russ.)

11. Russkie plachi Karelii [Russian Laments of Karelia]. Ed. by Azadovsky, M.K. Petrozavodsk, 1940. (In Russ.)

12. Kuznetsova, V.P., Loginov, K.K. Russkaja svadba Zaonezhja (konec XIX – nachalo XX veka) [Russian Wedding of Zaonezhye (the End of 19th – Beginning of 20th Century)]. Petrozavodsk, 2001. (In Russ.)

13. Chistov, K.V. Russkaja prichet [Russian Lamentations]. Leningrad, Soviet writer Publ., 1960, pp. 5–48. (In Russ.)

14. Gasparov, M.L. Narodnyj stikh [Folk Verse]. Literaturnyj enciklopedicheskij slovar [Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary]. Moscow, Sovetskaya enciklopediya Publ., 1987, p. 237. (In Russ.)