Linguosensorics of Death Symbols in Marina Tsvetaeva’s “Poem of Air”: to the 130-th Poetess’s Anniversary

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The article analyzes the linguistic organization of the two main symbolic situations of the poem - “crossing the celestial sea”, “overcoming the other three celestial spheres and reaching the firmament”. The study was conducted in line with one of the newest branches of linguistics - linvosensory, which studies the verbalization of interoceptive (internal) and proprioceptive (coordination and position in space) sensations. The main method of research is to consider the signifying symbol, its figurative component, as the result of not only external, but also internal perception, considered in the dynamics of sequential (plot) development. The impulse was a draft writing of the poetess about the “disembodication” of the lyrical heroine. The aim of the study is to determine how the linguistic means of the poem convey the internal physiological sensations of death through the images of extraperception. As a result, it was found that the signifier of the symbolic situation “crossing the celestial sea” visualizes such inner feelings as overcoming gravity, coordination of vertical flight, the density of the environment. The signifier is analyzed as part of the lexical paradigm of both individual lexemes and phrases, and sentences united by a common seme ‘water’. Among the linguistic means that formalize the image of the vertical sea, there are metaphors, comparisons, mythologems, semanticized roots -liv-i-lei-, -swim-and-splash-. The signifier of the symbolic situation “overcoming 3, 5 air and firmament” calls only the odd “heaven”. They symbolize the last three breaths of the dying heroine. Archisemes are ‘cut’ (“third air”), ‘sound’ (“fifth air”) and ‘attraction upward’ (“firmament”). All internal sensations are correlated with the five stages of asphyxia. Of particular importance for the objectification of conclusions are biographical information about the time of writing the poem.

About the authors

Irina V. Yakushevich

Moscow City University (MGU)

Author for correspondence.
Email: sa1107@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3053-7530

Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of the Russian Language and Methods of Teaching Philological Disciplines

4, 2-nd Selskohozoyastvenny str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 129226

References

  1. Gasparov, M.L. (1997). Poem air by M. Tsvetaeva. In: Selected Works. II. About poetry. Moscow: Languages of Russian culture. pp. 168–186. (In Russ.).
  2. Revzina, O.G. (1994). “Poem of Air” as a literary text and as an intertext. In: “Poem of Air” by Marina Tsvetaeva. The second international scientific-thematic conference. Moscow: House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva. (In Russ.).
  3. Kling, O.A. (1994). An attempt at a symbolic reading of the “Poem of Air” by Marina Tsvetaeva. In: “Poem of Air” by Marina Tsvetaeva. The second international scientificthematic conference. Moscow: House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva. (In Russ.).
  4. Pimenova, M.V., Dutbaeva, S.S. & Moshina, E.A. (2020). The symbolism of the earth in the poems of M. Tsvetaeva. Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics, 19 (3), 116–133. (In Russ.) https://doi.Org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2020.3.11.
  5. Ajzenshtejn, E. (2017). Images and myths of Tsvetaeva. Moscow: Publishing solutions. (In Russ.).
  6. Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak (2004). Souls begin to see. Letters of 1922–1936. Moscow: Vargius. (In Russ.).
  7. Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Rajner Mariya Ril’ke. Letters to each other (1926– 1927) URL: http://www.librapress.ru/2016/06/Rainer-Maria-Rilke-Boris-Pasternak-MarinaTsvetaeva -Letters-1926.html (accessed: 14.12. 2021).
  8. Yakushevich, I.V. (2019). Linguistic implementation and phenomenological function of the symbol “house” in M. Tsvetaeva’s poem “An Attempt at a Room”. Ivzestia of the Volgograd State PedagogicalUniversity. Philological sciences, 6, 143–146. (In Russ.).
  9. Harchenko, V.K. (2012). Linguosensorics: Fundamental and Applied Aspects. Moscow: Librokorm. (In Russ.).
  10. Nagornaya, A.V. (2015). Verbal representation of interoceptive sensations in modern English [dissertation]. Moscow. (In Russ.).
  11. Gricianov, A.A. (2003). Myth. In: The latest philosophical dictionary. Minsk. p. 634. (In Russ.).
  12. Devil’s, L.F. (1993). Signity: an experience of theoretical synthesis of ideas about the sign method of information communication. Saint Petersburg: Publishing house of St. Petersburg University. (In Russ.).
  13. Kolesov, V.V. (2002). Philosophy of the Russian word. Saint Petersburg: Yuna. (In Russ.).
  14. Meletinskij, E.M. (2006). The poetics of myth. Moscow: Vostochnaya literature. (In Russ.).
  15. Yakushevich, I.V. (2011). Linguoculturological commentary on the word-symbol in the poetic text. The journal Russian Language Abroad, 1, 85–91. (In Russ.).
  16. Losev, A.F. (1976). The symbol problem and realistic art. Moscow: Art. (In Russ.).
  17. Narskaya, A.V. (2017). Linguosensorics as a promising area of modern linguistic research: an analytical review. Moscow: RAS INION. (In Russ.).
  18. Belova, O.V. & Vinogradova, L.N. (2004). Sea. Slavic antiquities. In: Ethnolinguistic dictionary, N.I. Tolstoy (Ed.). Moscow. Vol. 3. pp. 295–301. (In Russ.).
  19. Propp, V.Ya. (1998). The historical roots of the fairy tale. Moscow: Labyrinth. (In Russ.).
  20. Yakushevich, I.V. (2012). Lingvocognitive typology of symbols. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 4, 5–13. (In Russ.).
  21. Novikova, N.S. (1985). Thematic group as a semantic component of the text. Russian language in the national school, 5, 8–13. (In Russ.).
  22. Vinogradova, L.N. (2004). Bridge. Slavic antiquities. In: Ethnolinguistic dictionary, N.I. Tolstoy (Ed.). Moscow. Vol. 3. pp. 303–307. (In Russ.).
  23. Petrukhin, V.Ya. (2004). Boat. Slavic antiquities. In: Ethnolinguistic dictionary, N.I. Tolstoy (Ed.). Moscow. Vol. 3. pp. 128–129. (In Russ.).
  24. Revzina, O.G. (2009). Immeasurable Tsvetaeva. In: Experience in the systematic description of a poetic ideological lecture. Moscow: House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva. (In Russ.).
  25. Gura, A.V. (2009). Fish. Slavic antiquities. In: Ethnolinguistic dictionary, N.I. Tolstoy (Ed.). Moscow. Vol. 4. pp. 505–506. (In Russ.).
  26. MAC (1999). Dictionary of the Russian language. A.P. Evgenieva (Ed.). In 4 vols. URL: http://feb-web.ru/feb/mas/mas-abc/default.asp (accessed: 30.11.2021). (In Russ.).
  27. Morozov, V.P. (2002). The art of resonant singing. Fundamentals of resonance theory and technology. IP RAS, Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky. Moscow: Art and Science. (In Russ.).
  28. Lopatin, V.V. & Uluhanov, I.S. (2016). Dictionary of word-formation affixes of the modern Russian language. Moscow: Azbukovnik publ. (In Russ.).
  29. Polutova, N.V., Chesnokova, N.P., Ponukalina, E.V. & Bizenkova, M.N. (2017). Asphyxia: stages of impaired external respiration, mechanisms of development. Scientific Review. Medical sciences. Saratov, 2, 57–60. (In Russ.).

Supplementary files

There are no supplementary files to display.


Copyright (c) 2022 Yakushevich I.V.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies