In The Lay of Igor’s Campaign, nature serves as a representation of God’s divine intervention. Though the theme is prevalent throughout the text, to me, the most notable example is in Part XI as Igor’s wife, Yaroslavna, laments at the defeat of her husband’s army. Specifically, the wind and the sun, both common symbols of God the Holy Spirit, work to show that the defeat was dealt not at the hands of the Kumans, but God enacting divine retribution through the Kumans. Wind serves as a sign of God’s power. “O wind, why do you, my lord wind, blow so fiercely?/ Why do you bring on your light wings/ Kuman arrows against the warriors of my beloved?” (186). ‘My lord wind’ shows that, in this story, God and the wind are synonymous. Personification of the wind with ‘you’ and ‘your’  shows that Yaroslavna believes that the wind is not a neutral entity but an angry God. This theme continues as Yaroslavna describes the sun. “O my bright and thrice bright sun!/ Why did you spread, my lord, your burning rays upon the warriors of my beloved?” (187). ‘My bright and thrice bright sun’ depicts the duality of God’s power. He can be ‘bright’ and simply shine on his people and ‘thrice bright’ to burn them when they do not obey. In this case, it is the feuding princes that warrant such a punishing response from God dooming their people.

The author’s choice to depict God in nature reveals the role that the Kievan Rus believed God played in their existence. The wind and the Sun are both ever-present figures in their lives  just as God is. Additionally, both examples can have a benevolent and malicious side: a cooling wind or warming Sun or destructive wind and blinding Sun.