Image of a Rose in the Poetry by M. I. Tsvetaeva: Semantic and Stylistic Analysis

The semantics of the image of a rose considered in the researches dedicated to the semantics of flowers has mythological roots. 67 verses by Tsvetaeva, from her early works to 1925, contain the image of a rose. The research purpose is to reveal the dynamics of semantic and stylistic features of the word-image rose expressed in a plural form (roses) analyzing lexical structure of the text. The poems containing this image have a lot of aesthetic differences. The research material includes 41 verses, from the early works to 1925. The texts are selected from Dictionary of the Poetic Language of M. I. Tsvetaeva. Philological analysis is based on the theories of M. N. Kozhina and N. S. Bolotnova. The authors consider the texts chronologically, which allows them to follow the dynamics of semantic and stylistic features of the image in different periods. The authors use the periodization developed by O. G. Revzina. In the collection of verses The Evening Album, roses express semantics of beauty and love; they are associated with a bright unreal space, with the image of a crown, the motif of martyrdom, sacral topics. The image of roses becomes a detail of stories and portraits. In the collection Youthful Verses, the word roses is, mainly, a detail of a portrait. Besides, the image of roses in this period is tied to the topics of death and writing. In the poems of 1916–1919, roses are an aesthetic element of sketches, a detail of the plot; they characterize the images considered by the heroine and have an evaluative function. The lyrical subject generalizes her feelings associating roses with the retrospection considered by the heroine in a new period of her life. In the theatrical 1918, Tsvetaeva often uses the plural form roses in dramatic sketches. The image of roses is developing as a vivid detail. In 1919 the image of roses has a descriptive function in genitive metaphors and a comparison with the semantics of strength, energy, and love. In the verses of the 1920s, the image of roses is associated with the topics of writing, talent, and a special role of the poet. The topics of love, writing, being are interrelated and expressed in the verses until 1925. In the poems where the image of roses expresses the topic of unrequited love, roses become a symbol of love as the beginning of life; being loyal to love is a great sense and a heavy burden. The image of roses, compared with the early verses, becomes deeper in the semantic aspect, more metaphorical and symbolic; Tsvetaeva often includes it in the expressive constructions typical for her.

semantics of flowers, idiostyle of M. I. Tsvetaeva, communicative stylistics of the text, lexical structure of the poetic text