Pomor chastushkas of the wartime recorded by A. M. Linevsky

This article presents the integrated study of the folklore materials of A. M. Linevsky's expedition collected during the World War II in Pomor settlements Gridino and Kalgalaksha within the period from February 16 to March 26, 1944. These materials contain the hand-written texts of 319 chastushkas (four-line rhymed folk verses) that have not been previously studied and published. This determines the relevance and novelty of the work. The purpose of the article is to determine the features of the Pomor chastushkas of the wartime from Linevsky's records. The study of the present collection of chastushkas showed that the body of this collection contains chastushkas created at different times (traditional pre-revolutionary chastushkas, texts dating back to the period of the World War I and the Civil War, and Soviet chastushkas, including those from the time of the World War II) representing two thematic groups - chastushkas about the war and chastushkas about personal relations, work or leisure. The author elaborated the classification of Z. I. Vlasova and made a conclusion that the studied texts can be classified as chastushkas of the rear and front-line territories. During the World War II, singing chastushkas was one of the most common ways to express experiences, assess events and reflect current developments of political and social life.