Lessons 7–9 · 3 lessons · B. To‘xliyev, B. Karimov, K. Usmonova. Literature: textbook-collection for Grade 11 of secondary schools and for students of secondary specialised and vocational institutions, Parts 1–2. 1st edition. “O‘zbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi” State Scientific Publishing House, Tashkent, 2018
9
The concept of the elegy (marsiya)
Textbook: Part 1, p. 65
GoalKnow the definition, forms and metre of the elegy genre.
New words
elegy, a poem or song of grief at someone’s death · marsiyapoem of four-line stanzas · murabba’metrical system based on long and short syllables · aruza strophic poem with varying refrains · tarkibband
Explanation
By the textbook’s definition, a marsiya (elegy) is a lyric poem or song that voices the pain and sorrow caused by someone’s death. Such poems are usually composed in memory of people who left a deep mark on a people’s history; the elegy for Alp Er To‘nga also arose in oral folk art and is among the oldest surviving examples of the genre. In later periods poets also wrote elegies in the forms of the ghazal, qasida, muxammas, musaddas, tarjiband and tarkibband. Most classical elegies are in aruz, whereas the Alp Er To‘nga elegy is in barmoq and in murabba’ form: four-line stanzas, rhyme mainly a-a-a-b, seven syllables per line, caesura groups 4+3. The genre expresses a people’s reverence for a hero and the pain of loss.
Worked examples
Example: A folk song for a lost loved one, or a ghazal-elegy for a poet who has died, belongs to this genre, since it expresses grief and sorrow.
Example: A poem with four-line stanzas, a-a-a-b rhyme and seven-syllable lines is in murabba’ form and barmoq metre, like the elegy for Alp Er To‘nga.
Class activity
In groups: plan an elegy — to whom it is dedicated, in which form (murabba’, ghazal) it is written, and which signs of grief it will use.
Practice
1
What is called a marsiya?
A lyric poem or song expressing grief over someone’s death.
2
In which forms were elegies written?
Ghazal, qasida, muxammas, musaddas, tarjiband, tarkibband (the Alp Er To‘nga elegy is a murabba’).
3
Which could be an elegy: a light song about autumn or stanzas dedicated to a scholar the people loved who has died? Explain.
The second; the main mark of an elegy is grief expressed over a death.
4
Why is an elegy usually dedicated to people who left a mark on society’s history?
Because losing such a person affects the whole people, who express their respect in the poem.