- DOI:
- EDN:
- УДК / UDK: 821.161.1.0
- Issue:
- Abstract:
The article for the first time analyzes in detail the rough notes of words and poetic lines of S.A. Esenin, which the poet’s draft notebook (1917–1919) preserved though it was partly burned in a fire in Konstantinovo in 1929. This unique draft notebook has a special place in the manuscript heritage of Esenin, who did not keep notebooks and diaries. The established semantic and figurative echoes of the text about the cup and the poem “The Silver Road...” (1917) allow us to consider the sketch as the original version of the poem, to witness the author’s intention changing and to reveal the biblical sources of the text. The unrealized idea of the work “Virgin Mary” in the context of Esenin’s creative work reveals its connection with the poem “O Mother of God...” (1917). The sketches are rich of images distinctive for the revolutionary period poetics, associated with Orthodox motifs (dawn-prayer book, star-candles); metaphors based on a riddle, color identity, polysemy of a word; characters (Mother of God, the muse); one of the leading motifs in this period (the way) and typical for the lyrics of 1917–1919 chronotope (autumn night). The comparison of the figurative-motif complex, rhythmics, techniques, chronotope confirms the relationship of the poetics of sketches and Esenin’s complete works. The study of the sketches proves that even Esenin’s brief notes show how carefully the poet were thinking over the figurative and motif complex of his works.
Acknowledgements: The research was carried out at А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 23-28-01173: “The Manuscript Heritage of S.A. Esenin: Problems of Study” (https://rscf.ru/project/23-28-01173/).
- Keywords: S.A. Esenin, sketches, draft notebook, poetics.
- For citation:
Nikolaeva, A.A. “S.A. Esenin’s Sketches: To the Origins of the Poet’s Creative Ideas.” Literaturnyi fakt, no. 4 (30), 2023, pp. 162–177. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2023-30-162-177
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