MYTHOPOETIC PARALLELS TO O. MANDELSTAM’S POEM “WHEN THE PSYCHE-LIFE DESCENDS TO THE SHADOWS...”

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Abstract

The article studies the images of swallow, Psyche and Persephone, as well as their correlations in Mandelstam’s poem “When Psyche-Life descends to the shadows...”. The novelty of the paper lies in the fact that the figurative system of the text is examined on a wide background of the mythological and literary tradition. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the blind swallow image, associated with archaic ideas, according to which the swallow heals its blinded chicks with a certain plant. In this connection, the image “green branch” becomes especially important. The proposed assumption that the green branch is a medicinal herb (celandine) allows to comprehend properly the dominant figurative parallel “swallow-Psyche”: the blind swallow carries in the beak a remedy for blindness, therefore, it’s sight will be recovered; Psyche-soul has a “copper cake” with her, so she must return to the world of the living.

About the authors

L G Hakobyan

Yerevan State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: levon_hakobyan@bk.ru

Hakobyan Levon Georgievich, doctor of philological sciences, professor of Department Russian literature, Yarevan State university.

Alex Manoogian, 1, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia, 0025

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Copyright (c) 2017 Hakobyan L.G.

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