The Poetic Language of Z. Gippius: Expressive Syntax Constructions

Abstract

The poetic creativity of Z. Gippius, a bright representative of the decadent trend in Russia, has attracted the closest attention of researchers at different times, but so far, the expressive syntax constructions used by the author to display ideological and artistic attitudes and create vivid images have not been studied in detail. In this connection, the purpose of this study is to present the most frequent syntactic constructions which are peculiar dominants of the poet's idiostyle. The poet's creativity is distinguished by the aspiration to use the expressive means of the language to the maximum, which is manifested in the careful choice of words, as well as the creation of syntactic constructions that allow the author to render her idea most precisely and succinctly, to attract the readers’ attention, to activate their creative imagination. The paper draws attention to the most frequent constructions of expressive syntax, such as parcellated sentences, rhetorical questions and questions of address, and describes the peculiarities of their functioning in the poetic text. The relationship between Z. Gippius's philosophical concepts  and the choice of linguistic means is traced. To the author, poetry becomes a way of uniting with God and a tribune for proclaiming slogans reflecting her own religious concepts. The range of the poet's reflections includes the problems of existence, questions about life after death, about love in all forms of its manifestation, human relationships, and religion as a way of spiritual development. This is embodied in syntactic constructions representing the author’s individual picture of the world. The conducted analysis allows us to conclude that the author's constructions are subordinated to the main artistic task, allow the poet to achieve the desired emotional effect, and to express her attitude to the world around her.