A functional approach to the interpretation of Anna Akhmatova’s poetic cycle "Confusion".

The article examines the external and internal cycle-forming factors identified in various scholarly articles prepared within the framework of philological text analysis. The vagueness and inconsistency in defining the main cycle-forming factors specified in literary studies determine the recognition of the fundamental role linguistic analysis has in classifying the characteristic features of the cycle in question. The research employs the method of functional analysis of lyric texts developed by the Crimean school of functional linguistics. This approach enables one to analyse poems and identify the coherence of texts within a cycle based on recurrent elements, or semantic units joined by a common semantic feature, as well as "core" elements. The "core" elements, i. e., linguistic units that make up the semantic field of the cycle, play the dominant role since they integrate poems into cycles and explicate the author’s individual understanding of reality. The paper identifies the characteristic features, both external and internal, of Anna Akhmatova’s lyric cycle "Confusion" from the collection "Rosary". The "core" elements of the cycle, namely the final sentences of the poems, have new figurative meanings and reveal the poet’s understanding of love as a state of confusion. This turmoil lasts from the first meeting, which brings suffering due to unrequited feelings, to the moment of loss, when losing love is again perceived as agitation and anxiety rather than the expected peace.

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