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АСПЕКТЫ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОГО ТЕКСТА LITERARY TEXT: ASPECTS OF STUDY
УДК 811.111'38
Луганский национальный университет имени Тараса Шевченко ст. преп. кафедры английской и восточной филологии Елисеев С.Л.
Украина, г. Луганск, +3(8099)7167888 e-mail: yelseleo1958@gmail.com
Луганский национальный университет имени Тараса Шевченко канд. пед. наук, доцент кафедры английской и восточной филологии Мацько Д.С.
Украина, г. Луганск, +38(050)9842427 e-mail: selen_matsko81@mail.ru
Lugansk Nationl University named after Taras Shevchenko
The chair of English and Oriental philology senior lecturer Yeliseyev S.L.
Ukraine, Luhansk, +3(8099)7167888 e-mail: yelseleo1958@gmail.com
Lugansk Nationl University named after Taras Shevchenko
The chair of English and Oriental philology
PhD, associate professor
MatskoD.S.
Ukraine, Luhansk, +38(050) 9842427 e-mail: selen_matsko81@mail.ru
С.Л. Елисеев, Д.С. Мацько
ОКОПНАЯ ПОЭЗИЯ КАК ОТРАЖЕНИЕ ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОЙ РЕАЛЬНОСТИ НАЧАЛА ХХ ВЕКА
В статье рассматривается проблема военной поэзии («поэзии окопов») как неотъемлемой части британской поэзии начала ХХ века. Авторы анализируют социальную подоплёку рассматриваемого периода и существовавшие в то время литературные направления и движения и видят свою задачу в том, чтобы дать краткое описание основных литературных тенденций рассматриваемого периода, проанализировать политические и социальные события, которые повлияли на литературный процесс начала XX века, а также рассмотреть поэтические движения начала XIX века.
На основе анализа произведений так называемой «окопной поэзии» были выделены следующие особенности военной поэзии начала ХХ столетия: 1) разговорный стиль поэзии Первой мировой войны (конкретные слова используются для описания конкретных деталей) с окказиональным использованием книжной (иногда архаичной) лексики; 2) чёткость, строгость и ясность написания, наличие символов и аллюзий, придающих новые смыслы и экономящих поэтическое «пространство»; 3) торжественный, траурный или саркастический слог произведений об ужасах войны; элегичность и ностальгия произведений, повествующих о довоенной жизни; 4) преобладание глаголов и детальное описание разрушений и человеческих страданий как символа утраченных надежд, «потерянного поколения»; 5) демократический потенциал военной («окопной») поэзии.
Ключевые слова: художественная реальность, георгианская поэзия, поэтический дискурс, солдаты-поэты, военная поэзия.
Елисеев С.Л., Мацько Д.С., 2017
S.L. Yeliseyev, D.S. Matsko
THE POETRY OF TRENCHES AGAINST THE EARLY 20th CENTURY ARTISTIC BACKGROUND
The article deals with the problem of the so called war poetry as an indivisible part of British poetry of the early 20th century. The social background and the literary trends and movements of the period in question are thoroughly analyzed. The aim of the article is realized through its tasks which are determined to give a brief outline of the main literary trends of the period in question, to analyze the political and social events that influenced the literary process of the early XX century, to analyze the poetic movements and works of the early 19th century.
The authors reveal the following features of the war poetry in British literature of the early 20th century: 1) conversational level of World War I poetry with occasional "plunge" into somehow refined, high level or even archaic usage; 2) exactness, clarity and precision in writing, well-known, easy-to-perceive symbols and allusions; 3) poetic tone is somber, mournful, disillusioned or sarcastic, poignant in poems dealing with the horrors of the war; 4) the predominance of verbs as a means to describe human sufferings and "lost hopes" of the "lost generation"; 5) democratic potential of the poetry of trenches.
Key words: artistic background, Georgian poetry, poetic discourse, soldier-poets, war poetry.
One cannot learn a foreign language without learning the culture of the people who speak it as their native language. Literature is an indivisible part of any culture because it reflects human emotions, feelings and beliefs, as well as the set of concepts and values characteristic of a certain nation.
The 20th century was not only an epoch of great discoveries that improved living conditions. It was an epoch of notorious events that changed our life dramatically. The century is (and surely - will be) known for the two devastating World Wars that caused a lot of problems, especially that of the so called "lost generation". The problem was vividly depicted by Richard Aldington in his "Death of A Hero", as well as by Erich Maria Remarque in his "Three Comrades" (to name only a few).
As a colonial state, the British Empire led wars for commanding positions, trying to expand its territory and influence. We should only mention Joseph Rudyard Kipling - "a bard of the Empire" - to understand the importance of literature in reflecting the political and social issues of the epoch in question. As a result, war literature must be of great attention to any scholar whose aim is to trace the important tendencies in the British literature of the early 20th century.
Roughly speaking, literature is presented in two major forms - prose and poetry. The British prose of the period in question has already become the object of scientific researches made by numerous Russian, Ukrainian and authentic scholars: K. Amis, G.V. Anikin, K. Brodey, Ch. Carrington, V.V. Ivasheva, K.O. Shakhova, M.V. Urnov and many others. For example, the features of Kipling's literary work are revealed in publications by K. Amis and Ch. Carrington. The works of G.V. Anikin, K. Brodey, V.V. Ivasheva, K.O. Shakova, M.V. Urnov deal with the history of English literature. On the contrary, poetry, though being a vivid example of social, philosophical and literary changes, lacks scholars' attention. To our mind, the features of the British verse are thoroughly revealed in the works by Yu.V. Vorobyov, E.S. Kozlenko. Still, the problem of the so called "poetry of trenches" in the British literature of the 20th century needs further investigation.
As a result, the aim of the article lies in revealing the peculiarities of the war poetry ("poetry in trenches") as an indivisible part of the British literature of the early 20th century.
The aim of the article is realized through its tasks which are determined to:
1. Give a brief outline of the main literary trends of the period in question.
2. Analyze the political and social events that influenced the literary process of the early XX century.
3. Analyze the poetic movements and works of the early 19th century.
British poetry of the late 19th - early 20th centuries saw a number of artistic developments, some of them fading at the turn of the centuries - such as decadence, others just budding - such as futurism (an Italian novelty) or vorticism (a short-lived home-grown phenomenon), and imaginism with its precision and clarity. We entirely agree with J. Press who characterized the phenomenon of imaginism trend as "... the only poetic movement of the century that has profoundly altered the course of English verse" [5, p. 30]. The other important trend that reached its peak in the 20th century was symbolism. The latter two lead to modernism, which was a product of the different qualities of the both. As their predecessor, decadence, those trends placed form over context, were elusive and ambiguous, rather that direct and straightforward. Filled with allusion and suggestions, they were based on a belief that reality lay beneath the surface of things and could only be realized by the symbol, pointing the way to some larger meaning and which with the accumulation of attributes and the refined "beauti-fication" could only be known to the educated elite.
According to E.S. Kozlenko, British poetry of the 20th century was characterized by the following phenomena: 1) the national form of the free verse was worked out; 2) new forms of the non-classical verse appeared, the vast majority of which belonged to the so called accentual verse; 3) the metrical structure was combined with the non-metrical one within one verse [4, p. 46].
Literature is greatly influenced by the social background, i.e. the political and social events happening in a certain country (or all over the world - globally). In 1910 George V became the King of Britain. A very powerful movement, the so called Georgian poetry, appeared between 1912 and 1922. It is connected with the publication of five volumes of verse. Georgian poets (Watson, Noyes and others) displayed poetic realism (truth to life) and their poetry was seen as ". a healthy reaction to the ornate, specious and didactic verse" [2, p. 33]. Displaying pastorality and Englishness, Georgian poets were praised for the "... natural simplicity of their poetry, its emotional warmth and moral innocence" [2, p. 33]. From the very beginning the Georgian poetry became the first popular poetry of the modern age. The first volume sold 15,000 copies, a record number for a poetry book.
The celebration of England, whether at peace or war, became the principal aim of Georgians. The poetic diction is mainly of standard, even conversational level. The authors used concrete words to give concrete details with occasional "plunge" into somehow refined, high-flown usage. Some poets had a private penchant for archaic words and forms. On the whole Georgian poetry was descriptive, rather eventless, localized with visual, auditory, tactile, thermal and kinetic details. Poems, as a rule, were short, and thus "overloaded" with adjectives, helping to produce a poetic discourse, but as a result, syntax is sometimes paid little attention to, grammar seems to break down under the "strain".
With the time going the faults of Georgian poetry became evident. To our mind, those were: 1) saccharine sentimentality; 2) a concern with the banality; 3) no originality in either the subject-matter or poetic technique (Nature as a sign of God, night as the time of dreams
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and the glory of mysteries, romantic accounts of the East, "absence" of human relations, abstinence from the discourse of the social realm). Georgian poetry is often called "restrained in mood and low in temperature" [3, p. 15].
Great influence upon the arts and letters of the first quarter of the 20th century had World War I. The poetry of the Great War, very often referred to as "war poetry" in many ways has much in common with and very close to Georgian poetry. Like Georgian poets, war poets tend to use matter-of-fact, down-to-earth conversational tone. The authors paid much attention to descriptive, localized details. As for the length of poems, they were rather short -the sonnet form gave the best examples. For the young "men in trenches" writing poetry was a specific way of getting rid of dread of death, nightmares and hallucinations. The other reason that explains the length of "war verses" is, in our opinion, the personality of their authors. Most of the poets participated in actions on the Continent and physically were unable to produce poetry of considerable length.
Having much in common with Georgian poetry, war poetry differs from it. Unlike Georgian poetry, for which a plentiful use of adjectives was typical, war poetry is characterized by the predominance of verbs, helping to create images of motion which convey energy, movement, violence. The main themes of poetry united under the term "war poetry" naturally reflect a direct engagement with the War. It is evident that poets wanted to tell the truth about inhuman cruelties on the battle fields, contrast the official mendacious, very often jingoistic propaganda and generate a storm of public indignation and protest. Shocking naturalistic details are typical of much of the poetry concentrating on the suffering and violence of combat. In order to prove our words we have taken vivid examples from anthologized war poems:
A man's brains splattered on
A stretcher bearer's face
(From "Dead Man's Dump" by I. Rosenberg)
The rank stench of those bodies haunts me still
(From "Repression of War Experience" by S. Sassoon)
Very often poets approach the war through mythology, Old Testament legends or history (I. Rosenberg's "Moses" and "Unicorn", S. Sassoon's "The Redeemer" with its direct and straightforward allusions to "Piers Plowman"). This use of the legend or history or nature description represents continuity with Georgian poetry. When the poetry describes the war the themes that come into the foreground are those of:
- self-sacrifice, pride and consolation ("The Soldier", "Peace" by R. Brook, "Anthem of Doomed Youth" by W. Owen);
- comradeship and brotherhood ("When I'm asleep...." by S. Sassoon);
- anger and frustration at the futility of the progress and the chasm between those who make decisions, and those who suffer the consequences of them ("Futility" by W. Owen, "The General", "A Working Party" by S. Sassoon);
- uncomprehending indifference of noncombatant civilians ("Repression of the Experience" by S. Sassoon).
Poet-soldiers of the Great War insisted on seeking the answer to ultimate questions at a time when for many survival meant restraint and resignation. They had to accept the knowledge that poet's mission is not in sonnetising about dreams of love, nature and the life of the heart. They had to share their fellow soldiers' feelings and, as Alun Lewis, a poet, wrote in 1943, "... learn the gambits of the soul / Think lightly of the themes of life and death" [7,
p. 44]. It was in the compromised conclusion that the best they could do was to "defend the bad against the worse" [7, p. 44].
Many poems are elegiac, nostalgic in atmosphere and convey passionate feelings for the landscapes of homeland and sufferings occasioned by the war both at home and on the battlefield. Poetry is something that is the opposite of all that rabid hatred, squalor, ugliness of the war, something to take refuge in. Disillusionment, frustration, all the anger and grief went into the poetry. It was for the soldier-poets a kind of a curative balm helping to heal the emotional trauma experienced by the young people on the western front. An army psychologist W.H.R. Rivers who treated W. Owen and S. Sassoon in Craiglockhart War Hospital valued highly the healing properties of creative activities as a part of therapy and encouraged the young people to pen poems. The hospital magazine "The Hydra" published verse by both poets. The psychologist believed that poetry contributed to more rapid recovery because all the anger and grief went into the poetry.
War poets differ on their attitude to war, though at first, it seemed an event to be spiritually embraced. It was greeted with "... youthful bravado and imperial confidence and celebrated with passionate pleas for the defence of the geographical entity of Britain in general and of a verdant England in particular" [6, p. 499]. S. Sassoon in his famous "A Soldier's Declaration" states that the war upon which he entered was ".a war of defence and liberation" [1, p. 3]. Feeling against the repulsive circumstances of the war, and the revulsion at its extraordinary waste, the poets became aware of the fact that "... this war ... has now become a war of aggression and conquest" [1, p. 3]. An extract from Sassoon's work "A Soldier's Declaration" is the best illustration of the changes in poets' perception of the war [6]:
The war is being deliberately prolonged
By those who have the power to end it.
I am protesting against the political errors and insincerities
For which the fighting men are being sacrificed.
Learning a foreign language is impossible without getting acquainted with the cultural heritage of the nation whose language you are trying to master. The national character is mostly revealed through literature. Poetry occupies an important place in the national literary course. As a rule, literature is greatly influenced by the background, i.e. the social and political events of the epoch. Consequently, British poetry of the early 20th century experienced influence of World War I, which in the United Kingdom is still referred to as the Great War. In the article we have revealed the following peculiarities of the war poetry ("poetry in trenches") as an indivisible part of the British literature of the early 20th century:
1. The poetic diction of the World War One poetry is mainly of conversational or standard level (concrete words are used to give concrete details) with occasional "plunge" into somehow refined, high level or even archaic usage.
2. The poets practiced exactness, clarity and precision in writing. Very often poems contain well-known, easy-to-perceive symbols and allusions that add to the meaning, broadening it considerably, and "economizing" simultaneously on the poetic "space", which is of some importance and convenience, as the bulk of the World War One poetry is of modest size.
3. Poetic tone is, as a rule, somber, mournful, disillusioned or sarcastic, poignant in poems dealing with the horrors of the war. Though, it is elegiac, earnest, nostalgic in poetry reminiscent of life before the war. On the whole, the war poetry is of confessional character.
4. Much of the poetry is descriptive, but the setting (lonely English landscapes or ruinscapes of the Continent) differs from that of the postwar poetry. The landscape, with its surrealist contortions and dislocations of wrecked bodies and machines, has become a metaphor for broken lives and spirits. The war poetry is characterized by the predominance of verbs.
5. The First World War poetry possesses an undoubted democratic potential, for the works worshiped pride, brotherhood, comradeship, self-sacrifice and other virtues. At the same time, it is necessary to remember that the greater part of poems was written by officers who were people of good background and education (Brook, Sassoon and others). Thus, influences of dominant aesthetic and cultural movements and trends are evident.
The given article does not cover the problem in question. Further research is to deal with the style of certain soldier-poets as well as the traces of the World War One poetry in the British literature of the Second World War.
Библиографический список
1. Баркер Р. Возрождение. Лондон: Пингвин Букс, 1992. 252 с.
2. Дэй Дж. Поэты: георгианцы, имаджисты и другие // Литература и культура современной Британии: Т. 1: 1900 - 1929, под ред. К. Блума. Лонгман, 1993. С. 30-54.
3. Английская поэзия 1918 - 1960 / избранное, с введением К. Эллота. Лондон: Пингвин Букс, 1983. 412 с.
4. Козленко Э. С. Метрика и ритмика английского стиха XX века // Вестник Омского государственного педагогического университета. Гуманитарные исследования. 2016. № 1. С. 42-46.
5. Пресс Дж. Очерки современной английской поэзии. Лондон: Пингвин Букс, 1979. 342 с.
6. Сандерс А. Краткая Оксфордская история английской литературы: 2-е изд. Оксфорд: Оксфорд Юниверсити Пресс, 2000. 734 с.
7. Избранная поэзия Элана Льюиса. Лондон: Пейпербукс, 1987. 111 с.
References
1. Barker P. Regeneration. London: Penguin Books, 1992. 252 p.
2. Day G. The Poets: Georgians, Imagists and others // Literature and Culture in Modern Britain. Vol. One: 1900 - 1929, ed. by C. Bloom. Longman, 1993. P. 30-54.
3. English Poetry 1918 - 1960 / selected with introduction by K. Allot. London : Penguin Books, 1983. 412 p.
4. Kozlenko E. S. Metrics and Rhythmics of English Verse of the 20th Century // Newsletter of Omsk State Pedagogical University. Humanitarian Research. 2016. № 1. P. 42-46.
5. Press J. A Map of Modern English Verse. London : Penguin Books, 1979. 342 p.
6. Sanders A. The Short Oxford History of English Literature: 2nd edition. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000.734 p.
7. Selected Poems of Alun Lewis / selected by J. Hooker & G. Lewis. London : Unwin Paperbacks, 1987. 111 p.
УДК 821.161.1 ББК 84(2)6
The Voronezh State Medical University in honor N.N. Burdenko (branch in Voronezh)
The Chair of Russian language PhD, lecturer Papsheva G.O.
Russia,Voronezh, +7960-101-44-94 e-mail:gal.o.p@yandex.ru
The Voronezh State Medical University in honor N.N. Burdenko (branch in Voronezh)
The Chair of Russian language lecturer Strukova T.A.
Russia, Voronezh, + 7(4732)64-42-29 e-mail:rulang@vsmaburdenko. ru
Г.О. Папшева, Т.А. Струкова
ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ СОЗНАНИЕ В ТВОРЧЕСТВЕ М.А. ОСОРГИНА
20-Х ГОДОВ ХХ ВЕКА
В статье рассматривается проблема экологического сознания в творчестве писателя-эмигранта М. Осоргина двадцатых годов XX века, воссоздается образ «экологической личности», существующей в художественном пространстве романа «Сивцев Вражек» и дилогии «Свидетель истории» - «Книга о концах». Мировоззрение писателя основывается на позициях пантеизма, признающего родство всего существующего и задающего особый, космический масштаб описываемых в произведениях образов: от муравья до звездных систем. Особое значение придается понятию национальной идентичности, традиционно воспринимаемой в аспекте неразрывной связи человека и природы, человека и матери-земли. Окружающий мир воспринимается как генератор жизненных ориентиров, объект познания, субъект для активного диалога, источник аллегорических обобщений. Время выступает как цикличное образование, природно-календарный круговорот соотнесен с социокультурным процессом, развитие персонажей происходит на фоне сезонных изменений и природных явлений, тем самым характеризуя изменение морально-нравственных установок персонажей. Цикличность существующего порядка подчеркивается через смену поколений, метафорическое перевоплощение времен года, передачу культурных традиций, ретрансляционное значение которых может нарушить война - символ деструкции и разрушения. Война подчеркивает катастрофичность, изменчивость бытия, внося в повествование эсхатологические мотивы, в связи с чем выделяется также необходимость активной инициативы по защите окружающего биогеоценоза от уничтожения и деградации. Художественная модель мира реализуется через противопоставление природы и материального мира культуры, мира и войны, через олицетворение объектов природы: деревьев, водных объектов, животных; циклическую концепцию смены времен года, осознание национальной идентичности, реализуемой в архетипических образах природы, леса, реки.
Ключевые слова: творчество М. Осоргина, экологическая личность, художественная модель мира, образ природы, олицетворение.
Воронежский государственный медицинский университет им. Н. Н. Бурденко, г. Воронеж канд. филол. наук, преп. кафедры русского языка
Папшева Г.О.
Россия, г. Воронеж, +7960-101-44-94 e-mail:gal.o.p@yandex.ru
Воронежский государственный медицинский университет им. Н. Н. Бурденко, г. Воронеж преп. кафедры русского языка Струкова Т.А.
Россия, г. Воронеж, +7(4732)64-42-29 e-mail:ruling@vsmaburdenko.ru
Папшева Г.О., Струкова Т.А., 2017
