Yaroslavna's Lament - a chapter of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".
The essence of the phenomenon
It is considered the main poetic moment of "The Tale". The episode concentrates the author's attitude to everything taking place.
"Yaroslavna's Lament" returns the reader to reality after the author's lyrical digression, in which he recalls the first Russian princes and their many campaigns against the enemies of Rus, contrasting them with the events of his own time.
In general, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" was created in order to express the genuine reaction of the people of Rus to the events taking place, since a chronicle entry could not convey this.
Features
Apart from this episode, feelings are nowhere else expressed so openly. The author managed to convey Yaroslavna's suffering with great precision, thereby expressing the attitude of the whole Russian land toward the events taking place. After all, for the history of Rus this defeat was of considerable significance. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is imbued with heroic and tragic pathos, that is, the writer's emotional and evaluative attitude to what is depicted. "Yaroslavna's Lament" is also of great importance for the composition of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". By appealing to the forces of nature, asking them for help, Yaroslavna, as it were, prepares the way for Prince Igor's escape from Cuman captivity.
== Plot == On the city wall in Putivl (not far from Kursk), Yaroslavna weeps at dawn: "I shall fly as a cuckoo along the Danube, I shall wet my beaver sleeve in the Kayala, I shall wipe the prince's bloody wounds." She appeals to the wind, to the Dnieper-Slovutich, to the bright, thrice-bright sun. The wind has scattered her joy over the feather-grass, the Dnieper can only carry her tears to the sea, and the sun, in the waterless field, has drawn the Rus warriors' bows taut with thirst (they are too weak to draw the bow), has stopped their quivers of arrows with grief.
A Nizhny Novgorod view of the "Lament"
There are many translations and adaptations of the Old Russian literary monument "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" into modern Russian, but each new attempt allows one to draw a step closer to a full aesthetic perception and deep understanding of this ancient work. And it helps schoolchildren who find it difficult to approach the literature of Kievan Rus.
Nizhny Novgorod native Valery Temnukhin sought to convey the meaning of "The Tale…", abandoning a word-for-word, literal following of the original text and extensive explanatory notes, striving instead to create a full-fledged verse adaptation accessible to those quite unfamiliar with Russian history and culture. This adaptation has been approved by the Department of Philology and Cultural Studies of the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Education Development. It has been recommended by the Ministry of Education of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast for use in general education institutions during literature lessons as supplementary material for the study of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".
A recently published edition, "Yaroslavna's Lament", containing the eponymous excerpt from Valery Temnukhin's adaptation, also includes texts of Yaroslavna's lament from the reconstruction of the ancient original and its interlinear translation, made by academician D. S. Likhachev; the corresponding excerpts from the poetic translations and adaptations by Vasily Zhukovsky, Apollon Maykov, and Nikolai Zabolotsky. It is furnished with a foreword by the poet and culturologist Elena Kryukova; introductory articles by Anna Latukhina, Candidate of Philological Sciences, and Tatyana Zakharova, Candidate of Psychological Sciences; and an article, brief notes, and an afterword by Valery Temnukhin. Some responses to his adaptation are also included.
The edition is intended for teachers and school students, admirers of Russian history and culture, and the general reader; it may also be used for the patriotic education of young people.
Where to read it
Temnukhin, V.B. Yaroslavna's Lament (from the poem "Kayala" — a free adaptation of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign") / Valery Temnukhin. – N. Novgorod: Gladkova O.V., 2009. – 44 p. – ISBN 978-5-93530-285-6.
The author will be grateful for feedback on the poetic text and support for further work on the adaptation of "The Tale…".
Contact phone: 831) 430-02-60; (831) 430-54-92; 89503792806 E-mail: temnuhin@rambler.ru