Lexical means of creating personification in Vlad Malenko’s lyric poetry

Contemporary Russian poetry, experiencing another period of flourishing, is represented by both wellknown and new names. Among them are Maria Vatutina, Igor Karaulov, Dmitry Vodennikov, Vlad Malenko, Anna Dolgareva, Alexander Pelevin, Anna Revyakina, Polina Orynyanskaya, Alexey Ostudin, Tatyana Koptelova, Sofia Yudina, and many others. Touching upon philosophical, civic, and psychological themes, the authors turn to the living Russian word and employ the entire wealth of linguistic resources in their poems. Studying such poetry not only expands the scope of philological research, but also contributes to the renewal of didactic materials. Working with such materials, one can reveal the beauty and power of the Russian word as well as instil love for the Russian language in readers. That is why both literary and linguistic studies focusing on the distinctive features of the linguistic structure of modern poetic text play such an important role. Using modern poetry in working with schoolchildren enables one to overcome the stereotype of textual material being distanced from the modern native speaker. This article examines the lexical means of personification in the lyrics by Vlad Malenko employing structural-semantic, componential, and comparative analysis. The study identified and described cases of anthropomorphism as well as provided their verbal and adverbial characteristics. Additionally, examples of anthropomorphised objects and inanimate objects naming various manifestations of the classical elements being attributed to professions were considered. Moreover, temporal magnitudes and object entities were characterised. The study shows that personification is one of the most important literary devices in Vlad Malenko’s lyrics. It is represented with the help of various linguistic means and is significant for understanding the poet’s worldview in which the surrounding reality at times seems more alive than humans themselves.

1. Arutyunova N. D. Functional types of linguistic metaphor. Izvestiya Akademii nauk SSSR. Seriya literatury i yazyka = News of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Literature and Language Series. 1978;37(4):333–343. (In Russ.)

2. Budaragina E. I. Volga in the poetry of Vlad Malenko. Nizhegorodskii tekst russkoi slovesnosti: khudozhestvennoe postizhenie natsionalnoi mentalnosti: sb. statei po materialam IХ Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii. Nizhnii Novgorod, 19–21 oktyabrya 2023 g. = Nizhny Novgorod text of Russian literature: artistic comprehension of national mentality: collection of articles based on the materials of the IX International Scientific Conference. Nizhny Novgorod, October 19–21, 2023. Nizhny Novgorod: Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, 2023. P. 120–124.

3. Konstantinova S. K. The nucleus of personified lexicon in the poetry of A. A. Fet. Teoreticheskie i prikladnye aspekty sovremennoi nauki = Theoretical and applied aspects of modern science. 2014;(4):24–26. (In Russ.)

4. Malenko V. V. The sea waves different. Moscow: Zebra E, 2021. 620 p. (In Russ.)

5. Polezhaeva T. V. Poetics of the modern fable: Vlad Malenko. Slavyanskii mir: dukhovnye traditsii i slovesnost: sb. materialov Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii, posvyashchaetsya 300-letiyu A. P. Sumarokova, 200-letiyu A. K. Tolstogo. Tambov, 23–25 maya 2017 g. = The slavonic world: spiritual traditions and philology: collection of papers of International Scientific Conference dedicated to 300th anniversary of A. P. Sumarokov, 200th anniversary of A. K. Tolstoi. Tambov, May 23–25, 2017. Tambov: Print-Service, 2017. Issue 8. P. 340–347.

6. Potapchuk E. Yu. Image of the Motherland in the poetry of Donbass poets (on the example of the collection "Poetry of Russian summer"). Osnovnye tendentsii gosudarstvennogo i obshchestvennogo razvitiya Rossii: istoriya i sovremennost’. Vyp. 17 = Main trends of state and social development of Russia: history and modernity. Vol. 17. Khabarovsk: PNU Publishing House, 2024. № 1. P. 197–204. (In Russ.)

7. Prokurorova O. D. Precedence as a factor of addressing in poetic text. Yazyk – tekst – diskurs v novykh usloviyakh kommunikatsii (k 60-letiyu professora T. B. Radbilya): sb. statei po materialam Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii. Nizhnii Novgorod, 22–24 noyabrya 2023 g. = Language – text – discourse in new conditions of communication (to the 60th anniversary of Professor T. B. Radbil): collection of articles based on the materials of the International Scientific Conference. Nizhny Novgorod, November 22–24, 2023. Nizhny Novgorod: National Research Nizhny Novgorod Lobachevsky State University, 2023. P. 355–362.

8. Starodubova O. Yu. Language mechanisms of modeling a subject as a method of interpreting a validity and designing a picture of the world in artistic text. Vestnik Rossiiskogo novogo universiteta. Seriya: Chelovek v sovremennom mire = Vestnik of the Russian New University. Series: Human in the modern world. 2020;(2):114–122. http://doi.org/10.25586/RNU. V925X.20.02.P.114.