On Slavic antitheses in ballads

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

On Slavic antitheses in ballads

Ass. prof. Alma Cisic Doctor of Humanistics sciences in the field of Linguistics Department of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian language and literature

Faculty of Philosophy University in Tuzla St. Tihomila Markovica 1 75000 Tuzla Bosnia and Herzegovina

In this work we dealt with ballads that are the mixture of the ancient Bosnian Christian civilization base and the Eastern Islamic influences. Ballad in oral tradition is a mixture of lyrical and epic elements that create a new sensibility - drama. The magic and beauty of the ballads were given by Slavic antitheses, stylistic figures that we studied in the anthology gathered by famous ballad researcher M. Maglajlic called "Oral Ballad of Bosnians". The percentage value of ballads presence with Slavic antitheses is also presented.

Key words and phrases: ballad; tragedy; stylistics figure; Slavic antithesis; dialogue;

The ballad in European literature, in spite of the differences that characterize individual national traditions, is a song that represents the short story which starts in the moment when it was supposed to be resolved. Focusing on one key scene of the ballad, it leaves the beginning of the conflict as well as the atmosphere to be implied or indicated. «Characterization is minimized, characters are exposed through action and statements, moralistic comments of behaving of them are pushed into the background, motivation is rarely presented. The description in the ballad is short and usual, the transitions between the individual scenes are suddenly, the time shifts indicated, the key events and feelings are expressed in painfully, agile dialogues. Balladic way of representing needs creating dramatic impression with intentional reducing of the material and achieving surprising effects» [4, p. 9]. slavic antitheses ballad

Balllad in oral tradition is a mixture of lyrical and epic elements that create a new sensibility - drama. It is closest to the tragedy, according to the M. Maglajlic researching, because it has three types of the conflict: the first one in which the character becomes a victim of conflict with the environment, the other in which the character is starved because of the tragic feature that carries in own character, the third, in which there are opposing individuals whose conflicts are caused by different personalities and their needs. First type conflicts are consisted of next topics: unfortunate, deaths of disassembled lovers, impossible marriages caused by conflicts with the environment, according to that appear next tragic characters: fiancй or brides and many other victims etc. To the second type belong next topics: the death of unwanted bride in the house of fiancй, death caused by bewitchment, lover death caused by tragic destiny of the other beloved person, the death of mother or father caused by death of children etc. Tragic misunderstanding between women and husbands belong to the third topics type. These are ballads about fatal divorces, which killing women, evil woman who is rejoicing in the presence of dying husband, abusing persons because of giving birth to female children, marriage with second woman etc. [4, p.101 - 105].

The term ballad originates from the Italian word dancing [balare] and it is connected with West European ballads performed by dancing. In South Slavic literatures this poem is found in oral literature and was singing during the folk dance.

Bosnian ballad which is the topic of our researching is based on Bosnian Christian civilization and the Eastern Islamic influences.

The ballads were mostly singing during the folk dance, but sometimes without dancing. They were singing also by one man or woman [sometimes it was followed by a rotating of bowl, or playing the saz, later playing harmonica and violin].

The oldest traces of Bosnian ballads existence are placed in Erlangen handwriting, the collection of the poems written in 1720th. About the author of this collection there are no certain informations, neither about the poets who were singing or saying the ballads. In gathering of the ballads collections were interested: A. Fortis, V. Karadzic, B. Petranovic, V. Palunko, V. Vuletic-Vukasovic, L. Kuba, J. Mutic, I. Marunovic etc.

The topic of our researching are Bosnian ballads published in collection of M. Maglajlic called «The oral Ballad of the Bosnians» [1995]. So, we are interested in Slavic antitheses which appear in mentioned collection of ballads gathered by M. Maglajlic. Also, we are interested in percentage value of ballad presence with Slavic antitheses in relation to the total number of researched ballads.

We will first focus on the term stylistic device. «Stylistics has classified devices in different ways: figures of thought and figures of speech, i.e. figures of word, style, diction, figures of structure, order, followed by figures of motion, stopping, etc. Some contemporary authors on public speaking simplify this classification, reducing it to the two basic classes: figures of sound (rhythm, parallel sentence structure, alliteration, rhyming) and figures of thought (metaphors, exaggeration and understatement) » [1, p. 265-270].

We will now turn to definitions of antithesis. According to M. Carkic «antithesis is formed by juxtaposing two ideas, two phenomena, two thoughts, two emotions, two images with totally opposite characteristics, with the intention of highlighting one of them» [2, p.153].

V. Jelacic Srbulj defines the Slavic antithesis as «a simile which consists of three parts: 1) a question or statement, 2) a negative reply, and 3) a positive reply» [3, p.193].

According to our researching of ballads with Slavic antitheses we are going to represent several researched characteristic examples. [1]. In ballad «Appearing of the very white fairy» is highlighted tragic death of young girl Ajka during the conversation with very white fairy. After conversation between brave young girl aunt and angel of death, tragic event happens. Young girl even do not try to resist to this fairy fatal decision, her magic works fast and Ajka dies after a headache. Dialogue between fairy and girls aunt is represented by Slavic antithesis. Aunt asks her first what she wants, taxes on land, or soldiers, or her husband Dizdar- aga, or her son Bulbehar, or Aj- kuna daughter:

«[...] What do you want, very white

fairy?

Are you looking for tax on land?

Are you looking for soldiers from the country? Or my aga, Dizdar-aga?

Or my son, Bulberhar?

Or Ajkuna, daughter? [...] » [4, p. 159].

So, very white fairy is giving the answers that she does not want taxes, soldiers, her husband, her son Bul- behar, but she wants pretty girl Ajkuna:

«[...] I do not want the tax on land,

Not even the country soldiers,

Not even your master,

not your son, Bullbehar,

but Ajkuna, a beautiful girl. [...] »

[4, p.159].

Slavic antithesis highlights expectation of the tragic end which is unavoidable. This tragic event is predicted by appearing of fairy to who nobody must talk. In ballads is often highlighted meeting girl with death which appears in different ways, like a devil, fairy, which have origin from beliefs that this world is settled by ghosts, evil demons, who gets more power after sunset. [2] In the ballad called «When Ibrahim died» young girl suffers beacuse of the tragic feature that carries in own character. Slavic antithesis highlights the greatness of the tragic destiny of the girl beacuse of her fiance death. It became the cause of her hair cutting off and sending it to uncle in Budim, where people were seeing it and asking about the reasons for that. Everybody is asking why the hair is cutted off, is it beacuse mother lost her son, or sister her brother:

«[...] My God, what a great miracle!

Why the hair is cutted of?

Did mother drop into the grave her son,

Or sister her brother? [...] »

[4, p. 206].

So, they got the answer that mother had not droped into the grave her son, neither sister her brother but young girl her fiance:

«[...] Mother did not drop into the grave her son, or sister her brother, but the girl her fiance!»

[4, p. 207].

The mentioned ballad preserved the traces of disappeared forms of life related to the ritual of initiation, symbolic death. Cutting a lock of hair and blood releases were used in various forms according to one's death.1 For example, Tanatos, the king of hell and death, according to the images of the ancient Greeks, cuts the lock of hair of the newcomer. The ritual of cutting hair was transformed later into a ritual for a living people. That's origin of the cutting hair practice which represents the sign of a great suffering in ballads, also [5, p. 458].

[3] Ballad called «Sarajevo, why are you so unhappy?» belongs to the group of balllads about victims. According to that, people believe in appearing of special light called nur, Gods marks on the victims. This light appears on the graves of the victims, represents first daughter is connected with the clouds, the other with the stars, the third with the Moon, and the fourth with the Sun. This example confirms that the golden colour is the colour of the solar kingdom. The golden colour of the objects related to the thirty kingdom is the colour of the Sun. It is the celestial Sun of the Empire, so that celestial objects colour is also an expression of belonging to the Sun [5, p. 428-432].

4 According to that, we will consider the following statements. The whole genus of Helius is easily recognized by its brilliance in the eyes which, as the golden trace, comes from the face. This golden shine is characteristic of the gods, the dead and the sanctified people. The golden face, the golden crown, the glow explain that gold was used in the grave cult, not only in Greece, but also in other countries. In Greece, the sign of God mercy. In Bosnian ballads light does not appear only on graves, but it burns on the cheeks of the persons predicted to leave this world and go to heaven. This ballad is about killed young girl. It begins with Slavic antithesis which highlights sadness that has occured in Sarajevo beacuse of the young victim and this tragic destiny is compared with fire, plague and slavery:

«[...] Sarajevo, why are you so unhappy, Are you burning, or the plague ail you, Or Jovan enslaved you?

I do not burn, nor does the plague ail me, Jovan did not enslave me;

But miss Hana died [...] » [4, p. 226].

In the ballad "What is whitening in the green forest?" is presented a tragic event, the death of the beloved Hasan-aga woman, as a result of misunderstanding. Without understanding the reasons why she does not come to visit a wounded husband, Hasan-aga asks a divorce burdened with a great love yearning and pain. All this provokes the anger of her brother and the Bey's family. So the brother plans to marriage her with Imotski kadija, which seemed to him more acceptable for such an intent. This act tragically affects both, during her conversation with children and delivering the gifts, Hasan-aga expresses his repentance and jealousy with a disapproval to unhappy woman. So she tragically ends with death because her mother's heart and the heart of the left woman could not survive. At the beginning of the ballad, there is a Slavic antithesis that highlights the magic of dreams that predicts future tragic events. The symbolism of dreams is one of the important elements of the action, interpreting dreams means translating them into the language of reality, to understand the spiritual origin of dreams, sent from the higher being that manages the human fate and which appear predictive. The dream is here the sign of a tragic future, the prediction of death metaphorically represented by the whiteness of the snow, the swans, and the tent of Hasan - aga. In the ballads there are no dreams, nor curses and spells that are not realized. Certain anxieties and fear of prediction are highlighted with questions in the Slavic antithesis. The national singer is wondering what is white in the green forest, the snows or swans, and finally faced with a vicious vision, discovers neither the snow, nor the swans but unhappy tent of Hasan-aga:

«[...] What is whitening in the green forest?

The snows, or the swans?

If they were the snows, they would already melt, swans, they would already fly; there are no snows, neither the swans, but the tent of aga Hasan-aga [...] »

[4, p. 297].

Following these examples from the texts examined in the anthology of M. Maglajlic «Oral Ballad of Bosnians», we will also reveal the percentage value that shows the representation of ballads containing Slavic antitheses in relation to the total number of researched ballads. Thus, 60 ballads that were found in the afore-mentioned anthology were researched and the antitheses were found in 12 examples. This means that the per-centage value of ballad presence with Slavic antitheses is 20%. We will mention ballads from the anthology of M. Maglajlic «Oral ballads of Bosnians» in which Slavic antitheses appear, which are: «Appearing of the very white fairy» [4, p. 159-161]; «The two towers were in Zagorje» [4, p. 175-176]; «Alibegovica is going to be married» [4, p. 201-202]; «When Ibrahim died» [4, p. 206-207]; «Mujo, a young boy, is boasting to me» [4, p. 210-212]; «When the birds has started singing» [4, p. 222-225]; «Sarajevo, why are you so unhappy?» [4, p. 226-227]; «What is moaning in the city of Glamoc?» [4, p. 232-233]; «Mujo looks Ajkuna girl» [4, p. 234-237]; « Gabels Zlata was embroidering» [4, p. 266-270]; «The sun has started shining in Bijeljina town» [4, p. 287-288]; «What is whitening in the green forest?» [4, p. 297-300];

So we can conclude next. Bosnian ballads which are the topic of our researching are based on Bosnian Christian civilization and the Eastern Islamic influences. The ballads were mostly singing during the folk dance, but sometimes without dancing. They were singing also by one man or woman [sometimes it was followed by a rotating of bowl, or playing the saz, later playing harmonica and violin]. Bosnian ballad in oral tradition is a mixture of lyrical and epic elements that create a new sensibility - drama. It is closest to the tragedy, according to the M. Maglajlic researching, it has three types of the conflict: the first one in which the character becomes a victim of conflict with the environment, the other in which the character is starved because of the tragic feature that carries in own character, the third, in which there are opposing individuals whose conflicts are caused by different personalities and their needs. The magic and the beauty of the ballads were given by Slavic antitheses, stylistic figures that we studied in the anthology gathered by famous ballad researcher M. Maglajlic called «Oral Ballad of Bosnians» [1995]. The percentage value of ballad presence with Slavic antitheses is 20% in relation to the total number of ballads studied. The use of Slavic antitheses in ballads highlights the following: the expectation of the tragic death of young girl Ajka revealed during the conversation of her aunt with a white fairy, the angel of death [«Appearing of the very white fairy»]; marks the greatness of the tragic destiny of the girl because of her fiancй death, it became the cause of her hair cutting off, and sending it to Budim, where people were seeing it and asking about the reasons for that [«When Ibrahim died»]; sadness that has occurred in Sarajevo because of the young victim and this tragic destiny is compared with fire, plague and slavery [«Sarajevo, why are you so unhappy?»]; the magic of the dream that predict future tragic events [«What is whitening in the green forest?»];

In the end we can conclude that the Slavic antithesis is a very suitable stylistic figure for conjuring the atmosphere in which the Bosnians ballad was born and developed in all its forms.

References

1. Avramovic S. Rhetorice techne [The Rhetorical techniques]. M.: Sluzbeni glasnik, Beograd, 2008. 548 p.

2. Carkic M. Uvod u stilistiku [The Introduction to the Stylistics]. M.: Naucna knjiga, Beograd, 2002. 300 p.

3. Jelacic Srbulj V. Rhetorike techne [The Rhetorical techniques]. M.: Art print, Novi Sad, 2007.415p.

4. Maglajlic M. Usmena balada Bosnjaka [The oral ballad of the Bosnians], Preporod, Sarajevo, 1995, 317 p.

5. Prop V. J., Historijski korijeni bajke [The historical origin of the fairytales], Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1990. 552

Размещено на Allbest.ru