Izvestiya of Saratov University.
ISSN 1817-7115 (Print)
ISSN 2541-898X (Online)


B. Poplavsky

Insect symbolism in the oeuvre of B. Poplavsky: Cicadas and grasshoppers

Analyzed in the study is the symbolic meaning of the images of a cicada/grasshopper in the prose and poetry by Boris Poplavsky in the context of classical antiquity and of the Silver Age art. These insects are often understood as one image, which is the poet’s homage to the antique tradition; the image of a cicada/grasshopper is liminal, implying mediation between the two worlds and connection between the past and the present, which allows one to experience the condition of harmonic unity with the Universe and the feeling of natural primeval being.

Two kinds of music in B. Poplavsky’s poem Dark Madonna

The article studies the topic of music and its functioning in the poem by B. Poplavsky Dark Madonna. Its motivational and symbolic structure, as well as its composition and intertextual ties with the modernist poetry are considered. The article focuses on the description of the ‘spirit of music’ concept in the poet’s philosophy and its interpretation in the text of the miniature.