“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” summary - read Zabolotsky’s retelling in parts for grade 9

Summary
Various authors
Zabolotsky - A Tale of Igor's Campaign

The book tells the story of the times of the Kyiv princes Igor and Vladimir. In ancient Rus', princes went on campaigns. One day, Prince Igor went out on a hike one gloomy morning. The prince really wanted to drink water from the Don. The prince did not believe the bad omens and decided to set up camp near the Don. The prince went to the land of the Polovtsians with his brother Vsevolod Svetoslavich. Vsevolod's wars were already expected near Kursk. On the way, Prince Igor was accompanied by bad omens. In the darkness the prince heard an animal whistle. Angry birds were waiting for the prince in the oak groves. On the way, the army heard wolves howling and an eagle flying in the sky.

After a while they reached the Polovtsian lands. Having captured the lands, the prince's army collected rich booty such as gold and precious stones, beautiful wealth and Polovtsian girls. After collecting the booty, Prince Igor and the army rested near the Don. At this time, the khans Konchak and Gzak returned to the Polovtsian land. Tomorrow brings bloody waters and dark clouds. The Polovtsian khans came to the camp with an army and surrounded the Russian regiment of Prince Igor. A battle began on the spot. In battle, Vsevolod showed the greatest courage. In battle, he forgot about wealth and honor, as well as his own family, and was wounded.

The car also talks about the times under Prince Oleg. Under Oleg there were no such battles at all. The battle between Prince Igor and the Polovtsians took a long time. During the battle, spears and helmets and horse hooves thundered. The battle lasted 2 days. Prince Igor's regiment lost and returned to Russian soil. After the defeat, many princes stopped fighting the Polovtsians. And the Polovtsians took tribute from the Russian people.

Igor's father, Prince Svyatoslav, defeated this unrest and captured the Polovtsian land and captured Khan Kobyak. Foreigners and the Russian people blamed Igor for this. He drowned the wealth of the Russian people. At the same time, he himself was captured by the Polovtsians.

Svyatoslav had a bad dream. His assistants connected the dream with the prince’s grief. The prince's two sons were captured. Prince Svyatoslav lived with grief in his soul. He had already lost his brother Svyatoslav. In Putivl, Yaroslavna sits and cries in the castle for her husband Igor. She wanted to become a bird to get to her husband. She blamed not only people, but also fate, nature, for the fact that she had lost her husband.

In captivity, Igor thinks about the past and present and decides to get out of this darkness. At night everyone slept and Igor managed to escape from captivity. Ovlur helped him. And Igor rode on his horse with all his might. Having reached the Don, he dismounted from his horse and tasted water from the river. The Polovtsians learned about the escape of Prince Igor. Konchak and Kzak set off in pursuit of him. Kzak offered to kill the prince upon capture. Konchak wanted to make a red maiden out of him. But the Polovtsians received nothing. In the end, Igor returned safely to his Russian land.

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About the product

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was written in Old Russian by an unknown author, a contemporary of that time. He talks about the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians in 1185, about the defeat of the Russian army. The author seeks to explain his reasons to his compatriots and talk about the military valor of Russian soldiers.

The 9th grade literature program includes one of the best translations of this work, made by Nikolai Zabolotsky. For an initial introduction to the storylines and characters, we suggest reading the summary of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in parts on our website.

The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.

Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.

A Word about Igor's Campaign summary

The poem “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was written in Old Russian by an unknown author, a contemporary of that time. He talks about the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians in 1185, about the defeat of the Russian army. The author seeks to explain his reasons to his compatriots and talk about the military valor of Russian soldiers. The 9th grade literature program includes one of the best translations of this work, made by Nikolai Zabolotsky. For an initial introduction to the storylines and characters, we suggest reading the summary of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in parts on our website.

The main characters are Igor - Prince of Novgorod-Seversky. He went on a campaign against the Polovtsians, his army was defeated by the enemy. Vsevolod is Igor’s brother, who took part in the campaign. Svyatoslav is the Grand Duke of Kiev, cousin of Igor and Vsevolod, their feudal head, an experienced commander, statesman. Yaroslavna is the wife of Prince Igor. She asks the forces of nature to protect her husband from death. Other characters Ovlur is a Polovtsian who helps Igor escape from captivity. Ovlur's mother was Russian. For some reason, harboring a grudge against the Polovtsians, Ovlur helps Igor escape from captivity.

Summary

Introduction The author begins the story about Prince Igor’s campaign “according to the epics of this time,” following historical, objective events. He reports that he is not going to “spread his thoughts along the tree” - to conduct the story in a pompous and florid poetic manner, as the “old nightingale”, the storyteller Boyan, always did.

Part 1 Prince Igor and his squad are waiting for his brother Vsevolod to go with him against the Polovtsians. On the day the Russian army set out on a campaign, Igor looked at the sun and saw that it was covered with shadow. Neglecting the “sign of heaven” - the eclipse of the sun - and hearing only his desire to “break a spear in an unfamiliar Polovtsian field,” Igor decides to advance with his soldiers to the Don.

All along the way, the army is accompanied by bad signs: birds cry anxiously, awakened by a thunderstorm, wolves howl, “moaning and grinding in the darkness of the night” is heard from everywhere.

They stopped for the night in the steppe, and at dawn they began the battle with the enemy. “The army of the filthy Polovtsians crushed,” the Russians captured the Polovtsian girls and took rich booty.

Again Igor’s army spent the night in the steppe, and meanwhile the Polovtsian khans Gzak and Konchak “with their wild horde” “with shouts and howls” went to fight with Igor’s squad. But the Russians, full of strength, blocked the fields and prepared to repel the onslaught. The bloody color of dawn foreshadowed trouble.

Stepping back for a while from the depiction of the battle, the author of “The Lay” recalls the history of Rus' and laments that “the great-grandchildren forgot the early formidable campaigns” of Oleg, Igor’s ancestor. In the struggle for power, Oleg began internecine wars, which brought ruin to the Russian land and death. The Russian land saw many battles then, says the author, but there had never been anything like this.

The battle between Igor’s army and the Polovtsians was terrible: “far from the blood turning black, the field began to smoke under their feet.” Russian soldiers fought with the enemies for two days, but on the third they were defeated. Near the Kayala River, near which there was a battle, Igor and Vsevolod were captured by the Polovtsian khans. Nature itself sympathized with the defeat of the Russian army: the steppe drooped sadly, the trees dropped their branches.

A difficult time has come for the Russian land. Many Russians died on the battlefield, “Russian wives fell, sobbing” over the death of their “dear ones.” The time of abundance has passed, because the princes stopped fighting the enemy - the “adversary”, now they “call small things great and forge sedition from brother to brother.” Taking advantage of civil strife, Rus''s enemies attack from all sides.

The princes Svyatoslavovich (as the author calls Grand Duke Igor and Vsevolod) opened the way to the Russian land for troubles and sorrow, the author says, “they woke up the filthy for war.” But just recently Svyatoslav, their “father,” in his successful campaign against the Polovtsians “did not spare the filthy armies,” “terrified them,” “chopped them with swords,” captured Khan Kobyak and “stepped on the Steppe.” Now the Polovtsians again raided Rus' without fear, winning victories.

Part 2 In Kiev, Grand Duke Svyatoslav had a disturbing, “vague” dream, for which he had no explanation. Having gathered the boyars, he told them about what he had dreamed and heard from them the interpretation of the dream: in the battle with the Polovtsians, Igor and Vsevolod were defeated.

With sadness and bitterness, Svyatoslav pronounced his “golden word”, addressing the younger princes. He reproached them for going against the enemy at the wrong time and shedding blood “without honor,” having decided to seek glory for themselves and not turn to other princes for help. Svyatoslav himself “will not give a nest to anyone to offend”, he will be able to protect it. There is one problem: “the princes don’t want to help” him - they are busy fighting for power, and there is no use in their strength and military skill. Igor’s defeat brought the Polovtsians to the Russian land, and “the Russians are already screaming under the Polovtsian saber,” and Vladimir is wounded defending Pereyaslavl.

The author continues Svyatoslav's appeal and calls on the princes to protect their land.

“You will splash the Volga with oars, you will scoop up the Don with a helmet,” he addresses the words to Vsevolod, and asks Rurik and David if their regiments are now dying “at the hands of a warrior of an unknown land.” He calls for revenge “for the Russian land and for Igor’s wounds.”

The author and Prince Yaroslav of Galicia are calling to speak out for the Russian land, because he has the strength, intelligence, and great power to do so.

And the author turns to Mstislav with the brave Roman, whose thought “rushes his mind to feat” and under whose banners many opponents have bowed their “violent head”, but does not finish the appeal. He bitterly returns in his thoughts to Igor’s defeat:

“But the former glory is no longer with us. The filthy army divided the city. According to Sula, according to Ros, there are no enemies..."

The author calls the princes Ingvar and Vsevolod and the three Mstislavovichs, the Volyn princes “for a long campaign”; he does not understand why they have not yet come to the defense of Rus'.

Saying that the borders of his native land are not protected, the creator of the Lay describes the hopeless attempt of Prince Izyaslav of Polotsk to independently secure them from external enemies. Izyaslav died on the battlefield - none of the Russian princes came to his aid.

The author passionately calls on Yaroslav and Vseslav’s descendants to stop enmity and understand that in the civil strife everyone was defeated - as a result, “the filthy people were brought to our Rus' by discord and unrest.” Continuing his thought about the catastrophic consequences of strife for the state, he tells the story of the fate of Vseslav, who lived at the end of paganism. Vseslav was at enmity with various principalities, he “sowed many fields in Rus' not with good things, but with Russian bones,” but he himself experienced many different troubles.

Remembering the past and previous princes, the author names old Vladimir as an example of a defender of the homeland, contrasting him with his contemporaries Rurik and Davyd, between whom there is no agreement.

Part 3 In Putivl, Yaroslavna cries on the city wall, and her voice is heard even on the borders of the Russian land, it reaches the banks of the Danube. In deep sadness she turns to all the forces of nature. She speaks to the wind, saying that it has dispelled her joy forever. Sobbing, she talks to the Dnieper, the main Russian river, asking him: “keep her beloved husband on the far side.” Crying, he asks the sun how could the luminary, with which “everyone is welcome and warm,” turn away from the prince’s army.

As if nature had heard Yaroslavna’s prayers and cries, she responded. The sea shook, a whirlwind rushed towards Igor’s house - “the Lord himself from the Polovtsian countries” showed the prince the way home.

At midnight, when Igor was awake, thinking about returning, he suddenly heard a conventional whistle. It was the Polovtsian Ovlur, who had prepared his horses for escape and called Igor. Igor rushed out of Polovtsian captivity, “turning into an ermine-squirrel,” then “swimmed like Gogol on the wave, flew like the wind on a horse,” and with him Ovlur. When the fugitives drove the horses, Igor flew like a falcon to the Donets, and Ovlur ran like a gray wolf.

Jackdaws, crows, and magpies did not cry in the fields and forests, only nightingales sang and rejoiced in the distance, and woodpeckers pointed Igor in the right direction with their knocks. The author talks about Igor’s conversation with the Donets River. He called the prince great and said that with his return from captivity Igor brought a lot of joy to the Russian land. Igor, in response, thanked the river for giving him shelter on its banks and warning him of danger while he was resting.

Having discovered Igor’s disappearance, Gzak and Konchak “look for the fugitive.” Gzak suggested shooting the “falcon”, Igor’s son Vladimir, who remained in captivity, with a “golden arrow”. Konchak believed that it was possible to “entangle him with a girl” and marry him to a Polovtsian woman. Gzak objected: “he and the girl will rush off to his mansion,” and then “any bird in the Polovtsian field will begin to beat us” - the Russians will again begin to fight the Polovtsians.

Prince Igor returned from captivity. The author compares his return to the appearance of the sun in the sky. The Russian land is rejoicing: joyful “songs from the distant Danube” reach Kyiv, and Igor the “daring” walks along the Borichev rise to the Church of the Virgin Pirogoshchaya.

The author glorifies the princes who took part in the campaign and Igor’s squad.

Conclusion Having come to us from the depths of centuries, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” always remains modern. The author tries to convey to the reader the main ideas of his work - love for his native land, a call for the unity of the country, admiration for the courage of the defenders of the Motherland

This brief retelling of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” conveys the key points of the events described by the author; you can get acquainted with the features of their figurative presentation by reading the full text of the work.

Other characters

Ovlur is a Polovtsian who helps Igor escape from captivity. Ovlur's mother was Russian. For some reason, harboring a grudge against the Polovtsians, Ovlur helps Igor escape from captivity.

And we also have:

for the most impatient -

A very brief summary of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”

for the most sociable -

The main characters of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”

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Reader's diary "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

for the most curious -

Analysis of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”

Summary of the poem

Now let’s retell the plot of the literary work and chronicle chapter by chapter.

Part I

The Novgorod-Siversky prince is impatiently awaiting reinforcements from his kinsman, Prince Vsevolod. Russian detachments are ready to march. But on the day of the performance, a solar eclipse occurs. This ominous omen does not stop the commander. He really wanted to “scoop up his helmet from the Don.”

Igor goes on a hike

While Igor’s army is moving, no less terrible signs appear: the howling of wolves, the alarming cries of birds, the whistle of vultures calling each other to a meal. If you read the poem in its entirety, your heart clenches with alarming foreboding. “Oh, Russian land, you’re already over the hill!” - the unknown author exclaims sadly.

On Friday morning, the princes arrived in the Polovtsian camp and defeated the enemy in a crushing battle. They took rich booty: horses, weapons, fabrics, furs, gems and “red Polovtsian maidens.” But the Russians did not triumph for long.

When the army spent the night in a field on the bank of the Kayaly River, they were surrounded by regiments of the Polovtsian khans Konchak and Gzak. And when the “bloody dawns” began, a battle began that lasted three days. The anonymous author makes a brief retelling of the history of Rus', lamenting that due to the strife of Igor's ancestor, Prince Oleg, the strength of the state weakened.

The author of the work gives an epic picture of a terrible battle: the earth turned black from shed blood, and the steppe gathered dust underfoot. On the third day, “Igor’s banners fell.” He himself, along with his brother Vsevolod and son Vladimir, were captured. This defeat opened the way for the Polovtsians to Rus', “they woke up the filthy for war.” They began to raid.

The peasants were afraid to go out into the fields because the corpses were rotting there, and Russian women mourned “their people.” At this time, the Slavic princes, taking advantage of the troubled time, were engaged in civil strife, trying to squeeze everything possible for their personal benefit from the difficult situation of the country.

Part II

In Kyiv, Grand Duke Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich sees a vague dream. To interpret it, he convenes the boyars. They explain the vision by saying that the prince felt the captivity of Igor and Vsevolod, as well as the defeat of the Polovtsian campaign. Here Prince Svyatoslav says the “golden word”, which cannot be missed, even when conveying a summary of the poem.

The Kiev ruler accuses Igor and Vsevolod of the fact that, having decided to become famous, they went alone to fight against the Polovtsians. Kyiv became an impregnable city under the leadership of Svyatoslav and did not submit to anyone. There is no use in bravery and military might if you are alone against the enemy, and your own people are ready to attack you from the rear.

Speaking about Vsevolod, Svyatoslav asks a rhetorical question: “You can splash the Volga with oars, scoop up the Don with a helmet. But aren’t your regiments now perishing from a warrior of an unknown land?” The author gives a description of the former power of Rus', remembering Vladimir the Great and praising this ruler of Kyiv, in contrast to Rurik and Davyd - the current princes who are constantly at war with each other. He also gives the example of Prince Izyaslav of Polotsk, who died trying to defend his land, but none of his neighbors and relatives helped him, everyone turned away.

Researchers call the peculiarity of the chronicle poem the irrefutable fact that the anonymous author puts into the mouth of the Kyiv prince his own fiery call for unity. He calls on Prince Yaroslav of Galicia (“who propped up the Hungarian mountains with iron regiments”), Mstislav and the brave Roman, who “rush their minds to feat,” the princes of Volyn Ingvar, Vsevolod and the three Mstislavovichs, Yaroslav and other descendants of Vseslav to join forces to protect the Motherland from the Polovtsians .

Part III

This part of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” is the most lyrical. A brief summary is not able to convey all the nuances and feelings of the characters. In Putivl, on the battlements of the fortification walls, Yaroslavna is grieving. She calls on the wind, the Dnieper, the sun and other spirits of nature to help her husband and “keep him on the far side.” And her prayers were heard.

Yaroslavna appeals to the spirits of nature

One night Igor was thinking about escaping. And suddenly a sound was heard indicating help. Ovlur, who sympathized with the prince, decided to serve the prisoner and brought two horses. It’s as if the author himself is experiencing these worries of escape. His description is tense and lyrical at the same time:

“Prince Igor rushed like an ermine-squirrel to the reeds and a white goldeneye to the waves. He jumped on a fast horse and ran like a gray wolf. Reached the bend of the Donets, flew like a falcon under the clouds..."

All nature seems to show the fugitive the way home, and the nightingales rejoice with sweet singing.

Igor talks to the forces of nature, comparing the benevolent Donets, which hid him with warm mists, with the Stugna, in whose waters the young Prince Rostislav drowned a hundred years ago.

Gzak and Konchak are thinking about how to return the fugitive, planning to kill the “falcon” (Prince Vladimir) or entangle Igor with a Polovtsian girl. The author of the poem does not describe what conclusion the khans came to.

The poet compares the appearance of Prince Igor in the Russian land with the sunrise. From the Danube to the Don, the entire region rejoices when he travels along Borichevsky Current (next to Andreevsky Descent in Kyiv) to praise God for his salvation to the Church of the Mother of God of Pirogoshchaya.

Summary

Introduction

The author begins the story about Prince Igor’s campaign “according to the epics of this time,” following historical, objective events. He reports that he is not going to “spread his thoughts along the tree” - to conduct the story in a pompous and florid poetic manner, as the “old nightingale”, the storyteller Boyan, always did.

Part 1

Prince Igor and his retinue are waiting for his brother Vsevolod to go with him against the Polovtsians.

On the day the Russian army set out on a campaign, Igor looked at the sun and saw that it was covered with shadow. Neglecting the “sign of heaven” - the eclipse of the sun - and hearing only his desire to “break a spear in an unfamiliar Polovtsian field,” Igor decides to advance with the soldiers to the Don.

The Russian land saw many battles then, says the author, but there had never been anything like this.

The princes Svyatoslavovich (as the author calls Grand Duke Igor and Vsevolod) opened the way to the Russian land for troubles and sorrow, the author says: “... they woke up the filthy for war.” But just recently Svyatoslav, their “father,” in his successful campaign against the Polovtsians “did not spare the filthy armies,” “terrified them,” “chopped them with swords,” captured Khan Kobyak and “stepped on the Steppe.” Now the Polovtsians again raided Rus' without fear, winning victories.

Part 2

In Kyiv, Grand Duke Svyatoslav had a disturbing, “vague” dream, for which he had no explanation. Having gathered the boyars, he told them about what he had dreamed and heard from them the interpretation of the dream: in the battle with the Polovtsians, Igor and Vsevolod were defeated.

With sadness and bitterness, Svyatoslav pronounced his “golden word”, addressing the younger princes. He reproached them for going against the enemy at the wrong time and shedding blood “without honor,” having decided to seek glory for themselves and not turning to other princes for help. Svyatoslav himself “will not give a nest to anyone to offend”, he will be able to protect it. There is one problem: “the princes do not want to help” him: they are busy fighting for power, and there is no use in their strength and military skill. Igor’s defeat brought the Polovtsians to the Russian land, and “the Russians are already screaming under the Polovtsian saber,” and Vladimir is wounded defending Pereyaslavl.

The author continues Svyatoslav's appeal and calls on the princes to protect their land.

The author and Prince Yaroslav of Galicia are calling to speak out for the Russian land, because he has the strength, intelligence, and great power to do so.

He bitterly returns in his thoughts to Igor’s defeat:

“But the former glory is no longer with us. The filthy army divided the city. According to Sula, according to Ros, there are no enemies..."

The author calls the princes Ingvar and Vsevolod and the three Mstislavovichs, the Volyn princes “for a long campaign”; he does not understand why they have not yet come to the defense of Rus'.

The author passionately calls on Yaroslav and Vseslav’s descendants to stop quarreling and understand that in the civil strife everyone was defeated, as a result of which “the filthy people were brought to our Rus' by discord and unrest.” Continuing his thought about the catastrophic consequences of strife for the state, he tells the story of the fate of Vseslav, who lived at the end of paganism. Vseslav was at enmity with various principalities, he “sowed many fields in Rus' not with good things, but with Russian bones,” but he himself experienced many different troubles.

Remembering the past and previous princes, the author names old Vladimir as an example of a defender of the homeland, contrasting him with his contemporaries, Rurik and Davyd, between whom there is no agreement.

Part 3

In Putivl, Yaroslavna cries on the city wall, and her voice is heard even on the borders of the Russian land, it reaches the banks of the Danube.

In deep sadness she turns to all the forces of nature. She speaks to the wind, saying that it has dispelled her joy forever. Sobbing, she talks to the Dnieper, the main Russian river, asking him: “keep her beloved husband on the far side.” Crying, he asks the sun how could the luminary, with which “everyone is welcome and warm,” turn away from the prince’s army.

Jackdaws, crows, and magpies did not cry in the fields and forests, only nightingales sang and rejoiced in the distance, and woodpeckers pointed Igor in the right direction with their knocks.

The author talks about Igor’s conversation with the Donets River. He called the prince great and said that with his return from captivity Igor brought a lot of joy to the Russian land. Igor, in response, thanked the river for giving him shelter on its banks and warning him of danger while he was resting.

The author glorifies the princes who took part in the campaign and Igor’s squad.

Exposition of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”

N. Karamzin

Igor, Prince Seversky, wanting military glory, convinces the squad to go against the Polovtsians and says: “I want to break a spear on their further steppes, lay my head there or drink the Don with a helmet1.” A large army gathers: “Horses neigh for Sula, glory thunders in Kiev, Trumpets sound in Novgorod, banners flutter in Putivl: Igor is waiting for his dear brother Vsevolod.” Vsevolod depicts his courageous knights: “They are wooed under the sound of trumpets, fed with the end of a spear; the paths are known to them, the ravines are known, their bows are drawn, their quivers are open, their sabers are sharpened; rushing about in the field like gray wolves; they seek honor for themselves, and glory for the prince.” Igor, having stepped into the golden stirrup, sees deep darkness before him; the sky terrifies him with a thunderstorm, animals roar in the deserts, birds of prey soar over the army in villages, eagles foretell his death with their screeching sounds, and foxes bark at the crimson shields of the Russians. The battle begins; the barbarian regiments are broken; their red maidens were taken captive, gold and cloth were taken as booty; Polovtsian clothes and outfits lie in the swamps instead of bridges for the Russians. Prince Igor takes for himself one crimson enemy banner with a silver shaft. But black clouds or new regiments of barbarians are coming from the south: “the winds, Stribog’s grandchildren, blow arrows from the sea on Igor’s warriors.” Vsevolod is in front with his squad: “he rains arrows on the enemies, rattles damask swords on their helmets. Where his golden cone sparkles, there lie the Polovtsian heads.” Igor rushes to his brother’s aid. For two days now the battle has been raging, unheard of, terrible: “the ground is drenched in blood, strewn with bones. On the third day our banners fell: there was not enough bloody wine; The brave Russians finished their feast, gave the guests something to drink and lay down for their fatherland.” Kyiv, Chernigov are in horror: the Polovtsians, triumphant, lead Igor into captivity, and their maidens “sing cheerful songs on the shore of the blue sea, ringing with Russian gold.” The author begs all the princes to unite to punish the Polovtsians and says to Vsevolod III: “You can sprinkle the Volga with oars, and scoop up the Don with helmets”; To Rurik and David: “Your helmets, gilded for a long time, are stained with blood; your courageous knights rage like wild oxen wounded by hot sabers”; To Roman and Mstislav Volynsky: “Lithuania, the Yatvingians and the Cumans, throwing their spears to the ground, bow their heads under your damask swords”; to the sons of Yaroslav of Lutsk, Ingvar, Vsevolod and their third brother: “O you, glorious nest of six-winged people! barricade the enemy’s field with sharp arrows.” He calls Yaroslav of Galicia Osmomysl, adding: “Sitting high on a gold-plated throne, you support the Carpathian mountains with your iron regiments, close the gates of the Danube, open the way to Kyiv, shoot arrows at distant lands.” At the same time, the writer mourns the death of one Kriv prince, killed by the Lithuanians: “Birds of prey have dressed your squad, prince, with wings, and the beasts have licked its blood. You yourself dropped your pearl soul from your powerful body through a golden necklace.” In the description of the unfortunate civil strife between the Russian rulers and the battle of Izyaslav I with the Prince of Polotsk it is said: “On the banks of the Nemiga they lay sheaves with their heads, thresh with damask flails, winnow the soul from the body... O disastrous times! Why couldn’t old Vladimir be nailed to the Kyiv mountains (or made immortal)!”

Meanwhile, Igor’s wife sheds tears in Putivl, looking from the city wall into an open field: “Why, O strong wind, with your light wings did you bring down the Khan’s arrows on the soldiers of my friend? Is it not enough for you to agitate the blue sea and cherish ships on its swells?... O glorious Dnieper, you broke through the stone mountains, rushing to the Polovtsian land; you carried Svyatoslav’s boats on you to Kobyakov’s camp: bring your dear friend to me too, so that I don’t send my morning tears to him into the blue sea!... O bright sun! you are warm and red for everyone! Why did you exhaust the warriors of my friend in the waterless desert with your sultry rays?...” But Igor is already free: having deceived the guards, he flies on a greyhound horse to the borders of the fatherland, shooting geese and swans for his food. Having tired his horse, he boards the boat and sails the Donets to Russia. The writer, mentally animating this river, makes it greet the prince: “You, Igor, have a lot of greatness, annoyance for Khan Konchak, and joy for the Russian land.” The prince answers: “You, Donets, have a lot of greatness, when you cherish Igor on your waves, spread soft grass for me on the silver banks, dress me with warm mist under the shade of a green tree, protect me with goldeneyes on the water, seagulls on the streams, blacklings on the winds.” . Igor, having arrived in Kiev, goes to thank the Almighty at the Church of the Pirogoshchey Mother of God, and the writer, repeating the words of Boyanova: “It’s bad for a head without shoulders, it’s bad for shoulders without a head,” exclaims: “Happy is the earth and happy are the people, triumphant in the salvation of Igor. Glory to the princes and squad!

Questions and tasks

1. You read “The Lay” as retold by the famous Russian historian N.M. Karamzin. Think about how this retelling helped you to understand the content of the work?

2. Name the characters, pictures, phenomena, historical details that are in the poem “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and are absent in Karamzin’s retelling - and vice versa: pay attention to the details that Karamzin adds to his text for clarity.

*3. Show the difference between the author's position and mood in the poem and Karamzin's presentation.

Tasks of increased difficulty are marked with *.