BYLINA

'Bylina' (Russian: были́на, also ''Byliny'' and ''Stariny'') is a traditional epic, heroic narrative poetry of early East Slavs of Kievan Rus, the tradition continued in Russia and Ukraine.
Bylina comes from the Russian "byl'" (быль), 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 kind of poetry without rhyme (blank verse), but with a characteristic rhythm, a kind of free verse. Most of 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, prince of Kiev, tales of the Golden Age of Kiev, of Kievan Rus'. Here belongs the Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich cycle, being among the most popular ones.

★ Of Novgorod (Vasily Buslaev, Sadko the merchant)

★ Of Moscow (of Yermak Timofeyevich, Ivan the Terrible)

★ Of the Ukrainian cossack history (in Ukrainian language, of invasions of Turks and Tatars, of Haidamak uprisings)

★ Of cossack insurgents (Stenka Razin)

★ Of Peter the Great

Contents

See also

References

See also

★ Bylina - an airline based in Russia

References

★ http://www.jstor.org/view/00376779/di000485/00p03925/0 : Bylina and Fairy Tale: The Origins of Russian Heroic Poetry., Review author[s]: Jack V. Haney Slavic Review © 1975