Sergey Yesenin and the oral poetry

https://doi.org/10.20339/PhS.3-20.078      

Strashnov Sergey L.,

Doctor of Philology, Professor, Professor

of the Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations Department

Ivanovo State University

e-mail: sstrashnov@yandex.ru

Interactions with oral poetry have always been active in S. Yesenin’s oeuvre along with literature contacts: first with traditional peasant folklore, and during the post-revolutionary era with the so-called post-folklore: factory-rural ditty, urban romance and thieves’ song. Such contacts in the scientific literature have already been comprehended, however, they were not considered consistently, during the evolution, taking into account both individual creative and sociocultural factors. Moreover, in this article the stated problem is comprehended for the first not only within its own internal development, but also as a correlation of the used genres with the image of the author (lyric hero), unique features of style decisions, and the needs of a mass audience. Observed displacements display the transition from the initial idealization of the surrounding to its disharmonious perception, as well as the final synthesis of pictorial and musical, emotional and intellectual, melodramatic and meditative, ancient motives and fashionable repertoire. The poet’s constant fame is explained by the convergence of his oeuvres with the emotional experiences of many people — both historically defined, as well as internally-psychological, essential, eternal. The “Conclusion” states that the interested communication with Yesenin’s poems continues for a hundred years — in whatever form it happens: oral, handwritten, book, or the most recent — network. Constantly feeding oral poetry, Yesenin still remains its integral part.

Keywords: S. Yesenin, folklore, post-folklore, author, lyrical hero, mass consciousness, social resonance of creativity.

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