POETICS OF DOMESTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND CONFLICTS IN THE FOLK BALLAD : UKRAINIAN-BRITISH CONTEXT

The paper discusses poetics of the traditional ballad, reflecting family relations and conflicts in Ukrainian and British folklore. This comparative research has its base on the classification of the Ukrainian ballad developed by O. Dei, with the involvement of the systematization of the English ballad by F. Child, is guided by the postulates of O. Dey and G. Gerould as for the plot direction of Ukrainian and British domestic-household ballads, and is focused upon the analysis of the opposition “husband – wife” on the material of Ukrainian songs from the cycle II – B: “Fidelity testing of the family and the spouse”, namely the plot type II – B-1: “the wife (the sweetheart) pretends to be dead and tests her husband (her sweetheart) and relatives” (6 versions, 117 lines), and the English work Child No 29: “The Boy and the Mantle” (1 version, 190 lines). The comparison and analysis of the named texts reveal their typology and uniqueness.


INTRODUCTION
Saturated with the spirit of the "genre-traveller", the Ukrainian ballad is an imprint and bearer of the Slavic autochthonous culture and mentality, history and way of life.Simultaneously, the verbal culture of Ukrainians is marked by communication with representatives of other civilizational currents and types of cultures, and its genre system, the ballad song in particular, contains Asian and Byzantine elements, reveals common features with the verbal art of Finns and Lithuanians, Romanians and Greeks.The evolution of the British ballad is distinguished by a closer interaction with the folk and written culture of Scandinavian and Romance peoples.
Ukrainian outstanding folklorist Oleksii Dei (1921Dei ( −1986)), who developed the plot-thematic classification of the Ukrainian folk ballad, accepted in Ukrainian folkloristics, and presented this classified system in the monograph "The Ukrainian Folk Ballad" (1986), stated in the named book: "One can easily see from the very catalogue that the sphere of the ballad is family life, not accidentally, the chapter about domestic conflicts and tragedies has the largest number of plots: 122 against 94 about love and premarital relationships and against 72 plots with social and historical reverberations, that also advance on the background of domestic relationships, ties and feelings" (here and hereinafter the translation from Ukrainian is ours -O.K.) [4, p. 84].In the preface to the second volume "Ballads.Domestic-Household Relationships" (1988) of the fundamental three-volume anthology of the Ukrainian folk ballad (the third book did not come out), published in the series "Ukrainian Folk Creations", the researcher noted the plot variety of cycles based on dramatic relations between the most important members of a family hierarchy, that is, between spouses: "The richest in plots are those that reflected abnormalities in relationships between husband and wife, being the ground and decisive force of the family" [3, p. 12].Obviously, in the process of editorial work on the mentioned collection, O. Dei reconsidered the number of domestic ballad plots and reduced it to 119 [6, p. 5].It should be added, that according to the contemporary folklorist Mykola Dmytrenko, O. Dei's work "The Ukrainian Folk Ballad" (1986) is "the most voluminous and deepest research in Ukraine" in the realm of folk ballad studies that "for the first time keeps a record for the whole fund of ballad songs of the Ukrainian nation in the form of an appropriately classified system of plot-thematic definitions of types" [5, p. 363].
In contrast to the Ukrainian "epos of unhappy human destinies" (O.Dei) [4, p. 14], whose songs are centred around the family, British oral ballads, as the American philologist Gordon Hall Gerould (1877Gerould ( −1953) ) stated in the monograph "The Ballad of Tradition" (first published in 1932, 1957), fictionally reflected collisions mainly of an intimate-private character [7, p. 38-39].The scientist calculated, that out of 305 English and Scottish "Child ballads", the most numerous group, namely one third, recreated vicissitudes of love (i.e.102 (101,565 to be exact) ballads by our calculations -O.K.), and about 75 songs − domestic relationships where conflicts between husband and wife are generally reconstructed (three fourths out of these 75) [7, p. 45].
This comparative research has its base on the classification developed by O. Dei, with the involvement of the systematization of the English ballad by F. Child, is guided by the postulates of O. Dey and G. Gerould as for the plot direction of Ukrainian and British domestic-household ballads, and is focused upon the analysis of the opposition "husband -wife" on the material of Ukrainian songs from the cycle II -B: "Fidelity testing of the family and the spouse".The construction of the plots of national ballads II -B-1: "the wife (the sweetheart) pretends to be dead and tests her husband (her sweetheart) and relatives" (6 versions, 117 lines) on the leitmotif of fidelity testing approximate them to the English work Child № 29: "The Boy and the Mantle" (1 version, 190 lines), where the trial is conducted through the mediation of "magic indicators": a magic mantle, an enchanted boar's head and a drinking horn.

UKRAINIAN BALLAD PLOT TYPE "THE WIFE (THE SWEETHEART) PRETENDS TO BE DEAD AND TESTS HER HUSBAND (HER SWEETHEART) AND RELATIVES" (II -B-1, 6 VERSIONS, 117 LINES)
The Ukrainian ballad plot type II -B-1, published in the collection "Ballads.Domestic-Household Relationships" (1988), contains the texts of 6 songs with the following titles: "Oh, I will die, she says, will die, and will be looking" ("Oi umru ya, kazhe, umru, budu sia dyvyty"), "Oh, I will be dead, she says, will be dead, and will be looking" ("Oi vumru zh bo ya, vumru ta y si budu dyvyty"; the first two lines of the text with musical notation are given), "I will die, will die, and will be looking" ("Umru ya, umru, ta budu dyvytsia"), "I will tell you, sweetheart, the first riddle" ("Skazhu tobi, mylyi, pershu zahadochku"), "There under the sweet cherry-tree, oh, there sprouts rue" ("Tam pid chereshneiu, oi tam ruta skhodyt"), "I'm walking in the garden, driving the horse in my hands" ("Po sadochku khodzhu, konia v rukakh vodzhu") [14, p. 41-44].Among the above-mentioned ballads the first one "Oh, I will die, she says, will die, and will be looking" (II -B-1) [13, p. 41] (see appendix 1) is marked by a more detailed development of motifs, namely: feigned death, the selection of a second wife, orphancy, the mother's love for her children.Another ballad song of this type "I will die, will die, and will be looking" (II -B-1) [9, p. 42] (see appendix 2) is supplemented by an aesthetic description of testing the members of the family, that builds the orderly and rhythmic chain of a family hierarchy.In the opinion of Stepan Myshanych, such a principle of the cumulative composition witnesses to the genesis of the ballad from ritual-game songs [11, p. 444].
Let us focus on the analysis of the compositionally and stylistically perfect ballad "I will die, will die, and will be looking" (II -B-1) [9, p. 42], where occurs a gradual change of the images of personages ("father" -"mother" -"brother" -"sister"), who are placed in the same situational frames, as well as a gradational substitution of certain rhymed words ("pokhovaite" -"nariadite" = "bury" -"dress") and word combinations ("u vyshnevomu sadochku" -"v llianuiu sorochku" = "in the cherry-tree orchard" -"in the flax chemise").Here the images of the participants of the events and their remarks are put into the core of a strong compositionally cumulative structure: "Umru ya, umru ta budu dyvytsia, / Chy ne pryide ridnyi (a) N. po meni zhurytsia./ N. zazhuryvsia (las), na stil pokhylyvsia (las)" (ʺI will die, will die, and will be looking / If my relative (he or she -O.K.) N. doesn't come to grieve for me./ N. has grieved (he or she -O.K.), leaned on the table (he or she -O.K.)" [9, p. 42].
In the opinion of O. Dei, "colourful" ballads of the given plot "recorded inner-psychological peculiar status nature of each member of the family cycle, revealed by their behaviour in a dramatic situation", contrasted the spouse's infidelity to family faithfulness of different power [3, p. 21].In "I will die, will die, and will be looking" (II -B-1) the father's orders "Pokhovaite moiu dochku v vyshnevim sadochku" ("Bury my daughter in the cherry-tree orchard") [9, p. 42] and the mother's ones "Nariadite moiu dochku v llianuiu sorochku" ("Dress my daughter in a flax chemise") [9, p. 42] brim over with great grief and love for their child.The brother and sister of the pretendingly passed away woman only articulate their wishes, that sound hesitant, as they are expressed with the use of the subjunctive mood: "Koly b sestru pokhovaty, khudobu zabraty" ("I wish we buried the sister, took the cattle") [9, p. 42]; "Koly b sestru pokhovaty, ditochok zabraty" ("I wish we buried the sister, took the children") [9, p. 42].
The dramatized spectacle of the examined song in a gradational way, tasting each scene of action and remark leads up onto the culminating peak towards the main hero.Here "ridnyi (a) N." ("my relative (he or she -O.K.)") already transforms into the tender and singing "mii mylenkyi" ("my sweetheart") [9, p. 42].The narration takes a different direction: the darling doesn't talk, doesn't express his thoughts loudly, he ʺU holubyi zhupan nariadyvsia, / Sidla konia, yide z dvora ta y duma zhenytsia" (ʺGot dressed in the blue coat, / Saddling his horse, riding out of the yard and thinking to marry") [9, p. 42].The line "Sidla konia, yide z dvora ta y duma zhenytsia" ("Saddling his horse, riding out of the yard and thinking to marry") [9, p. 42] has three action verbs "sidla" ("saddling"), "yide" ("riding") and "duma" ("thinking"), the latter one is fastened to the infinitive "zhenytsia" (ʺto marry") that forecasts a future event.Starting from this line the plot acquires a rapid development on the background of the preceding, as though immobile descriptions-frames.
Interestingly, that in the introduction of the conflict of the ballad "There under the sweet cherrytree, oh, there sprouts rue" (II -B-1) [15, p. 43] the male character gives his sweetheart a false promise, that in case of her death, he would not get married again and would grieve for her everywhere.
It is noteworthy that the typical signs of the husband's (sweetheart's) "grief" in the national versions (II -B-1) are either putting on stylish clothes (1 song) or shaving (4 songs): "u holubyi zhupan nariadyvsia" ("got dressed in the blue coat") (in the ballad "I will die, will die, and will be looking") [9, p. 42]; "A mii mylyi zazhuryvsia, pishov poholyvsia" ("And my darling got grieved, went and had a shave") (in "Oh, I will die, she says, will die, and will be looking") [13, p. 41]; "vin siv, zazhuryvsia, pishov vyholyvsia" ("he sat, got grieved, went away and had a shave") (in "I will tell you, sweetheart, the first riddle") [10, p. 43]; "mylyi zazhuryvsia, pishov pidholyvsia:" ("the darling got grieved, went away and had a shave:") (in "There under the sweet cherry-tree, oh, there sprouts rue") [15, p. 43]; "mylyi zazhuryvsia ta y pishov holytys" ("the darling got grieved and went away to shave") (in "I'm walking in the garden, driving the horse in my hands") [8, p. 44].As all the thoughts of the would-be widower are directed to matchmaking (svatannia), the episode of the folk depiction of the farewell with the heroine assuming her decease is not monosemic and may receive a different interpretation depending on the gender of recipients: either farcical or tragicomical or simply anecdotal-humorous coloration.The motif of matchmaking during the funeral rites is developed in greater detail in the following lines of the three songs:
("Oh, I will die, she says, will die, and will be looking", II -B-1) [13, p.Having heard of the father's intention "− Koby borshe tilo z khaty, ya by ozhenyvsia./ Koby borshe tilo z khaty -toti hrishni kosti, / Ya by pishov do susidy, pislav bym starostiv" ("− If only the body (were taken -O.K.) out of the house as soon as possible, I would get married./ If only the body -those sinful bones (were taken -O.K.) out of the house as soon as possible, / I would go to the neighbour, send matchmakers") (in the ballad "Oh, I will die, she says, will die, and will be looking") [13, p. 41]; "− Koby zhyvo tilo z khaty, ya budu zhenyvsia" ("− Oh if the body (were taken -O.K.) out of the house quickly, I should get married") (in "There under the sweet cherry-tree, oh, there sprouts rue") [15, p. 43]; "− Yakshcho mylu vizmut z khaty, to budu zhenytys" ("− If my sweetheart is taken out of the house, I am going to marry") (in "I'm walking in the garden, driving the horse in my hands") [8, p. 44]; the children start weeping and are going to be hired by strangers: "− Maty, nasha maty, uzhe ty ne maty./ A ni tia kupyty, ani zarobyty, − / Pidem, syrotiata, v chuzhynu sluzhyty " ("− Mother of ours, mother, you're not the mother for us any more./ You cannot be bought, or earned, − / We, orphans, will go to serve in foreign lands") (in "I will tell you, sweetheart, the first riddle") [10, p. 43] or "Tatu, nash tatusiu, de zh nam maty vziaty?/ Ani zarobyty, za hroshi kupyty, / Vizmimosia za ruky, pidemo sluzhyty" ("Dad of ours, daddy, where can we take the mother?/ She can be neither earned, bought for money, / Let's hold our hands together, and go to become servants") (in "I'm walking in the garden, driving the horse in my hands") [8, p. 44].
The children's sincere anguish over their mother, their lamentations raise the feigned gone woman from the bench.The destruction of the plans of the "widower" relating to his wedding, conclusions of the "deceived man" as to his wife's "betrayal" even in her death provide the resolution of the ballad plot with an anecdotal-humorous tonality: "− Bidna moia holovonka, yaka ty zradlyva, / Ya hadav, shcho ty vzhe vmerla, a ty ishche zhyva" ("− My poor head, how traitorous you're, / I thought you'd already died, and you're still alive") (in "Oh, I will die, she says, will die, and will be looking") [13, p. 41]; "Myla zh moia, myla, yaka ty zradlyva: / Ya sy hadav, shcho ty vmerla, a ty yeshche zhyva" ("Sweetheart of mine, sweetheart, how traitorous you're: / I thought for myself you'd died, and you're still alive") (in "There under the sweet cherry-tree, oh, there sprouts rue") [15, p. 43].

ENGLISH BALLAD "THE BOY AND THE MANTLE" (CHILD № 29, 1 VERSION, 190 LINES)
In contrast to the single line of the plot unfolding in the above examined Ukrainian ballads of the type II -B-1, the English ballad "The Boy and the Mantle" (Child № 29) (see appendix 3) presents an amalgamation of three blocks of probations of chastity, developing gradationally: 1) alternate putting on the mantle by ladies of the knights of the Round Table (stanzas 1-36), 2) carving the head of a wild boar with a knife by male characters (stanzas 37-42), 3) drinking wine from the magic horn by heroes (stanzas 43-44).In the foreword to the text, its compiler, American authoritative researcher on the folk ballad Francis James Child (1825−1896) characterized this ballad as "an exceedingly good piece of minstrelsy": "They suit the hall better than the bower, the tavern or public square better than the cottage, and would not go to the spinning-wheel at all" [1, p. 257].
If in the Ukrainian songs about testing fidelity of the spouse and relatives (II -B-1) their heroines introduce the initiative to the trial, in the English ballad "IN the third day of May / to Carleile did come / A kind, courteous" and wise boy.Upon wishing King Arthur and his wife Guinevere prosperity, "He pulled forth a pretty mantle, / betweene two nut-shells" [1, p. 271].The boy suggested that Arthur give the mantle to his "comely queene", saying: "Itt shall neuer become that wiffe / that hath once done amisse" [1, p. 272]."New-fangle" Guinevere became the first of the female characters who approached the probation with fear and failed it: 10.When shee had taken the mantle, shee stoode as she had beene madd; It was from the top to the toe as sheeres had itt shread.

11.One while was itt gaule, another while was itt greene;
Another while was itt wadded; ill itt did her beseeme.12.Another while was it blacke, and bore the worst hue; 'By my troth,' quoth King Arthur, 'I thinke thou be not true' [1, p. 272].
After this episode three other knights, namely Kay, a nameless old knight and Craddocke, put their wives to the same test.When dressed by Guinevere, the mantle changed colours ("gaule", "greene", "wadded", "blacke") and looked cut with scissors all over.Put on by Key's wife, the mantle got shrunk to her bottom ("Then was shee bare / all aboue the buttocckes" [1, p. 272]), and it almost completely disappeared on the old knight's wife ("Shee had no more left on her / but a tassell and a threed" [1, p. 272]).Only Craddocke's lady won the mantle.After Craddocke's spouse appealed to the mantle, that had started crinkling up at her foot, that her sole sin was kissing her husband before their marriage, the magic cloak covered this heroine full-length, as well as acquired beautiful colour and was ʺglittering like goldʺ: The second chastity test begins when, on seeing a wild boar through the door of the hall, the boy ran at it with his "wood kniffeʺ and brought back the animal's head, announcing: "there was neuer a cucholds knife / carue itt that cold" [1, p. 273].The episode, describing how all the male characters were trying to avoid this ordeal, is full of humour, as the invented reason for the delay lay in the cutting tool: it was either not sharp enough (the men started rubbing their knives on the whetstone), or ʺabsentʺ, (i.e.thrown under the table).Finally, Craddocke carved the boar's head ʺwonderous weeleʺ with ʺa litle kniue / of iron and of steeleʺ and treated each knight of the king's court with a morsel.
The third challenge to reveal cuckolds at the Round Table was thrown down by the boy with the help of the "a horne, / of red gold": ʺThere was noe cuckolde / shall drinke of my horne, / But he shold itt sheede, / either behind or beforne" [1, p. 273].Again the ballad sparkles with humour in stanza 44, depicting the scene of spilling wine, losing coordination of movements, resulting in an injury to eyes.The last fortyfifth stanza of "The Boy and the Mantle" (Child № 29) is the resolution of the ballad.On a major tone the six lines of the strophe narrate of Craddocke's victory, sing glory to chastity of Craddocke's wife, wish her prosperity and love, and every knight -"such a louely ladye": 44.Some shedd on their shoulder, and some on their knee; He that cold not hitt his mouth put it in his eye; And he that was a cuckhold, euery man might him see.

CONCLUSIONS
To conclude, the principal thematics of the Ukrainian folk ballad is the world of domestic life (119 out of 288 ballad plots), of the British one -vicissitudes of love (102 out of 305 Child numbers).However, dramatic collisions in the relations between husband and wife form the basis for the central conflict both in Ukrainian and English ballads about family life.Comparison and analysis of selected Ukrainian and British ballads of domestic-household, and, respectively, minstrel thematics, namely II -B-1: "the wife (the sweetheart) pretends to be dead and tests her husband (her sweetheart) and relatives" (6 versions, 117 lines) and Child № 29: "The Boy and the Mantle" (1 version, 190 lines), that represent relationships between spouses, reveal their typology and uniqueness.The similarities and differences become distinct on the levels of the plot, imagery and composition of the examined works.The fidelity test motif, humorous elaboration of the plot (the introduction of the conflict, rising action) and happy denouement, as well as the principle of trinity and the stylistic figure of gradation, that perform a compositional function in the ballads, are inherent in Ukrainian and English folk specimens.
The originality of the English ballad "The Boy and the Mantle" (Child № 29), one of the best samples of the minstrel creations, lies in developing thematics of the Arthurian cycle, as well as elaborating the fairy-tale motif of "magic indicators" (a magic mantle, an enchanted wild boar's head and a drinking horn).Though in the minstrel ballad (Child № 29) both genders undergo the ordeals and their aim is to elucidate the chastity of ladies of the Arthurian knights, the Ukrainian songs (II -B-1) expand a range of tested characters, the objective is to try faithfulness of both the husband and members of the family (father, mother, brother, sister), make the motif of feigning death the basis for the fidelity test, initiated by the female character of the wife, oppose the family fidelity to the spouse's infidelity.Ukrainian ballad personages belong to the rural class, the most important value for the main heroine, who is depicted as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, is her children.Instead, the British ballad treats noble heroines as wives, the place and circumstances of fictional events are marked with certain fantastic nature.The national realistically painted songs are characterized by the cumulative composition of the texts.
12 Another while was it blacke, and bore the worst hue ; ' By my troth,' quoth King Arthur, ' I thinke thou be not true.
13 Shee threw downe the mantle, that bright was of blee, Fast with a rudd redd to her chamber can shee flee.