Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/465

Rh on questions of contemporary literature, as in the very well-known chastushka in which Maxim Gorky is mentioned:—

The chastushki are very important in that they acquaint us with the life and psychology of the Russian people, as was pointed out some time ago by G. Uspensky (1870-1902). "If we collect these chastushki," he says, "with the same care with which statistical material is collected about every small detail in the peasant's home, and if we work out their references to the various sides of the people's life which they touch, we shall have an exact representation of the manners and customs of the people."

The chastushki touch on every sort of subject, but touch these subjects only in passing, and superficially, not exhaustively, describe only two or three disconnected traits, illustrating them by short comparisons, and often using metaphorical expressions. This characteristic of the chastushka makes it possible for everyone to express in a short song his most intimate thoughts and feelings, with all possible individual differences. The stamp of individuality is clearly seen in the chastushka. As a product of individual creative genius the chastushki appear in great numbers. They survive and spread from place to place if they have expressed emotions and aspirations common to many people, if they have succeeded in interesting the popular mind in any particular subject, but die out and are lost if they point out only a special transitory incident. The majority of the chastushki are composed by young girls, as they have more opportunity of coming together. Further, in almost every village there is a man who considers it, as it were, his duty to express in poetic form all noteworthy events of the village life; in connection with any burning question of the day the village expects a song from him.