VASYL HOLOBORODKO – A MASTER OF NON-CLASSICAL VERSE FORMS: VERSIFICATION ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article explores the creative work of Vasyl Holoborodko, particularly his book of poems "An Apple of Good News". This topic has not been extensively researched in Ukrainian literary studies, although Holoborodko's work has been studied in other aspects, such as folklore, in Yulia Shutenko's dissertation. This article specifically focuses on the analysis of non-classical verse forms in the author's poetry. According to one accepted classification, non-classical verse is divided into dactylic, taktovyk's, and accentual verse, depending on the change in the number of intrastressed syllable intervals. These forms have different productivity in Ukrainian poetry in general and in the work of Vasyl Holoborodko in particular. The polymetric superform of the non-classical verse is the vers libre, and Vasyl Holoborodko is the most productive author of this form among his contemporaries. This is related to the feature of his work as folklore trend. Among the examples of poetry presented in the article, there are samples that refer to the folklore sources of his poetry, spoken folk verse, which is the source for non-classical verse forms, and particularly vers libre. Additionally, there are interesting examples of dactylic, taktovyk's, and accentual verse, which are analyzed in detail in the article, including the poems "Spring", "Mother was cleaning potatoes", "Linen Birds", and "Hungry tongues tied in a knot...". The analysis of these pieces of poetry allows us to trace the tendencies of his creative work, such as a tendency toward irregularity, a slight predominance of taktovyk verses in non-vers libre verses, folklore as a leading principle both in vers libre and in the rest of the poems, and the alternation of expressive and meditative motifs in poetic creation, the reproduction of conversational speech and folk verse rhythms in the poetry, the transmission of unique features of the Ukrainian language and authentic imagery. The article is a part of an author's larger study of non-classical verse in Ukrainian poetry of the second half of the 20th century.