Spatial Images in Baratynsky’s Late Lyrics: Aesthetic and Metaphysical Aspects

Abstract

The article is devoted to the question of how in the late lyric of the Russian poet of Pushkin’s circle Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (1800–1844), namely in his final book of verses Sumerki [Twilight] (1842), in spatial images metaphysical and aesthetic principles are reflected. The author focuses on three ‘programmatic’ poems: Knjazju Petru Andreevichu Vjazemskomu [an epistle to Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky] which opens the poetic book, a poem Osen [Autumn], kind of coda of Sumerki and poem Rifma [Rhyme], which placed in the final of the book. The embodiment of the synthesis of metaphysical and aesthetic principles in spatial images is considered on the example of images of a coffin and a grave. The article shows that the analysis of these images makes it possible to better understand the uniqueness of the artistic philosophy which reflected in the book. The author comes to the conclusion that images of the coffin, the tomb and the grave affect the specifics of the artistic space in the poetic book, performing aesthetic functions. At the same time, directly connected with the motives of death and the memory of death, these images allow the poet to express more clearly the philosophical thoughts about the idea of that the place of poetry and of art in general in the world.