“In original poetic meter”: “Ethnographic” searches and finds of Russian translation verse of the Silver Age and their interpretations on the pages of periodical press

Abstract

The article presents a wide range of phenomena of national rhythmic culture that appeared on the pages of periodicals (newspapers, magazines, almanacs) of the early twentieth century, primarily in the translation of foreign language poetic texts, for most of which there are still no adequate analogues in Russian versification. However, thanks to the persistent desire of the authors of that time, such analogues are either found among related phenomena or are reinvented. Moreover, this happens in publications of a wide variety of types: from the elite St. Petersburg “Vesi” to the mass “Samara Mustard Man”. Quite in keeping with the spirit of the times, the emerging free verse turns out to be an analogue of the complex ancient Greek logaedas, ancient Egyptian and Akkadian cult poetry, and European and American free verse itself. And to convey traditional Japanese poetry, Balmont uses syllabic-tonic metric, to depict the Persian stanza Vyach. Ivanov turns to its imitation, and S. Sviridenko develops his own version of alliterative verse, designed to convey the general structure of the ancient Germanic versification. It is especially important that Russian poets and theorists place on the pages of periodicals not only works created according to models from different cultures, but also theoretical discussions and explanations designed to help the mass reader understand the original rhythmic innovations, which ultimately contributed to expanding the capabilities of Russian verse.