Article.
Наталія
Самсоненко
УДК 811.161.1
GRAMMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF MOTIVE OF
MEDITATIVE AND CONTEMPLATIVE LONELINESS (a case study of the Russian-language
poetry of the XIXth XXIst centuries)
У статті розглядаються можливості граматичного подання
мотиву медитативної та споглядальної самотності як особливого типу позитивної
самотності в російськомовних поетичних текстах. Стверджується, що в поетичному
тексті морфологічна домінанта однини сприяє актуалізації значення
відокремленості, зосередженості, відчуженості, спокою.
Ключові слова: медитативна
самотність, споглядальна самотність, сингулятивний текст, морфологічна
домінанта, поетичний текст.
The problem
of relation between the grammatical level of a literary work with its thematic
compositional structure has been under consideration in many modern
linguopoetic research papers. The role of grammatical means of the poetic text
in the creation of a general conceptual idea of the poem has been examined in
scientific works of Ya. Gin, I. Ionova, I. Kovtunova,
Ye. Krasil’nikova, Yu. Lotman, N. Nikolina, O. Revzina,
O. Severskaya, Ye. Skorobogatova, V. Vinogradov,
R. Yakobson and other scholars. However, the peculiarities of grammatical
selection of morphological forms in the representation of the motive of a piece
of poetry still remains an insufficiently studied aspect of modern
linguopoetics. Some aspects of this problem have been described in the works of
Ye. Skorobogatova (Skorobogatova, “Grammaticheskiye Znacheniya” 391–421;
Skorobogatova, “Chuzhoy Mir”). Concentration of homogeneous morphological forms
within the text space leads to the formation of a morphological dominant, by
which, following Ye. Skorobogatova, we mean “the predominant morphological
form in the text and / or the grammatical meaning created by the juxtaposition
of forms, which are frequent in this text being related to its content”
(Skorobogatova, “Dominanta Chisla, Roda i Padezha” 383). Thus, our attention is
focused on poetic texts with a singular morphological dominant, by which we
mean a poem or a fragment of it with an absolute predominance of the singular
grammemes. In some cases, several plural grammemes can be traced.
Notwithstanding
the vast covering of morphological dominant and singularity as specific
phenomena in modern linguistics some aspects of their functioning in poetic
text still remain unstudied. In particular, the aspect of correlation between
predominant singular grammemes and the motives they are connected with.
Singularity
in poetic texts is often associated with the expression of the motive of
loneliness (Skorobogatova, “Poetychnyy Potentsial” 322), which varies not only
in the diversity of representation and evaluation in the works of different
poets, but also in the work of the same author. L. Ginzburg, enumerating
the main themes of lyrics, regards the theme of loneliness as an existential
one in the sense that “it concerns the fundamental aspects of human being”
(Ginzburg 153). The theme of loneliness, widely represented in lyric texts,
expresses the diversity of relations between the human personality and the
world. Ye. Skorobogatova, analysing the poetic-morphological motives in
the language of Russian poetry, singles out love affair loneliness, existential
loneliness, the loneliness of the poet rising above the crowd, etc.
(Skorobogatova, “Grammaticheskiye Znacheniya” 408). This list is not complete
and can be enlarged. Texts with a motive of loneliness in some cases are
grammatically organised according to the principle of purposeful author’s
selection of singular grammemes to express specific author’s intentions and
poetic meanings.
The purpose
of this article is to analyse the features of the composition-thematic
structure of the poetic texts with a singular morphological dominant, which
actualises the motive of the meditative and contemplative loneliness. We
consider the latter as a phenomenon of “positive” loneliness, namely, as
attempts to solitude, opposing to “negative” one which arises from the absence
of close people or occurs as a result of some social isolation.
Meditative
loneliness in texts with a singular morphological dominant is characterised by
depicting a character presented as withdrawing into interior and gradually
detaching from the external world in his solitude. This subgroup of texts with
a singular dominant is associated with a description of the state of “inner
concentration, self-contemplation, requiring detachment from the outer world
and concentrating on an object to achieve spiritual enlightenment” (Meditatsiya
528). In our opinion, an important feature of this group of poems is the
description of the sound and olfactory sensations, or their predominance over
the visual ones.
Let us
consider, as an example, a small poem by Diana Arbenina with singular
grammemes:
вечер. яблоко упало
в пятницком саду
запах пряный шум дороги
никого не жду…
(Arbenina,
“plevok” 196)
The poem
conveys the sensations of the space and time parameters being described in it: вечер. яблоко упало / в пятницком саду. Visually-auditory
perceptions (яблоко упало) are replaced by
olfactory (запах пряный) and directly auditory (шум дороги).
Isolation and solitude are expressed in the last line: никого не жду.
The poem “Glyadya na ogon’ ili dremlya...” by G. Ivanov
(Ivanov 52) is a vivid example of meditative loneliness representation in the
text with a continuous singular dominant. The depicted drowse or half-reality (Глядя
на огонь или дремля / В опьяненьи полусонном) expresses the
withdrawal into interior and detachment at the physiological level: И
мутнеющая голова / Опускается в сениже // Так и надо. Голову на грудь.
The spatial parameters – staying near the fire (Глядя на огонь…)
– contribute to relaxation and detachment from the outside world. A further
series of sound sensations renders the movement of consciousness to a far
distance, into a global space, which is possible only in a state of sleep: Слышишь,
как летит земля / С бесконечным, легким звоном. //
Слышишь, как растет трава, / Как джаз-банд гремит в Париже; Под
блаженный шорох моря или сада… It should be recalled that
“the lyric poem being written implicitly assumes that the fixed moment has
universal significance, that in this moment, the whole world is concluded, as
in a monad” (Levin 468). The first line of the second strophe (Слышишь, как
растет трава) conveys the hypersensitive perception or the unreality of
what is represented. You can see how the grass grows, but it is difficult or
almost impossible to hear how it grows. Perhaps this line shows a fast change
of time parameters, i.e. to hear / see how the grass grows, that is possible
only in human imagination.
It should be
noted that this text with a singular morphological dominant is maximally
generalised: it does not contain personal pronouns and impersonal constructions
are often used (Так и надо). The second person of the singular,
expressed by the recurrent verb of the present tense слышишь, is not in a strong
address position and in this poem can denote both the lyric hero and the
interlocutor. This feature was traced by B. Uspenskiy: “I and you
in the communication process are changing their referents: in relation to the
same person, I turns into you, and you – into I”
(Uspenskiy 20).
The second
group of poetic texts with a singular dominant which we single out includes
poems in which “passive perception of the percieved reality without active
influence on it” is depicted (Soziertsatiel’nost’
1230). This type of poetic texts represents the position of an external or
detached observer who fixes the contemplated dynamic picture, the moment “here
and now”. Such texts with a singular morphological dominant are attributed to
texts with the motive of contemplative loneliness.
Contemplative
loneliness is presented in the poem “Po parokhodu dozhd’ idet ...” by
N. Glazkov (Glazkov 41). The description of the contiguous motion of the
rain, the steamer and water is given at the very beginning: По пароходу дождь идет, / На пароходе здорово! / Мне кажется, что пароход / Дождем относит в сторону. // Позатопила рвы вода / И скачет пеной белою... The
lyrical hero, expressed by the personal pronoun я, though giving a subjective perception of what
he observes, does not affect what is happening and does not interact with what
is happening. Moreover, his passive contemplation does not even invite any
assumptions or conclusions: А вывод тот, что вывода / Я из воды не делаю...
The case
design of the poem also seems to be interesting. Three main observable objects
(пароход, дождь и вода) are actualised by the
repetition of different case forms: пароход by the dative forms (по пароходу), the
prepositional (на пароходе) and the accusative (пароход дождем
относит в сторону) cases; дождь –
by forms of the nominative (дождь идет) and the instrumental (дождем
относит) cases; вода – by forms of the nominative (Позатопила рвы
вода) and genitive (вывода / Я из воды не делаю) cases. The word
form вывод, which is
in the strong position of the poem (the final one) is represented by two case
forms – the nominative (А вот и вывод) and the genitive one
(вывода <...> не
делаю). All the formalised grammemes, localised within a small text space,
mark the case-filling completeness (the forms of all six cases).
Ye. Skorobogatova mentions that “the completeness of the paradigm,
especially the multinomial, actualised in linear or vertical textual
explication, in Russian poetic text of the new time ... testifies to the universality,
integrity, completeness, relative independence of what is being called or
characterised” (Skorobogatova, “Grammaticheskiye Znacheniya” 344). Such
case-filling completeness in this poem expresses the harmony of the observed,
the lyric hero’s satisfaction and pleasure from what he directly observes.
In the poem
“Osen” by A. Gulak (Gulak 82) there is a picture of early autumn, portrayed by
a lyrical hero from the position of an outside observer. The text with a
continuous singular dominant, depicting one of the moments of the autumn day,
conveys a moment of solitude, dissolution in nature. According to M. Epshtein,
the unity of poetry and nature is typical of Russian poetry: “poetry tends to
come up with, to approach the primary sounds in which the lower life animates
itself – and this does not degrade the dignity of poetry, but, on the contrary,
equates it with the phenomena of nature, gives the word that very necessity and
irreplaceability, which falling leaves or drops possess” (Epshtein 17).
The visual
imagery series manifested by singular grammemes reveals a gradual expansion of
space: лист – дерево – долина – вода – лес. Despite the fact that only
grammemes of the singular are used, the represented space seems to be rather
extensive. The depiction is focused on the description of a separate detail (Лист за листом в саду слетает) as well as on
description of a particular detail as a unit of multitude (Под каждым деревом сияет). The poem is filled
with light tones: сияет, под лампой, желтый круг, жемчужно-серым покрывалом, щемяще-светел. This piece of poetry
shows a positive, luminous loneliness, leading to reflections about the
inevitability of seasons change and enjoyment of the contemplated picture. This
type of loneliness is described in the work of the American poet and
philosopher G. Walden “WALDEN; or, Life in the Woods” (Walden). The author
depicts the loneliness of a person spending time in the solitude of nature as
positive: “There can be no very black
melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still”
(Walden 427).
The picture
of contemplative loneliness, actualized by a continuous singular dominant, can
be observed in the poem “Zakat v polneba zanesen ...” by G. Ivanov:
Закат в полнеба занесен,
Уходит в пурпур и виссон
Лазурно-кружевная Ницца…
Леноре снится страшный сон –
Леноре ничего не снится…
(Ivanov “Zakat v polneba zanesen ...” 194)
The first
strophe represents the temporal focus – evening time before the sunset, and
spatial localisation: Лазурно-кружевная Ницца. In the second strophe the transference of the temporal focus into night (снится страшный сон) is associated with a
change in the object image: Ницца – Ленора. Poetonym Ленора, referring us to the
same romantic ballad by G. Burger, is a symbol of “women’s unhappy love”
(Kuvshinova 56). Lenora, who is a symbol of female loneliness and devotion to
her beloved in a poetic text, is portrayed as a changing image: from a woman
who has a nightmare about her beloved that invites her to the world of the dead
(Леноре снится страшный сон), up to the image of
complete appeasement (Леноре ничего не снится). This method, when
both the situation itself and its negation take place, is called the technique
of “duplication – doubling of the poetic situation” (Severskaya 178). As a
result, one and the same “is described from different points of view, but in
terms that correlate in meaning” (Severskaya 179).
The motive
of contemplative loneliness can be associated not only with the depiction of
naturalistic landscapes, but also with a description of urban scenes. As, for
example, in the poem “Ulitsa (Zheneva)” by N. Ogarev (Ogarev 356–357). The
singular dominant in this poem is not continuous there are several plural
grammemes. The poem begins with a description of the repeated sound sensations,
making the lyrical hero bored: Детский визг и лай собачий, / Стук колес и болтовня, / Говор праздности бродячей / День преследуют меня. The vain search for
escape and comfort in the road, a long journey, makes the lyric hero concentrate
his gaze and find a moment of peace in the blue vast of the sky: В небо я гляжу пустое, / Но не вижу, где сыскать – / Кто бы помощь мог послать / В утешительном покое, / И бесплодно тонет взор / В голубой небес простор. Contemplation of the
sky is changed by a repetitive routine of the travel: Не минует мир ночлега / Дребезжащая телега, / Дребезжащий разговор. In this
case, the spatial plan of the travel attributes is limited to a road cart and
is presented by repetitive, intrusive, monotonous sounds (визг, лай, стук, говор, болтовня, телега, разговор). This microspace is
contrasted with vast space of the sky, where the lyrical hero sees the source
of appeasement.
In poetic
text, the motive of loneliness has different variants of realisation, but grammatical
selection, conscious or subconscious one, is an implicit way of conveying
poetic meaning.
The
conducted research allows us to deepen the understanding of the interrelation
between the morphological structure of a literary work and its composition-thematic
structure, and also to find out some features of the interaction of the
singular morphological dominant and the composition-thematic structure of the
piece of poetry. Poetic texts with a singular morphological dominant in a
significant number of cases are associated with the motive of loneliness. We
differentiate the subtypes of meditative and contemplative loneliness that are
a literary projection of the phenomenon of positive loneliness, which is not
associated with negative emotions as a result of the absence of close people or
complete social isolation. Meditative loneliness, actualised by grammemes of
the singular, conveys a state of concentration on the inner world or on an
external physical object in order to escape into a special psychological state
of detachment. Contemplative loneliness expresses the state of solitude and
peace that a person needs for detaching from what is happening. Meditative and
contemplative loneliness types are in most cases associated with the
description of objects of nature as a source of strength and inspiration. The prospect of the future research implies the
study of the correlation of the singular morphological dominant with other
motives that express the state of loneliness as a case of study of a wide
material of poetry, a separate literary period, a poetic school or an
individual style.
References.
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Надійшла до редакції 24 вересня 2017 року.
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