THE TRADITION OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ELEGY AND J. BRODSKY’s POETRY

Abstract

In the present article J. Brodsky’s poetry is analyzed in the context of a particular elegiac tradition associated with some key figures of English-language poetry of the mid-to-late 20th century. These are W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden and S. Heaney. The aim of the article is to examine the continuity of the 20th century English poetry by the example of a sequence of dedication poems (elegies), in which each subsequent poem alludes to the previous one(s). The comparative method allows us not only to show the features of modern English-language poetry (for instance, the link between elegiac mood and reflection on the purpose of poetry), but also to analyze the influence of poets’ interpersonal contacts on their works. Special emphasis is put on J. Brodsky’s poetry as it may seem extraneous to the English-language tradition in question. The analysis of Brodsky’s personal and creative biography, his particular dedication poems and essays allows us to find the links between the Russian poet and the literary tradition of Great Britain, Ireland and the USA.