I.A. Bunin’s Poetic Traditionalism: the Metaphysical Aspect

Abstract

The article examines the foundations of I. A. Bunin’s poetic traditionalism. It is shown that Bunin’s understanding of the essence of poetry is based on his deep existential experience indicating that the poetic vision is the result of the deep generic and universal memory. Such understanding of poetry also has deep moral grounds that do not allow the poet to detach himself from the conciliar life of the people and build his artificial symbolic worlds. The principal consequence of this is the demand for maximum clarity and naturalness of the poetic language with the focus on classical standards. The true understanding of poetry requires a kind of soul “initiation”, and thus for the “profanes” who seek only external “beauty” in poetry, it remains incomprehensible in its deep essence. For the adequate understanding of such perception of poetry, one should use the philosophical concepts of the anamnesis of the soul and the “sophiynost” of being. The metaphor of the “darkness” of poetry, used by Bunin, denotes “positive” darkness, radiating the light of mystery, and not artificial darkness, created on the basis of the construction of individual poetic symbols.