Tove Janssons bildebok Vem ska trösta knyttet? som heltedikt

Tove Jansson’s Picturebook Who Will Comfort Toffle? as a Heroic Poem This article offers an analysis of Tove Jansson’s picturebook Vem ska trösta knyttet? (Who Will Comfort Toffle?) from 1960 as a heroic poem and dramatic monologue, representing an alternative reading to earlier studies of this picturebook as a coherent narrative. Drawing on theory about heroic poetry, poetry and picturebook analysis, we provide a reading that expands those interpretations of Vem ska trösta knyttet? that emphasize the romantic and psychological projects of the book when read as a narrative story. By reading Vem ska trösta knyttet? as a heroic poem, we explore the text as an uttered, ritualistic, and iterative event rather than solely a narrative with fictional characters. Read in the tradition of the heroic poem, Toffle is (still) the hero, where lyrical language and structures allow the reader to remember and retell the poem, letting Toffle’s deeds live on beyond the alleged time of events and the performative declaration by Toffle.

Epic Regained: Phillis Wheatley’s Admonitory Poetics in the ‘Little Columbiad’

Although many scholars have discussed Phillis Wheatley’s subversive appropriation of the classics, they have been reluctant to locate a similar strain of subtle repudiation in her Revolutionary War poems. The present article reexamines these verses — ‘To His Excellency General Washington’ (1775), ‘On the Capture of General Lee’ (1776), and ‘On the Death of General Wooster’ (1778) — in light of the tradition of (neo)classical heroic poetry. I read them as a formally innovative epic, dispersed across three apparently ‘patriotic lyrics’ (Levernier (1993: 175)) and dubbed the ‘Little Columbiad’ for their personification of America. Wheatley signals that the triptych should be read as far more than a trio of occasional poems. She not only evokes elements of the epic tradition but also obfuscates the Lucanic heart of her piece within a Virgilian body. This deft juxtaposition of disparate epic registers and forms allows the poet to reprove revolutionary generals, comment upon the war, and decry a movement committed both to liberty and to slavery’s perpetuation. In playing the part of epic admonisher, Wheatley likewise spotlights the genre’s tendency to expose and dissect the flaws of leaders in even its most laudatory iterations. The ‘Little Columbiad’ therefore gives us an important opportunity to reevaluate its author’s pivotal position in the history of North American heroic poetry and epic reception, as well as to nuance regnant paradigms of the genre itself.

The Evil as a Generic Interference: On the axiological Scaling of Middle High German Poetry (Heroic Poetry, Arthurian Romance, Minnesang) Das Böse als generische Interferenz: Ein Beitrag zur axiologischen Dimensionierung mittelhochdeutscher Dichtung (Heldenepos, Artusroman, Minnesang)

The article discusses a poetic phenomenon typical for central genres of MHG poetry, heroic poetry, Arthurian romance, Minnesang, namely the question if characters and their actions are, or can be, evaluated as evil, and for what purpose. The axiological system of MHG poetry proves to be of extraordinary instability, the main reason for that being a strong tendency towards a rigid idealization of the poetic 'world' and its characters. Hence, the evil is not a genuine part of the poetic blueprints. Where it is, for one reason or the other, indispensable, it usually manifests as a generic interference, that is to say as an import from alien generic conventions, including day-to-day narration. Im Zentrum des Beitrags steht ein für die wichtigsten Genres der mhd. Dichtung – Heldendichtung, Artusroman und Minnesang – typisches poetisches Phänomen; es geht um die Frage, ob und inwieweit in dieser die Figuren und deren Aktionen böse genannt werden können, und wenn ja, zu welchem Zweck. Die Axiologie der mhd. Dichtung erweist sich dabei als außerordentlich instabil, was primär an einer starken Tendenz zur rigiden Idealisierung der poetischen 'Welt' und ihrer Figuren liegt: Das Böse ist nicht eigentlicher Teil der poetischen Baupläne. Wo es dennoch, aus verschiedenen Gründen, unverzichtbar erscheint, wird es häufig manifest als genetische Interferenz, also als ein Import fremder generischer Konventionen, zu denen auch das Alltagserzählen zu rechnen ist.

The unique concept ofglory: Devaluation ofthevalue ofpersonal fame in the Russian folk epics

The article is dedicated to the concept of glory, which should be placed among the main concepts of the world’s folk epics. According to the author’s analysis (undertaken through the axiological, comparative-historical, and historical-genetic methods), glory – as rendered in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, The Mahābhārata, European and Oriental medieval epics, etc. – is most often related to the rumors about a concrete hero and emerges as a substitute of individual immortality or as a pledge of postmortem beatitude. Among nearly all known works of heroic poetry, only the Russian folk epics are fundamentally opposed to this interpretation: Bylinas don’t treat glory as a specific attribute belonging to this or that hero, but as a collective virtue of all Russian knights – the one intended to deter foreign rulers from their invasions of Russia and to protect, in this earthly world, both the divine law and suffering people. Accordingly, the article provides a comparison between different works of heroic folklore and Russian bylinas, which enables both to interpret more fully the axiological structure of the epic tradition as such (the notions of glory, honor, boasting, and rumor – the ones still insufficiently analyzed in scholarly literature and defined more precisely in the present paper), and to determine the principal originality of the Russian folk epics, their unique position among other oral songs of similar nature. In particular, a comparison between the heroic songs of Christian Europe and Russian bylinas allows the author to argue confidently that precisely the latter incarnated (in the most original and profound way, at different levels of their artistic structure, including plot, motives, and imagery) the values and the ideas of Christianity, its spiritual and moral potential.

FINNO-UGRIC CONTEXTS OF THE RUSSIAN BYLINA

The relevance of the article is due to the ongoing discussion about the ethnic status of the Russian people and its state, which is expressed, in part, in the existence of two main concepts in Russian historiography - the Norman and anti-Norman ones. The epic, which reproduces the ethnic, historical and state views of an ethnos at the stage of its emergence and formation, was not sufficiently involved in addressing this issue or was considered unilaterally and with a Slavophil or Normanist bias. The article attempts to analyze epic plots, characters and ideas with the involvement of the Finno-Balt and Ugric contexts, for the Finns and the Balts, as evidenced by The Tale of Bygone Years, took part in the vocation for the reign of Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, with which it is customary to designate the beginning of Russian statehood. The geography of epic plots and characters points to the Novgorod principality, the lands of Chudi, Korela, Vesi, Mary, Sloven, Krivichi, - to the Russian North as the place of addition of heroic epic poetry. Heroic poetry is formed in the ethnogenetic core of the nationality, where there are ideological and social processes associated with the formation of its statehood. Consciousness of the Russian person is still looking for an answer to questions about who he is? From where? What is its purpose? Who are his ancestors? It is noteworthy that the relevance of these issues compared with the XII century, the time of creation of the “Tale of Bygone Years”, did not decrease, but increased. Hence the constant presence in the Russian literature of the historical genre, also trying to answer the indicated questions. In this study, the problem “...where did the Russian Land come from and is...” is examined with the help of epics, which have their own concept of the history of Russia.

MENANAMKAN NILAI-NILAI KESEJARAHAN DALAM PEMBELAJARAN SEJARAH MELALUI PUISI KEPAHLAWAN

Instilling historical values (internalization) can be developed by history teachers through reading poetry of heroism, because the process of reading heroic poetry is able to shape the atmosphere and inspiration of readers and listeners so that they will be able to give a deep message of value to students. This research is a Classroom Action Research with a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques used in this study were: observation, field notes, documentation, and interviews. The data source is students of class XI IPS-1. This research was conducted in four cycles with seven actions. The findings in this classroom action research are that through reading poetry of heroism in history learning can instill students' historical values, through the stages of value transfer, value transactions, and trans value internalization so that the formation of established student personality and character is formed. This can be seen from the results of observations and interviews in four cycles carried out.

Formulaic Language in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle

This paper investigates formulaic syntax in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (German: Livländische Reimchronik), a Middle High German (MHG) verse history composed around 1290. A common syntactical formula is a unit formed with the adjective vrô (‘glad’, ‘happy’, ‘joyful’) or its negative variant unvrô, together with the verbs sîn (‘be’) or werden (‘become’), with a genitive object: NP-Nom + SÎN/ WERDEN + NP-Gen + (un)vrô (e.g. der meister was der rede vrô). In almost every case the adjective (un)vrô occurs in end position, so that it can be rhymed with another common word, e.g. dô (‘then’) or sô (‘thus’). An important variation is introduced with the demonstrative pronoun des: Pro-Dem-Gen + SÎN/WERDEN + NP-Nom + (un)vrô. This construction has the metrical function of filling a complete line, but it also functions as a discourse marker: it comments positively or negatively on an episode it follows or introduces. The high frequency of this construction in this text compared to its occurrence in other genres written in rhyming couplets suggests that the author was more conservative and less inventive than his contemporaries. In addition he also drew more frequently on the vocabulary and conventions of heroic poetry in which formulaic language was very common. It is argued that the employment of formulaic phrasing and syntax are connected with the sociolinguistic circumstances of the recitation of the chronicle.