INTERPRETATION OF THE IMAGE OF GARDEN IN THE COLLECTION OF POEMS “EMBARCATION FOR CYTHERA” BY GEORGY IVANOV (1911)

Abstract

The article describes the interpretation of the image of garden, presented in the first collection of poems “Embarcation for
 Cythera” by Georgy Ivanov. It is proved that in the context of this artistic unity, the garden archetype is a cross-cutting symbol
 and acts as one of its axiological dominants. It is shown that the semantics and poetics of Georgy Ivanov’s image of a garden
 is very multifaceted and is motivated by the author’s dialogue with the literary and mythological ancient tradition, refracted
 through the influence on the poet of the works by Antoine Watteau, Konstantin Somov, Alexandre Benoîs, Paul-Marie
 Verlaine, Innokenty Annensky, Mikhail Kuzmin, Igor Severyanin, Fyodor Sologub. The article notes that the structure of
 the image of the garden, created in the debut collection of Georgy Ivanov, includes both the archetype of the Water, inherited
 from East Slavic mythology, and the apocalyptic symbol of the “bloody moon”. For the semantic filling of the image of
 garden the motif of languor (tenderness), often found in the lyrics of poets of the turn of the century (I.Annensky, F.Sologub,
 M.Kuzmin, Nikolai Gumilyov), is of great importance. The semantic evolution of the garden archetype represents the idea
 of the path, which is significant for the examined poet, which is key for the artistic consciousness of not only the authors of
 the Fin de Siècle, but also for Russian literature as a whole. Getting used to the time and space of different and at the same
 time somewhat similar “gardens”, Georgy Ivanov outlines the vector of his own creative development, predicts the movement
 towards the collection “Gardens”. He outlines the concept of “wanderings” through different mythologies and cultures, which
 is relevant both for the aesthetics of Russian symbolists and acmeists.