A PICTURE OF THE WORLD IN THE SPIRITUAL ODES BY MIKHAIL LOMONOSOV

Abstract

The research is based on the analysis of Mikhail Lomonosov’s poetic works, which he himself designated as the general genre of ‘Spiritual Odes.’ In the beginning of the work, the authors reveal the differences in the interpretation of the “benefits of sciences” by the great Russian poet and scientist and his European predecessors (Francis Bacon, René Descartes). The originality of Lomonosov’s response to this question becomes evident when compared with the prior assessments that had emerged in the Russian literary discourse. All these differences are explained by the conceptually new solutions offered by Mikhail Lomonosov in the world modeling process. A detailed analysis of his spiritual odes from the viewpoint of the spatial organization of their artistic world indicates the emergence of a completely new subjective position, which is absent in the works of both his literary predecessors and contemporaries (Vassiliy Trediakovskiy, Alexander Sumarokov). This is the position of a scientist, the emergence of which leads to significant adjustments to the artistic description of the spatial positions of God and man (an ordinary “mortal”). This results in a radical change of the artistic view of the world itself, presented in Mikhail Lomonosov's spiritual odes. This event is considered to be one of the most important in the Russian literary history of the 18th century.