The Folk Poetry of Pshav-Khevsureti

(Heroic-Valorous Verses)

Abstract

The present paper examines Pshav-Khevsurian poetry, specifically the heroicvalorous verses. Pshav-Khevsureti is one of the most beautiful regions of Georgia, and the people who live there have long been distinguished by heroism, valor, wisdom, and hospitality. In addition to these positive qualities, they are imbued with particular talent and rich imagination.
The poetic nature of the mountain-dwellers is historically conditioned by their own way of life. Primitive social conditions, together with breathtaking natural surroundings, created in this fabled region fertile ground for the development of poetry. In the poetry of Pshav-Khevsureti there blossomed and were rendered immortal those ideas and aspirations that, over the course of centuries, were sung of and cherished by folk reciter-poets scattered throughout the most beautiful gorges and ravines – poets whose richest poetic creations bring home to us the life of the Georgian people, its centuries-long history, its heroic past, the expression of its national and social ideals, the pulse of the native land, and its boundless love for and devotion to the fatherland.

The leading place in the poetry of Pshav-Khevsureti belongs to heroic-valorous verses, and this is only natural; for centuries the Georgian people fought against foreign conquerors and against social evil alike. Our compatriots fought to the last drop of blood to defend the homeland against enemies both domestic and external, and to secure a better future. The imagination of the people, with boundless love, has depicted for us the heroes who fought against evil. A cult of the hero arose early on in Georgia, and this found its reflection in folk poetry as well.
In terms of composition, heroic verses are divided into two large categories: verses with a plot and verses without a plot. In the present study, we confine ourselves solely to the plotless folk heroic verses of Pshav-Khevsureti. In this scholarly paper we present the corresponding folkloric material and undertake its reception/interpretation.