Contemporary Poets Research Articles

The author’s individuality is back in the limelight

Pereverzin, a contemporary poet, a winner of the ‘Moskovskiy schyot’ literary award (2009), and the editor-in-chief of the poetry journal Piroskaf, discusses new names and trends in modern poetry with the critic E. Pogorelaya. Starting with an overview of the changes that have marked contemporary poetry following the dissolution of the publisher Voymega almost three years ago, the conversation next considers the journals Prosodia and Piroskaf and discusses: their objectives, priorities, and target audiences; the similarity of the situation faced by contemporary poets and artists alike; new methods in poetry and artificial intelligence. The discussion mentions the names of modern poets and artists featured in Piroskaf, a journal that promotes an innovative mixture of verbal and visual arts. Pereverzin suggests that today’s poetry seeks new forms of interaction with its audience, but pandering to readers’ tastes will lead the poet to a dead end. Poetry is supposed to perceive and recreate the world as a reality, rather than a reflection, including the reflections in the reader’s eyes.

The black sun that lights the underworld. On I. Ermakova’s The Copper Mirror [Mednoe zerkalo

The article offers a detailed review of The Copper Mirror [Mednoe zerkalo], a collection of selected works from several decades by the contemporary poet I. Ermakova. Following the book’s structure that draws on the titles of Ermakova’s earlier collections (The Provinces [Provintsiya], The Vineyard [Vinogradnik], and A Lullaby for Odysseus [Kolybelnaya dlya Odisseya]), the critic traces a plot that guides the reader on a journey from the post-Soviet Russian provinces of the 1990s into the present day. Although the most up-to-date poems in the book date from 2020 (including the opening verse ‘I started a bonfire, fed the flame…’ [‘Ya razvyol kostyor, nakormil plamya…’], which seems to hold the key to the book’s meaning and objective), the meticulous selection of poems and their arrangement reveal a book that is undeniably modern in its response to the latest topics and challenges. In addition to the commentary on the book’s inner theme and Ermakova’s ‘manifesto’ poems, the review considers the critical reception of her works and cites the best articles about the poet, including the preface to The Copper Mirror by the critics and philologists A. Skvortsov and A. Salomatin.

RHYME IN CONTEMPORARY POETIC DISCOURSE: COMMUNICATIVE-PRAGMATIC CHARACTERISTICS

The article is dedicated to exploring the role of rhyme in the English poetic discourse of the XXI century. Rhyme, being the central element of most poetic genres, has unique pragmatic effect both when it is present (in classical verse) and absent (in verse libre). The role of rhyme ranges from ensuring memorization to broader communicative and cognitive influences, as justified by the studies reviewed in the article. The aim of the article is to contrast practices of using and omitting rhyme in contemporary English poetry and to reveal the pragmatic potential of rhyme. For this purpose, works of contemporary poets are scrutinized via methods of comparison and contrast, pragmatic analysis and stylistic analysis. Our findings show that rhyme, whenever present, serves not only for text memorization or embellishment, but also has deeper relations with the core of the poem. In case of verse libre or blank verse, the absence of rhyme (especially when paired with the graphic element of ignoring capital letters) turns a poem into a dynamic work, an unfinished process. An increasing tendency of ignoring rhyme in contemporary English poetry might be linked to the graphic character of poetry itself. Whenever rhyme is absent, there is an “extra” element which fills its place, and usually those elements are either graphical additions or peculiarities of punctuation. The scientific novelty of the article lies in revealing the pragmatic role of rhyme and justifying that this role is fulfilled even when rhyme is absent. The theoretical and practical significance of the article lies in exploring the role of rhyme considering pragmatics, stylistics, and cognitive poetics.

Towards the Condition of Birdsong

Abstract: Walter Pater's much-studied, suggestive statement, "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music," is rooted in "Anders-streben" or "other-striving." In passing, contemporary poet John Bevis ventures a mischievous mishearing of Pater's dictum: What could it mean to aspire towards the condition of birdsong—other-striving of another order? In a heterodox history of ideas from Charles Darwin through Charles Hartshorne, birdsong reintegrates music and language. Listening to birdsong, Anglophone poets have heard echoes of an analogous human capacity, all but lost. In birdsong poems by John Clare, Robert Frost, Edward Thomas, and Elizabeth Bishop, a poetics of radical other-striving emerges.

Music Reviews

Abstract: Reviewed in this column are Songs in Flight: a Song Cycle for Soprano, Countertenor, Baritone, and Piano , the collaborative effort of composer Shawn Okpebholo and contemporary poet Tsitsi Ella Jaji; Tom Cipullo’s Black Dog Song Cycle in Seven Movements, for Baritone Voice and Piano , on the topic of depression, and Libby Larsen’s North Shore Songs: Four Poems of Louis Jenkins . Finally, Dante in Musica: 10 Compositions for Voice and Pianoforte on texts by Dante Alighieri is a fascinating compilation of songs and arias by Italian composers from the early Romantic through the early twentieth century.

Binarities in Contemporary Poetics, The Case of Language Poetry

Binarities in Contemporary Poetics, The Case of Language Poetry

“Quieta la voz”. Transcription, Reproduction and Edition of Two Unpublished Poems of Valverde, 20, by Antonio Gala

This article presents Antonio Gala’s most unknown facet: his poetry. To do this, firstly, a I present a current state of the art about how Gala has been presented in various stories of Spanish contemporary literature and on the dimensions of his lyric. Secondly I focus on the research carried out within the “Phonodia” group of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Thereby, not only the importance of Antonio Gala as a contemporary poet will be proven, but also the relevance of his poems in the framework of the relationships between voice and poetry through sound files, which allow to make known, even, as an unexpected discovery, two unpublished texts of Valverde, 20, whose reproduction, transcription and edition are offered, exclusively, in this article.

The mystical simplicity of Anna Dolgareva’s poetry

The article conducts an in-depth analysis of Anna Dolgareva’s poetic output: a contemporary poet, she has become somewhat of a chronicler of the special military operation. The scholar argues that Dolgareva’s poetics satisfies the needs of the current era: now that the postmodernist and avant-garde potential has been exhausted, the tragic character of history calls not only for a clear stance and unwearied word but also a radical change of tradition. To achieve such an effect with her poetics, Dolgareva opts for straightforwardness of expression and puts the main emphasis on the mission statement of the tragic hero, who is not romanticized but shows awareness of their responsibility. The critic particularly examines Dolgareva’s latest book Red Berry. Black Soil [Krasnaya yagoda. Chyornaya zemlya] (2023). It appears to be a manifesto of the poet’s idea of the protagonist’s direction in life and depicts the lyrical heroine through her various self-identifications – from the long-awaited offspring of a previously childless couple to a jester, the Fool from a tarot deck. In her reconstruction of the heroine’s personality, the critic examines the main motifs of Dolgareva’s lyrical poetry in the philosophical context of Russian poetry in the 2010s–2020s.

Szenen einer Gattung

Abstract The paper discusses metapoetic reflections in German drama around 1800. It argues that Goethe, Schiller and Kleist challenge the tragic form by blurring the differences to lyric and epic poetry. The starting point is the thesis that the paradigm of heroism, which has defined the tragic genre from the very beginning, falls into crisis. Both contemporary poetics and literary texts demonstrate this development: Heroism neither functions as an ideal way to constructing a character nor of organizing political plots which successfully rely on and account for personal greatness. To illustrate this, the essay focuses on significant metapoetic scenes from Goethe’s, Schiller’s and Kleist’s dramas and reads them as ‘scenes from a genre’ for which the female characters play a decisive role. Thus, it discusses how the selected dramas reflect on the principles of genre and on the ever-permeable boundaries of genre which lead to questions of political heroism and charismatic authority at the dawn of modernity. The political drama would therefore be incomplete without taking into account the gendering of political agency. Political heroism as well as the form of heroic tragedy are challenged by critical perspectives brought into play by female voices.

Eye to I: Panoptic Muslim Surveillance and Warsan Shire’s Poetics of Liberation

In 1786, French architect Jeremy Bentham envisioned the panopticon, a structure in which prison cells surround an opaque tower where guards surveil the prisoners. In the panopticon, prisoners could be observed by guards without knowing when they were being watched, making them trained for constant vigilance. My research places this centuries-old theoretical model against contemporary Muslim surveillance, arguing that the panopticon is a way to more deeply and thoroughly understand the omnipresent surveillance weaponized against Muslim communities after 9/11. More broadly, I refuse to dilute the impact of internalized and externalized policing on marginalized communities. I investigate how post-9/11 surveillance in Nairobi places Muslim communities into a prison-like structure in which they are repeatedly watched, affecting their internal psyche— the art form of poetry written by these marginalized groups allows for a deeper viewing and dissection of this surveillance. Invoking French philosopher Michel Foucault, who drew from the panopticon in his literary theories on discipline, with first-hand ethnographic research on Muslim surveillance from contemporary scholars living in Nairobi, Kenya, I pose a literary-ethnographic stance regarding how we can view the lasting impacts of Muslim surveillance. In analyzing the detrimental conditions of surveillance in postcolonial Kenya, I also investigate how a key contemporary poet, Warsan Shire, breaks free from these boundaries through her artistic work, which focuses on the generational and haunting implications of surveillance in her own Muslim community. Shire herself was born in Kenya and migrated to the United Kingdom with her family when she was a young child. Her poetry, both spoken and written, has now reached global audiences in North America, Germany, and South Africa and has influenced the contemporary literary canon. Catechizing Muslim surveillance through meshing literary and anthropological research, I hope to dismantle the post 9-/11 prison-panopticon of inspection, emphasizing the role of artistry in liberation and resistance.

Indicators of Islamic Awakening in Khalilullah Khalili’s Poetry

Islamic awakening is a movement of vigilance and awareness among Islamic community, during which, after a prolonged period of Intellectual regression, declination, and imitation of West, Muslims renewed the thought and resisted to gain enormity and control over affairs of Islamic lands. Studying role of Khalilullah Khalili a contemporary poet from Afghanistan in Islamic awakening and investigation of such awakening indicators in his poems, show that Khalili had a dominant role in revival of religious thoughts, creation of unity, self-esteem, and spirit of Muslims’ return to their olden enormity. The aim of present paper is introducing Khalilullah Khalili, s describing role of his poetry in awakening of Persian-speaking Islamic society and investigation of the most important indicators of Islamic awakening in his poetry. The present research will answer such questions as what are the indicators of Islamic awakening and how are these indicators reflected in Khalilullah Khalili’s poetry? This research, conducted with an analytical-descriptive approach, utilizes reputable literary and literary criticism sources to explain parameters of Islamic awakening and example of Khalilullah Khalili’s poetry have been described as witness of the discussion. In Khalili's poetry, numerous indicators and signs of Islamic awakening and his attention to the revival of lost Islamic values and the glorious past of the Islamic community can be found. Among the most notable indicators are the promotion of the idea of global Islamic unity, the call for Muslim unity, condemnation of various forms of division, anti-colonialism, advocating the establishment of the duty of jihad, strengthening self-confidence and self-belief among Muslims, instilling hope for a bright future, calling for a return to the Quran and Its liberating message, renewing Islamic thought, and combating superstitions resulting from the period of decline

CORPOS QUE (NÃO) IMPORTAM NA POÉTICA DE SARA URIBE E LUIZA ROMÃO

The purpose of this article is to discuss the aesthetic-poetic body of two contemporary poets and artists: Sara Uribe (Mexico) and Luiza Romão (Brazil). Both in the work of Sara Uribe – Antígona González (2012) and in the work of Luiza Romão – Sangria (2017), our object of reflection takes place around death policies or necropolitics directed at bodies that are neglected by public authorities. In this way, through the path of art, we intend to unarchive memories of invisible bodies

Проблемно-тематическое своеобразие «итоговой» книги стихов А. Вознесенского «Тьмать» (2008)

The paper is devoted to a comprehensive study of the specificity of A. Voznesensky’s "final" book of poems. The aim of the study is to identify the problematic and thematic uniqueness of the book "T’mat’" (2008). The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that this publication of the contemporary poet is for the first time comprehended as the "final" one, its genre-typological features are analysed. As a result, the researchers have found the following: firstly, the hallmark of A. Voznesensky’s poetics is represented by declarativeness, provocative nature, a prominent subjectivity of the poetic voice of the persona, which is closely merged with the image of the poet. Secondly, A. Voznesensky’s book "T’mat’" demonstrates a vivid example of a "final" book of poems, the genre canon of which was developed by poets in the last third of the 19th century. The book is organized chronologically and embodies the author’s view of his own fate and the fate of Russia. The book actualizes the farewell motif, the loss motifs, the desire to share the most intimate things, to remember the best moments of one’s life, to thank loved ones; biographism is combined with a dialogical address to the "other". Thirdly, the attention to religious and philosophical motifs and images is increased in this publication, this fact is connected with rethinking the life lived, summing it up.

Лирический герой и образная картина мира Екатерины Боярских по данным языка

The research analyzes the poetry of Ekaterina Boyarskikh, a contemporary poet from Irkutsk. The aim is to identify and describe the persona and the figurative picture of the world she creates. The method applied is linguistic data analysis. It is the poetic grammar, vocabulary, and the means of creating imagery that are the focus of the study. Consideration is given to lexical and grammatical features contributing to the creation of a persona and the world around it, such as the substantivization of adjectives and participles and the omission of syntactic subjects, finite verb forms, and primary nominatives. The syntactic specificity of Boyarskikh’s poetry manifests itself when compared to the conventional usage of the structures under investigation that were retrieved from the Russian National Corpus. The frequent use of the linguistic means involved is found to indicate a reflection on the cognized reality. This reflection proves to be an essential linguistic strategy for creating a fictional world. The analysis of comparative tropes unveils the striking parallels between the main images found in Boyarskikh’s poetry and the significant features of her figurative representation of the world. The research identifies nature as a common source of imagery, with natural objects regularly undergoing personification. The persona created by Boyarskikh is found to be strongly connected with the surrounding world being repeatedly cognized, as evidenced by the renunciation of conventional nominations and the search for new nominations of the objects of this world.

A Long Essay on the Long Poem: Modern and Contemporary Poetics and Practices by Rachel Blau DuPlessis (review)

A Long Essay on the Long Poem: Modern and Contemporary Poetics and Practices by Rachel Blau DuPlessis (review)

The political aspect of the ‘freedom’ concept in Pavlo Vyshebaba’s work

The object of the research in this article is the poetic texts of the contemporary Ukrainian military poet Pavlo Vyshebaba. The purpose of the article is to interpret the manifestation of the concept of freedom in the work of this poet. The author focuses on the political aspect of the concept of freedom, so he primarily analyzes Pavlo Vyshebaba’s work from this perspective. In the course of the study, the author also analyzes the works of military poets Kateryna “Bird” Polishchuk and Borys Humeniuk. This is done to compare the manifestations of the concept of freedom by these authors and to better understand the works of Pavlo Vyshebaba. In order to scientifically substantiate the political aspect of freedom, this article draws on the philosophical work of Dmytro Dontsov, in particular the ideas of nationalism and its fundamental principles. In particular, to clarify the terminology, the article uses Dmytro Dontsov’s “vlasnovladnist”. To achieve the purpose of the article, contextual analysis and biographical methods were used. The relevance of the article is due to the social need to realize the value of freedom in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The novelty of the study is determined by the chosen aspect of the consideration of the lyrics of a contemporary poet, the scientific reception of whose work is generally limited. According to the results of the study, Pavlo Vyshebaba regards the concept of freedom in the political plane. It has been found that the concept of freedom in his work encompasses personal responsibility, a higher purpose, preservation and development of cultural and historical heritage. Freedom for Pavlo Vyshebaba is “freedom from” and “freedom for”. In political terms, the last is the establishment of statehood, and the first is freedom from invaders. Pavlo Vyshebaba also has a personal understanding of freedom as an opportunity for creativity. Further prospects for the study are related to the analysis of a representative sample of contemporary military poets and poets who write about war to draw more thorough conclusions about the ideas of political freedom in Ukrainian culture as a fundamental factor in the formation of the nation.

Das Schöne in der kritisch-philosophischen Poetik Ingeborg Bachmanns

The paper aims to reconstruct Bachmann’s most important poetological principles on the basis of her critical writings and the Frankfurt lectures. In doing so, the concept of beauty, which is constitutive for her understanding of literature and language, comes into focus. An interpretation of this concept from the perspective of existential philosophy makes it possible to combine questions of literary theory related to contemporary poetics on the one hand, and philosophical questions related to personal authenticity (and hence identity) and to the justification of the author’s existence on the other, and thus to advance to Bachmann’s poetological credo.

صورة الماضي وانعكاسها في قصائد لاريسا ميلر وفيرا بافلوفا

أجرينا في هذا البحث تحليلاً مقارناً لأعمال شاعرتين معاصرتين هما لاريسا ميلر وفيرا بافلوفا، اللتين عاشتا قبل انهيار الاتحاد السوفييتي وبعده، ووجدنا أن صورة الماضي في أعمال لاريسا ميلر تعكس تصوراتها للحياة السوفيتية وتجاربها في تلك الحقبة، وأن صورة الطبيعة تؤدي دوراً مهما في التعبير عن المواقف تجاه الماضي. تعبر فيرا بافلوفا عن موقفها من الماضي من خلال تجربة الحياة، أي أن صورة الماضي في أعمالها مليئة بالمشاعر والعواطف و التصورات الذاتية، وتثير القراء لأجل التعاطف مع أشعارها الوجدانية

The Poetic Theory of Al-Waleed Al-Bohtory and William Wordsworth: A Comparative Study

This study delivers a comparative theoretical study between the Arabic Abbasid classic poet A-Waleed Al-Bohtory and the English poet William Wordsworth. This study relies on analytical and descriptive methods that focus on analyzing the theoretical concepts and studying them based on these two poets’ literary legacy. The significance of this study is to provide a comparative investigation between these Western and Eastern poets to find some mutual similarities and theoretical background of both, to help the researchers of the discipline in the future. Al-Bohtory and Wordsworth present imaginative, descriptive, analytical, rustic and simple poetic stanzas to simulate and enjoy their surrounding objects, for instance Nature. They depict nature as a place of tranquility, peace, and happiness at the end. They portray similar imaginative and descriptive images of Spring, pools, birds, animals, and forests. These two poets were influenced by other contemporary poets at their time as Coleridge and Abu-Tammam. These contemporary poets for Wordsworth and Al-Bohtory are like their poetic spark and inspiration.

Rhyme in dróttkvætt, from Old Germanic Inheritance to Contemporary Poetic Ecology II: Rhyme as an Inherited Device of Old Germanic Verse

This paper is the second in a three-part series on the distinctive type of rhyme in the Old Norse dróttkvætt meter, argued to have emerged through the metricalization of uses of rhyme within a short line found across Old Germanic poetries. Whereas the first paper outlined the argument and its background, this paper explores uses of rhyme in Old Germanic poetries other than Old Norse. Rhyme involving the stressed syllable or word stem irrespective of subsequent syllables is shown to be a device of these poetic systems. Especially in Old English, such rhyme is used to support and reinforce the basic meter and may even fill a metrical function in the place of additional alliteration. The type of rhyme is argued to be an inherited feature of the poetic system, an argument also supported by the metricalized use of rhyme in Old Norse dróttkvætt poetry. Because some theories of the Old Germanic poetic form require viewing rhyme as competing and interfering with its rhythm, the rhymecompatible model used here is outlined.