The concept of folklore, types and classification. Principles of classification of folklore genres

1 V. G. Belinsky, The division of poetry into genera and types, - V. G. Be-insky, Complete works, vol. V, M., 1954, pp. 7-67.

36

each is defined both in itself and in their relation to other genres from which they must be distinguished. Both of these questions, the question of defining genres and classifying them, are essentially two sides of one big question.

How can one define a genre, taking into account the folklore specificity of verbal and artistic creativity? In literary criticism, this concept is determined by the totality of the poetic system. This can be applied to the field of folklore as well.

<В широком смысле этого слова жанр может быть опре­делен как ряд или совокупность памятников, объединенных общностью своей поэтической системы. >Since folklore consists of works of verbal art, it is first of all necessary to study the features and patterns of this type of creativity, its poetics. Zoologists could only create a scientific systematic when they studied the skeletons of animals, the structure of their bodies, their modes of movement, as well as their attitude to the environment, the characteristics of nutrition, reproduction, etc. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to our science.

Poetics is understood as a set of techniques for expressing artistic goals and emotional and mental

Guo of the world, or in short - the form in connection with its specific, fa-

I bully and ideological content.

It must be said that the study of poetics, the laws of artistic creativity of the people is somewhat neglected both in Russian folklore and in folklore in other countries. This is one of the reasons why we do not have a scientific classification of folklore genres. True, thoughts about the need to study oral art forms were expressed at the Budapest Congress. This was mentioned, for example, in the speech of Dr. Oldrich Sirovatka from Brno (“On the morphology of legends and their cataloging”) and some others, but no practical conclusions were drawn.

<Специфика жанра состоит в том, "какая действитель­ность в нем отражена, какими средствами эта действитель­ность изображена, какова оценка ее, каково отношение к ней и как это отношение выражено. Единство формы предопре­деляет единство содержания, если понимать под «содержа­нием» не только фабулу, но мыслительный и эмоциональный мир, выраженный в произведении. Из этого вытекает, что единство «формы» определяется единством всего того, что принято называть «содержанием», и что их нельзя разры­вать. В статье о Кольцове Белинский говорит: «Когда форма

Principles of classification of folklore genres 37

is the expression of the content, it is connected with it so closely that to separate it from the content means to destroy the content itself; and vice versa: to separate the content from the form means to destroy the form” 2 . These words of Belinsky have not lost their relevance to this day, both in the field of literary theory and in the field of literary and artistic practice.

The form of a work cannot be changed without significant damage to the entire poetic system of works. Belonging to a genre is not a formal feature of a work, it determines its entire artistic fabric, sometimes very thin, especially in the smallest and smallest details, which can arouse admiration for mastery, deliver great aesthetic pleasure, and thereby give the work effectiveness, infect, inflame the reader. Nevertheless, the boundaries of the genre are not always stable and are sometimes violated._> It should be noted that the structure of each of the genres is different. It is necessary to study the composition - plots or plot are closely connected with the composition. Different plots can obey one composition, as is the case, for example, in a fairy tale. The plot and the plot should also form the basis of classification in a number of cases. The plot or plot is carried out by actors, characters. Undoubtedly, there will be cases when the classification can be carried out according to these characters, the heroes of the works, but for this they must be previously studied. The field of poetics also includes everything related to linguistic style. There are prose and poetic genres; the prose of some genres differs sharply from the prose of others; song rhythm and structure are different for different song genres, and this can serve as a criterion for their differentiation.

Consistent application of this principle will make it possible to more or less accurately establish the genre composition of the folklore of each people and will make many corrections to existing ideas. So, it is generally accepted to consider a fairy tale a genre. Meanwhile, the composition of fairy tales includes works of various poetic nature. In their structure, fairy tales are something completely different from cumulative tales or tales about the Poshekhonians. Therefore, a fairy tale is a broader concept than a genre. The situation is similar with some other types of folk art.

Thus, the first task of the classifier is to establish

2 V. G. B el and claims, On the life and writings of Koltsov, -V. G. Belinsky, Complete Works, vol. IX, M., 1955, p. 535.

38 Principles of classification of folklore genres

the formation of the genre composition of the folklore of their people. At the same time, the genre composition of folklore, established for one people, cannot be mechanically transferred to the composition of the folklore of another people. Only the principles of such a classification can be international, but not its material. The first requirement for defining a genre and finding out the number and nomenclature of genres is the study of the poetics of folklore.

In literary criticism, the definition of genre is limited to this. In folklore, things are different. Although the totality of the poetic system here is also one of the main criteria for determining the genre, it is necessary to take into account a number of other features that are not found in literature. There are genres in folklore that are characterized by their everyday use, which should serve as the second criterion. So, there are songs that are sung only at weddings, or at funerals, or on certain holidays. An indication of everyday use for some genres is their main feature and should be studied. This provision is obvious to any folklorist, but it is necessary to recall it when considering the question of classification, if The third sign, which may turn out to be significant SCH to determine the genre, - the form of performance. Russian choral / water songs, for example, are performed with known body movements of each performer individually and all together; the strophic structure and other features of such songs cannot be fully understood outside the movement of the round dance. This applies even more to play songs. Finally, no types of dramatic art can be studied only textually, the play of artists must also be known. This aspect of some works of folklore should also be taken into account when systematizing the material.

There is another feature of folklore that distinguishes it from literature. Russians sing all poetic folklore. To study it outside of music is to understand only half the story. In this regard, science recent years there are big shifts, and further cooperation between folklorists and musicologists should reveal a lot to us. Text and melody make up one organic whole, and the metrics of verse cannot be studied outside of musical rhythm and voice leading. Russian songs, except for round dance, game and dance songs, are not divided into stanzas. study of its origin or original forms.

Principles of classification of folklore genres SE

musical performance will be a decisive factor in determining the genre. This is the case with the classical heroic epic: only such works that are sung belong to it. So, the story about the meeting of Ilya Muromets with the Nightingale the Robber is either sung - and then it belongs to the field of the epic, or told - and then it is folk prose, which is either a fairy tale or a narrative of a literary and bookish nature.

Thus, the genre is determined by its poetics, everyday use, form of performance and attitude to music. As a rule, no single attribute characterizes the genre yet; it is determined by their totality. Not all aspects are necessary in all cases, but, for example, they are mandatory for the entire song-poetic folklore. Neither literary criticism, nor ethnographic, nor musical folkloristics separately can solve all the problems facing our science.

After the genre has been studied, it must certainly be characterized as precisely as possible and in accordance with the material. At the Budapest Congress, several definitions of the concept of "Sage" were proposed. But an opinion was also expressed, clearly erroneous, that the definition of genre is only of secondary importance (Ina Maria Greverus of Marburg). Prof. Kurt Ranke and others interpreted the concept of "Sage" too broadly and somewhat formally, including myths and legends in it. When defining a particular genre, in addition, one must also take into account historical moment; this was not done in this case.

For each nation, it is necessary to establish the genre composition of its folklore and define all genres. Then we will know how a fairy tale, legend, legend, tradition, myth, etc. differ from each other. We will establish what types of lyrical and epic songs this or that people has. The study of a genre in isolation from others cannot give firm conclusions, since works of different genres are often interconnected. In this way, it is impossible to reveal the richness and originality of the poetic creativity of each people and how it differs from the creativity of other peoples.

When this first, main task is solved, it will be necessary, on the one hand, to establish those more general and broad categories to which the genre ascends, and on the other hand, to break the genre into smaller and fractional categories into which it breaks up, i.e., to include it in the classification system as a whole. With all this whole the situation in our science is far from favorable. It can be said that in folk

Principles of classification of folklore genres

chloristics is dominated by some kind of fear of fractional categories. Often attempts to elevate the material to more general categories or break it into parts are not even made, and the need for subordination or subordination is simply not realized. In a large seven-volume Russian folk song acad. A. I. Sobolevsky, for example, the material is divided as follows: narrative songs (Volume I), family songs (Volumes II and III), love songs (Volumes IV and V), recruit, soldier, prisoner, robber, prisoner, barge and lackey songs (Volume VI), humorous, satirical and playful (Volume VII). The logical inconsistency of such a division is striking. But this is a fairly common picture for empirical classifications: either the material is not subdivided at all, or the classification consists of two or three, many four steps. For comparison, one need only pick up even an elementary course in zoology to see how thoughtfully and carefully the system of distribution into classes, families, genera, categories, species, varieties, etc., has been developed there.

Thus, a classification can have cognitive significance only when it is developed with such a degree of detail as the given material requires. In this regard, I would like to single out a classification called "Czech superstitious stories" (2nd version, 1963). Here the whole system is worked out in great detail and gives a really visual representation of such stories among the Czechs. The entire material is divided into 12 coordinated categories, subordinated to two main categories, and into 69 types that differ from each other.

Science needs precisely precise multi-stage divisions. True, we do not yet have terminology for designating rubrics, but its creation is quite possible. We have a number of terms such as genus, region, genre, type, variety, type, plot, motif, variant, etc., but other terminology can also be developed. The task of creating a detailed classification is not so easy, but it is solvable.

It is known that any classification is based on the selection and establishment of any one feature. At the Budapest Congress, the opinion was expressed that since folklore is illogical, logic is inapplicable to it. Such a view must be rejected in the strongest possible terms. As, for example, Dagmara Klimova Rykhnova (Prague) correctly said, "the system of titles should be subordinated to a single logical concept." In our classifications, as in other sciences, even the slightest

Principles of classification of folklore genres 41

logical errors, as they can lead to a distorted view of the material being studied.

The identification of fundamental features is the result of long, painstaking preliminary work. These signs themselves must satisfy the following requirements, without which the classification will not have scientific significance.

1. The distinguished feature should reflect the essential aspects of the phenomenon. What is considered significant and what is not is determined by the objectives of the study, but there are also completely objective criteria. An example of a correct classification is the scheme proposed by N.P. Andreev for various legends, which he divides according to the characters (about the dead, about devils, about witches, about goblin, about water, about brownies, etc. See the appendix to his "Index" 1929). Essentially the same classification was proposed by Prof. Si-monsuuri for some part of his index of types and motifs in Finnish mythical tales (FFC 182, Helsinki, 1961). The distribution of proverbs, for example, in alphabetical order cannot have scientific significance, since it is made on an insignificant basis. It would also be wrong to distribute works according to their size. Riddles, proverbs, etc. are often classified as "minor genres" (Klein-dichtung), but such a definition, made on a purely external basis, cannot have scientific significance.

2. The selected sign must be constant, not changeable. The application of this principle in folklore encounters significant difficulties, since folklore itself is in a constant process of change. The wedding ceremony is not observed now, and the songs that accompanied this ceremony are sung as lyrical. The same happens with dance and calendar songs. However, the definition is possible according to the original form with reference to such species in which this song can also be placed. Numerous options, the transition from one plot to another - all this requires preliminary careful study. Another example: when the epic disappears, some plots turn into a fairy tale. In this case, we should talk about two different genres using the same plot. This is connected with the question of stable and variable, or changeable (labile) elements in folklore in general. I once tried to prove that in a fairy tale the actions of the characters are the stable elements, the performers of these actions are the variables, and therefore a scientific classification of the types of fairy tales and the establishment of plots can only be constructed.

42 Principles of classification of folklore genres

to determine the actions of the characters 3 . It is not clear whether we have here a general or particular law of epic folklore. Czech classifiers of local legends also faced this. Initially, the classification was carried out according to a local attribute, but then it turned out that the same plots were attached to different localities, and the entire classification had to be reorganized according to plots (see the article by Li-busha Purova from Prague) 4 . The classification according to stable characteristics, required by logic, is possible in folklore only after it has been established for each genre what is stable and what is not. Classifying by characters, for example, is possible only when it is established that a given character is stably associated with certain actions or plots. There is a legend about how underwater inhabitants called a midwife from the village to help. This plot is classified under the heading "about mermen", but it is also known "about dwarfs living underground"; consequently, it can be rubricated | an not by the characters, but only by the plot.

3. The sign taken as the basis must be formulated clearly and exclude the possibility of different understanding and interpretation of it. This requirement is very often violated. So, in Czechoslovakia, a classification of songs according to the main motives was proposed; from each motif, the main word (Leitwort) should be snatched out and these words arranged in alphabetical order 5 . Such a classification is based on the subjective selection of the main and the secondary. In some cases, several different solutions will be possible. Such a classification does not meet scientific requirements. Quite often you can find a proposal to divide the material into topics or groups of topics (Themenkreise). But what is the theme? Take, for example, the ballad about Sophia and Vasily, where a mother poisons lovers who do not go to church, and then trees grow on their graves, intertwining tops. What is the main thing here: the theme of touching love that continues beyond the grave, the theme of murder out of savagery, or the right to love contrary to church teaching and worldview? The concept of topic is applicable for a monograph on one subject, but it is not applicable for scientific classification.

3 V. Propp, Morphology of a fairy tale, L., 1928 (ed. 2-e-M, 1969). English translation: V. Rgor, Morphology of the Folktale, - "International Journal of American Linguistics", vol. 24, 1958, No. 4.

4 cm. "Demos", 1963, No. 2, No. 325 (articles and notes are given in the journal under numbers).

5 See Demos, 1962, no. 1, no. 126.

Principles of classification of folklore genres 43

These are the requirements for the signs according to which the classification is made: they must be significant, constant and exclude the possibility of different understanding. When the main features are found, one should proceed to the actual classification. Three cases are possible here: classification is made according to the presence or absence of the same feature; by varieties of one sign; on mutually exclusive grounds. It should be emphasized that within one rubric (class, genus, species) only one method is allowed. Determination by the presence or absence of the same feature usually takes place to establish broad categories. Thus, it is possible to divide the entire field of folklore into works accompanied by musical performance (singing) and not accompanied by it. The division of song poetry into ritual and non-ritual poetry is widespread, which is correct both formally and in essence. According to this principle, the songs are arranged in one of the Romanian anthologies: "types associated with certain occasions (Christmas songs, wedding songs, funeral songs), and types whose performance is not associated with such occasions (songs in the proper sense of the word)" 6 . Non-ritual songs can be divided into those performed with certain rhythmic body movements (round dance, play, dance) and without them, with only one voice (standing, sitting, moving or working). In the field of prose folklore, the same principle underlies the division in which the entire field of folk prose is divided into such works, in the reality of the content of which they do not believe, and those, in the reality of the content of which they believe. At first glance, it may seem that the subjective attitude of the listener is taken as the basis, but this is not so. In the first case, we have an artistic design of fiction (all formations of a fairy-tale type), and in the second, an artistic transfer of reality or what is taken for it (all kinds of legends, tales, traditions). These two types differ in the totality of their poetics and aesthetics.

Distribution by variety of a single, pre-selected feature is the most commonly used form of classification. Prof. Megas (Athens), for example, in his report "The Essence and Distribution System of Greek Legends" reminded us of the classification of prof. Politis, who divided the material according to the objects of the narrative. Part

"Demos", 1961, No. 1, No. 152.

44 Principles of classification of folklore genres

of these are legends related to natural phenomena (about the sky, luminaries, meteors, earth, animals, plants), except for ethnological legends, which are combined in another category. Logically, such a classification is correct, but in fact it will be correct only if the objects of the narrative are stably connected with the corresponding plots; the division within the series is carried out only according to the varieties of one sign, and not several at once. If a child says that he has white, red, yellow and wooden cubes, then the mistake here is quite obvious. Such an error is often not visible at first glance, but it makes the classification scientifically untenable. This error is the scourge of almost all proposed classifications. I will confine myself to a few examples. In the Aarne-Thompson index, the tale "The Bubble, the Straw and the Bast Shoes" (AT 295) is classified as an animal tale. N. P. Andreev, who processed this index in relation to Russian fairy tales, also included “The Mushroom War”, “Frost, Sun and Wind” and some other fairy tales among animal tales. WITH light hand Sobolevsky's songs are often divided into love, family and comic, while half of all comic songs are songs of a love nature. The division of songs into love, family and round dances is also untenable, because the latter are almost entirely songs about love. The error here is that the signs are taken from different series and are not mutually exclusive. Aarne divides fairy tales into the following categories: wonderful adversary, wonderful spouse, brother, etc., wonderful task, wonderful helper, wonderful object. Everything seems to be good, all these categories are united by the concept of the miraculous. However, it is easy to see that the first two categories are defined on the basis of the actor, the third - on the basis of the motive, the fourth - on the basis of the subject. This logical error entails inevitably errors of fact. A miraculous task is always performed by a magical helper. What about, for example, the fairy tale about Sivka-Burka, where the wonderful task of jumping on a horse to the window of the princess is performed by a wonderful assistant - a horse? Or with such fairy tales, where wise wife Or does the hero's bride become his miraculous helper? The Aarne-Thompson index has entered international use, has been translated into many languages, but it is time to say frankly that it is suitable only as a technical reference for lack of a better one.

Even the generally carefully thought-out classification of legends, worked out by a special commission of the International Society for the Research, is not free from such errors.

Principles of classification of folklore genres

research on narrative folklore, sent by prof. Ranke. In the category of historical legends, two categories are combined; "Tales about the localities" ("Sagen um Lokalitaten") and tales related to early history("Fruhgeschichtliches"). Two principles are mixed here: local and temporal. Where can we attribute, for example, the legend about the founding of Kyiv by three brothers: to "local" (Kyiv) or "ancient historical"? Another example: in the section of mythical tales there are headings: "devil" and "demon of illness". But what about such plots in which the devil takes possession of a woman and thereby causes her illness? In one of the reports at the Budapest Congress, some northern legends about the Magi were classified as follows: about professional magicians, about non-professional magicians, about women. The logical inconsistency here is quite obvious. If you sort through the publications of folklore materials and see how the material is located there, you can give hundreds of such examples. However, in some cases such errors are caused only by unsuccessful formulations. So, in the index of prof. Simon-suuri, where the material is logically and factually correctly arranged according to the types of characters, we suddenly come across the heading "prohibitions". But here we are not talking about types of prohibitions, but about violators of various types of folk code of ethics and faith. This mistake can easily be corrected by renaming the section.

Distribution according to mutually exclusive features in folklore is used, for example, when breaking down genres (riddles, proverbs, charms, etc.). This technique is clear enough, but errors are possible here as well. It is especially difficult to distinguish between epic genres, which sometimes merge into one another. It is important, however, that classifiers here also check themselves and give themselves a full account of what sign they have chosen, by what method they are classifying, and to what extent the chosen method is legitimate for the analyzed material.

I have by no means attempted to exhaust the matter; there are still huge challenges ahead. I only wanted to draw attention to two aspects of the matter, which have received little attention so far: the need to preliminarily study the poetics of folklore and its laws in classifying, and to observe the rules of logic. There are no and cannot be logical errors in the classifications of the sciences of nature. We should also strive for this, although our material is essentially different.

Folklore is oral folk art: folk wisdom, knowledge about the world, expressed in specific forms of art. Verbal folklore is a specific art. The collective played an important role in the creation, storage, and sometimes even the performance of folklore. The problem of authorship, and even more so of attribution, has never been raised.

The word "folklore" literally translated from English means folk wisdom. Folklore is the works created by the people and existing among the masses, in which it reflects its labor activity, social and everyday way of life, knowledge of life, nature, cults and beliefs. Folklore embodies the views, ideals and aspirations of the people, their poetic fantasy, richest world thoughts, feelings, experiences, protest against exploitation and oppression, dreams of justice and happiness. This is an oral, verbal artistic creativity that arose in the process of the formation of human speech.

In a pre-class society, folklore is closely connected with other types of human activity, reflecting the rudiments of his knowledge and religious and mythological ideas. In the process of development of society, various types and forms of oral verbal creativity arose. Some genres and types of folklore have lived a long life. Their originality can be traced only on the basis of circumstantial evidence: on the texts of later times, which retained the archaic features of content and poetic structure, and on ethnographic information about peoples that are at the pre-class stages of historical development. Only from the 18th century and later are authentic texts of folk poetry known. Very few records survive from the 17th century.

The question of the origin of many works of folk poetry is much more complicated than that of literary works. Not only the name and biography of the author - the creator of this or that text are unknown, but also the social environment in which the fairy tale, epic, song, time and place of their composition was formed is unknown. The ideological intention of the author can only be judged by the surviving text, often written down many years later.

Folk art permeates the collective principle. It is present in the appearance and perception by listeners of newly created works, in their subsequent existence and processing. Collectivity is manifested not only externally, but also internally - in the folk poetic system itself, in the nature of the generalization of reality, in images, etc. In the portrait characteristics of heroes, in certain situations and images of folklore works, there is little individual features occupying such a prominent place in fiction.

The images of folk heroes express the best features of the Russian national character; the content of folklore works reflects the most typical circumstances of folk life. At the same time, pre-revolutionary folk poetry could not but reflect the historical limitations and contradictions of the peasant ideology. Living in oral transmission, the texts of folk poetry could change significantly. However, having reached full ideological and artistic completeness, the works were often preserved for a long time almost unchanged as a poetic heritage of the past, as a cultural wealth of enduring value.

On the chronological interval from ancient times to the present day, folklore occupies an intermediate position, being a link in the cultural space of centuries. Perhaps folklore has become a kind of filter for the mythological plots of the entire totality of the Earth's society, letting the universal, humanistically significant, and most viable plots into literature.

Children's folklore is formed under the influence of many factors. Among them - the influence of various social and age groups, their folklore; mass culture; existing ideas and much more.

The concept of "children's folklore" fully refers to those works that are created by adults for children. In addition, this includes works composed by the children themselves, as well as passed on to children from the oral creativity of adults. That is, the structure of children's folklore is no different from the structure of children's literature. Many genres are associated with the game, in which the life and work of the elders are reproduced, therefore, the moral attitudes of the people, their national traits, and the peculiarities of economic activity are reflected here.

In the system of genres of children's folklore, a special place is occupied by "nurturing poetry", or "mother's poetry". These include lullabies, pestles, nursery rhymes, jokes, fairy tales and songs created for the little ones.

Lullabies. At the center of all "maternal poetry" is the child. He is admired, he is cherished and cherished, decorated and amused. Gentle, monotonous songs are necessary for the transition of the child from wakefulness to sleep. From this experience, a lullaby was born. Often the lullaby was a kind of spell, a conspiracy against evil forces. One can hear in this lullaby echoes of both ancient myths and the Christian faith in the Guardian Angel. A lullaby has its own system of expressive means, its own vocabulary, its own compositional structure. Short adjectives are frequent, complex epithets are rare, there are many transfers of stress from one syllable to another. Prepositions, pronouns, comparisons, whole phrases are repeated. The most common type of repetition in a lullaby is alliteration, that is, the repetition of identical or consonant consonants.

Sleep, sleep

Hurry up to harrow

We'll buy those skewers

We will sew a zipun;

We will sew a zipun;

We will send harrowing

In clean fields

In green meadows.

Pestushki, nursery rhymes, jokes. Like lullabies, these works contain elements of the original folk pedagogy, the simplest lessons in behavior and relationships with the outside world. Pestushki (from the word "nurture" - educate) are associated with the earliest period of a child's development. Pestlets accompany the physical procedures necessary for the child. Their content is associated with specific physical actions. The set of poetic means in pestles is also determined by their functionality. Pestushki are concise. “The owl is flying, the owl is flying,” they say, for example, when they wave the child’s hands. “The birds flew, sat on their heads,” the child’s arms fly up to their heads. Not always in pestles there is a rhyme, and if there is, then most often a steam room. The organization of the text of pestles as a poetic work is also achieved by repeated repetition of the same word.

Nursery rhymes are a more developed play form than pestles. Rhymes entertain the baby, create in him fun mood. Like pestles, they are characterized by rhythm. Sometimes nursery rhymes only entertain, and sometimes they instruct, give the simplest knowledge about the world.

The nursery rhymes tell how "a white-sided magpie cooked porridge", "a young blackbird went for some water."

A joke is a small funny work, statement or just a separate expression, most often rhymed. Entertaining rhymes and jokes exist outside the game, unlike nursery rhymes. The joke is always dynamic, filled with energetic actions of the characters. In the joke, the basis of the figurative system is precisely the movement: “Knocks, strums along the street, Foma rides a chicken, Timoshka rides a cat - there along the path.” Often jokes are built in the form of questions and answers - in the form of a dialogue. So it is easier for the baby to perceive the switching of action from one scene to another, to follow the rapid changes in the relationships of the characters.

Goat grinds flour

The goat falls asleep

And the little goats

The flour is raked out.

Ryaba hen

All oats pushed

sowed millet,

Peas winnowed.

Fables, shifters, absurdities. These are varieties of the joke genre. Chukovsky devoted a special work to this type of folklore, calling it "Stupid absurdities." He considered this genre extremely important for stimulating the child's cognitive attitude to the world and very well substantiated why children like absurdity so much. A changeling in a playful way helps the child to establish himself in the already acquired knowledge, when familiar images are combined, familiar pictures are presented in a ridiculous mess.

Rhymes. This is another small genre of children's folklore. Rhythms are called funny and rhythmic rhymes, under which they choose a leader, start the game or some stage of it. Rhyming rhymes were born in the game and are inextricably linked with it. In the works of this genre, nursery rhymes, pestles, and sometimes elements of adult folklore are often used. The rhyme is often a chain of rhyming couplets.

an apple rolled

Past the garden

Past the garden

Past the city.

Who will raise

That one will come out.

Three four,

hitched

Five six,

carry hay;

Seven eight,

We mow hay;

Nine ten,

Money weighs.

Tongue Twisters. They belong to the genre of amusing, entertaining. The roots of these works of oral art also lie in ancient times. This word game, which was an integral part of the funny holiday entertainment people. Tongue twisters always include a deliberate accumulation of hard-to-pronounce words, an abundance of alliterations (“There was a white-faced ram, he re-white-faced all the sheep”). This genre is indispensable as a means of developing articulation and is widely used by educators and physicians.

Undershirts, teasers, sentences, refrains, chants. All these are works of small genres, organic for children's folklore. They serve the development of speech, ingenuity, attention: “Say two hundred.

Game songs. Of particular note is the cycle of children's play songs and sentences. Even before the 20th century, collectors and researchers of folklore considered children's play as a primitive drama, which has its own scene (one or another setting), its own strictly defined order, live action and peculiar stage roles. The playing child must convey the psychological type of the depicted face of an old woman, a robber, a wolf, a fox, a bear, a hare, endowed with human qualities).

Children's games were a reworking of adult games and therefore reproduced in a figurative form the everyday and labor activities of the people. Imitating the work of adults, the children stood in a circle, walked in one direction and the other, and sang:

And we soared the earth, soared.

And we plowed the land, plowed.

And we sowed millet, sowed.

And we weeded millet, weeded.

And we mowed millet, mowed.

And we millet demolished, demolished.

And we winnowed millet, winnowed.

And we dried millet, dried it.

And we cooked porridge, cooked.

At present, among children there are traditional games of "burners", "geese-geese", "hide and seek", "baskets".

Most of the verbal game forms have been preserved in the repertoire of children of rhymes-rhymes performed before the game instead of drawing lots. They are not associated with specific texts of oral dramatizations and can serve any game.

Puzzles. Riddles belong to the small genres of Russian folklore.

Riddles have much in common with proverbs and sayings in content and in artistic form. However, they also have specific features and represent an independent genre of folklore.

The term "mystery" is of ancient origin. In the Old Russian language, the word guess meant "to think, to ponder." This is where the word "mystery" comes from. In a riddle, a subject description of some phenomenon is given, the recognition of which requires considerable thought.

Most often, riddles are allegorical in nature. As a rule, the proposed object is not named, but its metaphorical equivalent is given instead.

Every riddle is inherently a trick question. However, this interrogativeness of hers can have an external form of expression and not have it. Riddles can be directly formulated as a question. For example: “What is more beautiful than white light?” (Sun); “What do we have more often than a forest?” (stars). However, most often in riddles the question is not outwardly expressed and they have a metaphorical-descriptive character. For example: “A plate is floating on the blue sea” (Month); “Three brothers lived: one loves winter, the other summer, and the third doesn’t care” (sleigh, cart, man).

Riddles, like all genres of folklore, are created on the basis of a living spoken language. The language of riddles, like the language of all folklore genres, is distinguished by accuracy, colorfulness and expressiveness. Common folklore epithets are widely used in them, such as “damp land”, “clear field”, “dark forest”, “green garden”, “good fellow”, “red maiden”, “native mother”, etc., as well as some general folklore comparisons, tautological expressions, etc.

However, the poetic style of riddles also has its own pronounced genre specifics; riddles are characterized by a high degree of metaphor, which permeates all of its stylistic means. Let us give examples of metaphorical (mysterious) epithets "blue field" (sky), "water bridge" (ice), "golden stump" (thimble), etc. Sometimes, the riddle is built on metaphorical epithets. For example: “Steel horse, linen tail” (needle with an eye), “Meat oven, iron attacks” (horseshoes). “The flowers are angelic, and the marigolds are devilish” (rosehip).

Many fairy tales are created on the basis of fairy-tale images: For example: “Baba Yaga, short leg"(plow)," The horse runs - the earth trembles "(thunder)," The eagle bird flies, carries fire in its teeth, in the middle of it is human death "(lightning). And here is a riddle that uses the saying: “On the sea, on the ocean, there is an oak with deaths, devilish shoots, suitcase leaves” (burdock).

In turn, riddles are often included in fairy tales.

In any science, classification is the basis or premise from which the material is studied in essence. However, it is itself the result of a very long and detailed preliminary study. To determine the subject of study very often means correctly assigning it to a certain class, species, variety. In folkloristics, preliminary painstaking work in this direction has not yet been done.

Only one genre was given much attention, namely, the genre of legends, legends (Sage). In the International Society for the Study of Narrative Folklore - the International Society for Folk-narrative Research, the Sagen-Kommission arose, which met on October 14-16, 1963 in Budapest for a special meeting, where a number of important and informative reports were listened to. In addition to the already existing printed cataloging experiments, several more projects were proposed, based in some cases on a huge number of works worked out.

This article uses the materials of this congress. Before proceeding to the classification of individual genres, it is necessary to agree on the general principles for the classification of folklore in general. Classifications can have applied and actually scientific-cognitive value. Applied classifications are developed purely empirically, gropingly, and can be useful, despite some logical or other errors, only as long as the principles of scientific classification have not been developed.

Libraries, archives, compilers of bibliographies, collectors and publishers of folklore need classifications. Everyone who publishes collections or prepares his expeditionary records for delivery, first of all, systematizes them. Such classifications cannot be very strict requirements. In the event that the classification meets the immediate objectives of the organization of this material, it can be considered satisfactory.

If there is no scientific system in the bibliographic reference book, but it is constructed in such a way that it is unmistakable and without much difficulty it is prayed to find everything you need in it, then the goal of systematization will be achieved to a certain extent. Examples of such flawed empirical classifications useful as scientific and technical aids are well known.

But the matter changes as soon as we turn to questions of scientific classification. This primarily applies to the compilation of all kinds of indexes, as well as to the cataloging of folklore works in archives, where millions of items are sometimes stored that require precise systematization.

In Soviet science, the opinion was developed that the basis of any folklore study, including the basis of classification, the unit with which to start, is the genre. On the one hand, it is subject to more general categories, on the other hand, it can be divided into more detailed categories. Genre is a purely conditional concept, and it is necessary to agree on its meaning. Etymologically, it goes back to the Latin genus and corresponds to the German Gattung, but in fact it is used in the language, namely, in the meaning of the species, and corresponds to the German Art. What can be called a genre?

In literary criticism, this concept is determined by the totality of the poetic system. This can be applied to the field of folklore as well. Since folklore consists of works of verbal art, it is first of all necessary to study the features and patterns of this type of creativity, its poetics. Zoologists could only create scientific systematics when the skeletons of animals, the structure of their bodies, methods of movement, as well as their attitude to the environment, nutrition, reproduction, etc. were studied.

The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to our science. Poetics is understood as a set of techniques for expressing artistic goals and the emotional and mental world, or, in short, the study of form in connection with its specific, plot and ideological content.

It must be said that the study of poetics, the laws of artistic creativity of the people is somewhat neglected both in Russian folklore and in folklore in other countries. This is one of the reasons why we do not have a scientific classification of folklore genres.

True, thoughts about the need to study oral art forms were expressed at the Budapest Congress. This was mentioned, for example, in the speech of Dr. Oldrich Sirovatka from Brno (“On the morphology of legends and their cataloging”) and some others, but no practical conclusions were drawn. It should be noted that the structure of each of the genres is different.

It is necessary to study the composition - plots or plot are closely connected with the composition. Different plots can obey one composition, as is the case, for example, in a fairy tale. The plot and the plot should also form the basis of classification in a number of cases.

The plot or plot is carried out by actors, characters. Undoubtedly, there will be cases when the classification can be carried out according to these characters, the heroes of the works, but for this they must be previously studied.

The field of poetics also includes everything related to linguistic style. There are prose and verse genres: the prose of some genres differs sharply from the prose of others; song rhythm and structure are different for different song genres, and this can serve as a criterion for their differentiation. Consistent application of this principle will make it possible to more or less accurately establish the genre composition of the folklore of each people and will make many corrections to existing ideas. So, it is generally accepted to consider a fairy tale a genre. Meanwhile, the composition of fairy tales includes works of various poetic nature. In their structure, fairy tales are something completely different from cumulative tales or tales about the Poshekhonians.

Therefore, a fairy tale is a broader concept than a genre. The situation is similar with some other types of folk art.

Thus, the first task of the classifier is to establish the genre composition of the folklore of his people. At the same time, the genre composition of folklore, established for one people, cannot be mechanically transferred to the composition of the folklore of another people. Only the principles of such a classification can be international, but not its material. The first requirement for defining a genre and ascertaining the number and nomenclature of genres is the study of the poetics of folklore.

In literary criticism, the definition of genre is limited to this. In folklore, things are different. Although the totality of the poetic system here is also one of the main criteria for determining the genre, it is necessary to take into account a number of other features that are not found in literature. There are genres in folklore that are characterized by their everyday use, which should serve as the second criterion.

So, there are songs that are sung only at weddings, or at funerals, or on certain holidays. An indication of everyday use for some genres is their main feature and should be studied. This position is obvious to any folklorist, but it is necessary to recall it when considering the question of classification.

The third feature that may be essential for defining a genre is the form of performance. Russian round dance songs, for example, are performed with known body movements of each performer individually and all together; the strophic structure and other features of such songs cannot be fully understood outside the movement of the round dance. This applies even more to game songs.

Finally, no kind of dramatic art can be studied only textually, the play of artists must also be known. This side of some works of folklore should also be taken into account when systematizing the material.

There is another feature of folklore that distinguishes it from literature. Russians sing all poetic folklore.

To study it outside of music is to understand only half the story. In this regard, there have been great advances in science in recent years, and further cooperation between folklorists and musicologists should reveal a lot to us.

Text and melody form one organic whole, and the metrics of verse cannot be studied outside of musical rhythm and voice leading.

V.Ya. Propp. Poetics of folklore - M., 1998