The specificity of the image of poplar in Russian poetry of 50-70 years of 20th century

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of dendronims in the Russian discourse. The analysis of the image of poplar in the Russian poetry of 50–70 years of 20th century is based on the lexico-semantic approach, which means the consideration of its semantics on the background of the lexical system of its embodiment in literary texts. The study has resulted in revealing basic features of the image of poplar. There have been also described and illustrated linguistic units that make it possible for the features mentioned above to function in their both literal and metaphoric use in poetic context. What is more, the paper shows the characteristics of the image of poplar in poetry. As it is proved, the dominant denotative features of the poetic poplar can be described as “height”, “silver coloring of its leaf”, “slenderness”. Metaphorical usage of the features refers mainly to such associative relations as “poplar – human attributes”, “poplar – the subject of speech activity”, “poplar – human behavior”, “poplar-citizen”, “poplar – attribute of the whole country.” The significant role in the analysed image play meanings embodied in poetic complex of “the three worlds”.