Stylistic symmetry of the Methodius's translation of the Song of Songs

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of stylistic symmetry in Methodius' translation of the Song of Songs. The study was conducted from a rather unexpected position, namely – using the linguo-folkloristic approach. The rationale for this approach is that it's subject is a folklore text, a collection of wedding songs, which later underwent exquisite literary and book processing. It is concluded that the realizations of the poetic technique of stylistic symmetry found here are based on the same syntactic construction of the members that make it up. Parts of this construction are presented as semantic additions to each other. Adjacent constructions similar in syntactic structure were found with sublime depictions and chants of brides, their beauty and perfection, love. Based on the studied material, it was found that, although in all found examples the components of stylistic symmetry are not identical as required by the logic of reception, but in some of them at least a third of the verbal material of the first. Naturally, in such a poetic text as the Song of Songs, one could expect to come across a significant number of tropes and as part of the verbal embodiment of a stylistic device based on semantic parallelism. In fact, in the vast majority of examples they were recorded in both parts of stylistic symmetry. These are comparisons, metaphors, epithets, allegories, hyperboles, highly artistic paraphrases, etc. Twice stylistic symmetry was built on the antithesis, in particular it was found in the praise of the bride. It has been found that the stylistic symmetry in the Song of Songs is productively explored in terms of ways to express the expressiveness of syntax: how, by what means similar or identical human emotions are reflected in related syntactic constructions. As for the reproduction of this Middle Eastern stylistic device in the Methodist translation of the Song of Songs, it demonstrates unsurpassed harmonious examples of expressive expressiveness and original variation of thought.