‘A verse ringing like a tambourine…’. The poetry of Ivan Pulkin

Abstract

The article is devoted to the life and works of Ivan Pulkin (1903–1941) — a poet who had not seen his books published before going missing in action during the Battle of Moscow. Following the suit of I. Akhmetiev, who has gathered, published and commented on a collection of the forgotten poet’s works, the authors are in fact discovering a new poet, whose work was strongly defined by the artistic and philosophical experimentation and literary daily life of the 1920s — 1930s: the first and foremost reason being that the genre diversity of Pulkin’s poetry stems from the period’s stylistic jumble, characterised by enormous linguistic potential. Therefore, the article focuses on the poetics of his verses — their unique genre-specific and linguistic features and imagery. In their analysis of Pulkin’s poems, the authors argue that, despite its eclectic nature and ambitious thematic range, his poetry emerges as an organic whole. Pulkin’s entire oeuvre is shaped by his ultimate goal which defines his poetics in general.