WINTER AS A REFLECTION OF RUSSIAN NATIONAL CHARACTER IN THE POETRY OF EARLY XIX CENTURY

Abstract

The paper deals with the insufficiently explored problem related to the investigation of an artistic role of seasons in the Russian poetry. In particular the image of winter is analyzed in poetic texts of the beginning of XIX century, as well as the phenomenon of “Russian national character” that is closely related to it. The central object of our investigation is the P.A. Viazemskiy’s poetry as one of the pioneers of Russian nature in the literature. The author concludes that the image of winter is constructed as ambivalent in the poetic perception - it is the time of oldness / death, spiritual uplift of a man, and the time of poetic creativity. Winter is personified by many poets in the images of a mother, a young girl, which reflects people’s love to this frosty time. Winter’s visualization as an old woman is regular because of its soporiferous function in nature. Such inconsistency is mated with Russian mentality which is more evident against the background of images of foreigners and their relationship to winter.