Family and household songs in the Dargin folklore

Abstract

The subject of this research is the family and household songs as one of the genre varieties of non-ritual lyrics in the Dargin folklore. They are thematically related with family life, household, customs and traditions of the Dargins. Their content reflects the typical aspects of patriarchal family of the prerevolutionary Dagestan, when due to the rigid local customary laws, women were deprived of the right to decide their fate; therefore, multiple songs resemble sadness, sorrow, suffering, and distress of the heroes. This article explores the thematic diversity of family and household songs in the Dargin folklore, their poetics and nature of visual-expressive means; as well as reveals their ideological-aesthetic, artistic, stylistic and compositional functions in poetry. The novelty of this research lies in introduction of Dargin family and household songs into the scientific discourse, as well as description of the uniqueness and poetic means and techniques used therein. Analysis of the songs demonstrated that the poetic system of song lyrics as a whole, and family-household in particular, are characterized by the use of such literary techniques as metaphor, epithet, symbols, contrasts, iteration, etc., which play a significant role in the poetic text, reflecting the emotional state and the depth of feelings of the lyrical heroes.