Title of the article:

CONCEPT “PITY” IN THE POETIC LANGUAGE OF JOSEPH BRODSKY

Author(s):

Olga G. Tverdokhleb

Information about the author/authors

Olga G. Tverdokhleb — PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Orenburg State Pedagogical University, Sovetskaya St. 19, 460844 Orenburg, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8309-0245

E-mail: ogtwrd@gmail.com

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2024

Volume

Vol. 71

Pages

pp. 169–178

Received

June 10, 2023

Approved after reviewing

October 20, 2023

Date of publication

March 25, 2024

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2024-71-169-178

Index UDK

811 + 821.161.1

Index BBK

81.2 Рус + 83.3(2Рос=Рус)53

Abstract

The paper is to analyze the reflection of the concept ‘pity’ in a poetic heritage of Joseph Brodsky. The study reveals that the poet, when depicting one of the most valuable for him moral concepts of “pity”, uses related verbal lexemes “to regret”, “to regret” as representative predicates, as well as the noun pity, derived from them, as the name of the concept in different years of his work. It is shown that the nominal lexeme “pity” is included in poetic lines colored with a positive connotation (in connection with phenomena that are not subject to man: death, star, glory) and a negative one (applicable to the idea of freedom or the natural time of the year). Some other moral values were found to be the content of the act of pity in poetic lines of J. Brodsky, in which the lyrical subject of pity must show care and treat himself with care, must protect and spare himself, and not anyone else (which is usually noted by researchers). The examples show how, in order to reach special expressiveness of poetic lines and to stress the meaning of 'pity', the poet uses repetitions of various kinds: verbal predicates, the object of pity, or circumstances of time and degree. The results obtained may be of interest to the literary scholars studying the work of Joseph Brodsky and find the use in compiling the poet's dictionary.

Keywords

Pity, Concept, Lyrical Hero, Joseph Brodsky, Idiostyle, Repetition.

References

1 Akhapkin, D.N. Iosif Brodskii i Anna Akhmatova. V glukhonemoi Vselennoi [Joseph Brodsky and Anna Akhmatova. In a Deaf and Dumb Universe]. Moscow, AST Publ., 2021. 288 p. (In Russ.)

2 Balandina, I.A. “‘Bol'shaia kniga interv'iu’ Iosifa Brodskogo kak ego-tekst poeta” [“‘The Big Book of Interviews’ by Joseph Brodsky as the Poet's Ego-text”]. INITIUM. Khudozhestvennaia literatura: opyt sovremennogo prochteniia [ INITIUM. Artistic Literature: Experience of Modern Reading]. Ekaterinburg, The Ural  Humanitarian

Institute of the Ural Federal University Publ., 2021, pp. 137–142. (In Russ.)

3 Balandina, I.A. “Epistoliarnaia lirika I. Brodskogo: spetsifika adresatsii” [“Epistolary Lyrics of J. Brodsky: Specifics of Addressing”]. Ural'skii filologicheskii vestnik. Series: “Draft: molodaia naukv” [“Draft: Young Science”], no. 1, 2022, pp. 81–91. (In Russ.)

4 Bilienkova, I.A. “Izuchenie tvorchestva Iosifa Brodskogo v aspekte obraznogo analiza” [“Study of the Work of Joseph Brodsky in the Aspect of Image Analysis”]. Vestnik filologicheskikh nauk, vol. 2, no. 3, 2022, pp. 11–15. (In Russ.)

5 Bogdanova, O.V. “‘Peterburgskii tekst’ Brodskogo-esseist [“‘Peterburgian Text’ by Brodsky-essayist”]. Professiia: literator. God rozhdeniia: 1940 [Profession: Writer. Year of Birth: 1940]. Elets, Yelets State University of Bunin Publ., 2021, pp. 50–57. (In Russ.)

6 Gurevich, A.Ia. Izbrannye trudy: v 4 t. [Selected Works: in 4 vols.]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Universitetskaia kniga Publ., 1999. 560 p. (In Russ.)

7 Zhiliakov, S.V. “Arkhetipicheskie obrazy v lirike Brodskogo (na primere stikhotvorenii ‘Pamiati...’ i ‘Na smert'...’)” [“Archetypal Images in Brodsky's Lyrics (for Example, the Poem ‘Remembrance...’ and ‘To Death...’”]. Professiia: literator. God rozhdeniia: 1940 [Profession: Writer. Year of Birth: 1940]. Elets, Yelets State University of Bunin Publ., 2021, pp. 16–27. (In Russ.)

8 Kormilov, S.I. “Akhmatova i akhmatovskoe v stikhakh Iosifa Brodskogo 1962 goda o smerti i vechnosti” [“Akhmatova and Akhmatovian in the Poems of Joseph Brodsky 1962 about Death and Eternity”]. Uchenye zapiski Novgorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 1 (34), 2021, pp. 120–128. (In Russ.)

9 Kudalina, A.A. “Liubov', smert' i rech': o dvukh stikhotvoreniiakh O. Mandel'shtama i I. Brodskogo” [“Love, Death and Speech: about Two Poems by O. Mandelshtam and J. Brodsky”]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta. Series: “Literaturovedenie. Iazykoznanie. Kul'turologiia” [“Literary Studies. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”], no. 6, 2022, pp. 82–90. (In Russ.)

10 Mel'nikova, V.S. “Universal'nye priznaki kontsepta ‘zhalost'’ v nauchnom diskurse” [“Universal Signs of the Concept of ‘Pity’ in Scientific Discourse”]. Vestnik Cheliabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, Filologiia. Iskusstvovedenie [Philology. Art Studies Issue], vol. 45, no. 21 (202), 2010, pp. 75–78. (In Russ.)

11 Miliutina, M.G. “Funktsional'naia grammatika na sluzhbe poezii (infinitivnoe pis'mo v poeticheskikh tekstakh B. Akhmadulinoi, I. Brodskogo, A. Kushnera)” [“Functional Grammar in the Service of Poetry (Infinitive Writing in Poetic Texts by B. Akhmadulina, J. Brodsky, A. Kushner)”]. Sibirskii filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 4, 2021, pp. 276–88. (In Russ.)

12 Morozova, K.A. “Cherty russkoi natsional'noi identichnosti v angloiazychnoi publitsistike I. Brodskogo” [“Features of Russian National Identity in Englishlanguage Journalism by J. Brodsky”]. Obmen nauchnymi znaniiami: aktual'nye voprosy i perspektivnye napravleniia razvitiia [Exchange of Scientific Knowledge: Actual Issues and Perspective Directions of Development]. Kazan', Obshchestva Nauki i Tvorchestva Publ., 2021, pp. 139–141. (In Russ.)

13 Polukhina, V. Brodskii glazami sovremennikov. Sbornik interv'iu [Brodsky Through the Eyes of Contemporaries]. Moscow, Zhurnal “Zvezda” Publ., 1997. 336 p. (In Russ.)

14 Ranchin, A.M. “Avtorskaia metafora i idiostil': sluchai Brodskogo” [“Author's Metaphore and Idiostyle: The Case of Brodsky”]. Trudy instituta russkogo iazyka imeni V.V. Vinogradova, no. 1, 2022, pp. 307–314. (In Russ.)

15 Sinitsyna, D.I. “Iosif Brodskii, perevodchik Virkhilio Pin'ery” [“Joseph Brodsky, Translated by Virgilio Pinera”]. Drevniaia i Novaia Romaniia, no. 27, 2021, pp. 265–275. (In Russ.)

16 Solov'ev, V.S. Sochineniia: v 2 t. [Compositions: in 2 vols.]. Moscow, Mysl' Publ., 1988. 802 p. (In Russ.)

17 Fedotov, O.I. “Metamorfoza liudei i veshchei (smysl i ritmika stikhotvoreniia Brodskogo ‘Natiurmort’” [The Metamorphosis of People and Things (the Meaning and Rhythm of Brodsky's Poem ‘Still Life’”]. Russkaia filologiia: uchenye zapiski Smolenskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 22, 2022, pp. 173–187. (In Russ.)

18 Shtyrlina, E.G. “Proshloe, nastoiashchee, budushchee v poeticheskom mire I. Brodskogo” [“Past, Present, Future in the Poetic World of I. Brodsky”]. Uchenye zapiski Kazanskogo universiteta, Series: “Gumanitarnye nauki” [“Humanities”], vol. 152, book 6, 2010, pp. 252–257. (In Russ.)

19 Ium, D. Sochineniia: v 2 t. [Compositions: in 2 vols.]. Moscow, Mysl' Publ., 1965. 733 p. (In Russ.)

PDF-file

Download