Bylina

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Bylina

Bylina (; pl.

Plural

Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers....
Byliny ; sometimes named Stariny ) is a traditional epic

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
, hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, the offspring of a mortal and a deity,their Greek hero cult being one of the most distinctive features of Religion in ancient Greece....
ic narrative poem of the early East Slavs of Kievan Rus. This poetic tradition continued in Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
.

Bylina comes from the Russian "byl'", a word which signifies a story of real events, as opposed to a fictional one and a cognate of the English verb to be.

Bylinas are a kind of poetry without rhyme

Rhyme

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes....
(blank verse

Blank verse

Blank verse is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter , but no rhyme. In English, the meter most commonly used with blank verse has been iambic pentameter ....
), but with a characteristic rhythm, a kind of free verse

Free verse

Free Verse poetry does not have a strict pattern of rhyming. It does not have regular meter, rhyme, fixed line length, or a specific stanza pattern....
.

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Bylina (; pl.

Plural

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
, hero

Hero

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
and Ukraine

Ukraine

Rhyme

Blank verse

Free verse

Free Verse poetry does not have a strict pattern of rhyming. It does not have regular meter, rhyme, fixed line length, or a specific stanza pattern....
. Most bylinas were preserved in northern regions of Russia, and their style was imitated by several famous Russian poets.

There are quite a few bylina cycles. Bylinas may be roughly classified into the following series:

Of the older heroes (Volga Vseslavich, Mikula Selianinovich, Sviatogor)
Of Vladimir
Vladimir I of Kiev

Vladimir Svyatoslavich the Great, also sometimes spelled Volodymyr Old East Slavic: ?????????? ???????????? was the grand prince of Kiev who converted to Christianity in 987, and proceeded to baptism of Kiev....
, prince of Kiev
Kiev

Kiev, also known as Kyiv , is the Capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River....
, tales of the Golden Age of Kiev, of Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus' , also written as Kyivan Rus', was a medieval state which existed from approximately 880 to the middle of the 12th century. Founded by the Scandinavian traders called "Rus' " and centered in the city of Kiev , Rus' polity is considered an early predecessor of three modern East Slavs nations: Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrai...
. Here belongs the knights-errant (bogatyr
Bogatyr

The 'bogatyr' or 'vityaz' was a medieval heroic warrior of Kievan Rus', akin to Western European knight errant.An early usage of the word bogatyr was recorded in Sernitskiy's book "Descriptio veteris et novae Poloniae cum divisione ejusdem veteri et nova," printed in 1585 in an unknown location, in which he says, "Rossi? de...
) cycle concerning Ilya Muromets
Ilya Muromets

Ilya Muromets is a Kievan Rus' Slavic mythology hero. He is celebrated in numerous bylina . Along with Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich he is regarded as the greatest of all the legendary bogatyrs ....
, Alyosha Popovich
Alyosha Popovich

Alyosha Popovich , alongside Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets, is a bogatyr . He is the youngest of the 3 main bogatyrs of Kiev Rus.The three of them are represented together at Vasnetsov's famous painting Bogatyrs....
and Dobrynya Nikitich
Dobrynya Nikitich

Dobrynya Nikitich is a bogatyr medieval Knight of Kiev Rus.He is one of the three figures represented together in Viktor Vasnetsov's famous painting Bogatyrs, alongside Alyosha Popovich and Ilya Muromets....
, being among the most popular bylina.
Of Novgorod (Vasily Buslaev, Sadko
Sadko

Sadko was a legendary hero of a Kiev Rus bylina of the same name, a merchant and gusli musician from Novgorod. The word "?????" is slavonic adoptation of jevish word "Zaddik/Zedek"....
the merchant)
Of Moscow (of Yermak Timofeyevich
Yermak Timofeyevich

Yermak Timofeyevich , Cossack leader and explorer of Siberia. His exploration of Siberia marked the beginning of the expansion of Russia towards this region and its colonization....
, Ivan the Terrible)
Of the Ukrainian cossack
Cossack

The term Cossacks is applied to specific militaristic communities of various ethnicities living in the southern steppe regions of Ukraine and Russia....
history (in Ukrainian language
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
, of invasions of Turks
Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia, and who mostly speak languages belonging to the Turkic languages....
and Tatars
Tatars

Tatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, refers to a Turkic people ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, and Poland....
, of Haidamak uprisings)
Of Cossack insurgents (Stenka Razin
Stenka Razin

Stepan Timofeyevich Razin was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia....
)
Of Peter the Great
Peter I of Russia

Peter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V of Russia....

Bylina

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