Journal archive

Abstract: The author of the article argues that a discussion in high school literature classes of contemporary Russian lyrical poetry that includes intertextual allusions to the literature of earlier periods is a means to stimulate a thoughtful, “philological’’ approach to the text and, at the same time, a way to actualize the material already studied in the course on the literature of the 18th-20th centuries, thus preparing the students well for graduation exams. In the course of the discussion of lyrical texts of contemporary poets, it’s possible to begin a conversation about the lyrical works of Derzhavin, Lomonosov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Blok, Mandelshtam and others. Models are proposed for the study in high school classes of the poems of two contemporary authors (A. S. Kushner and K. Arbenin), combining the themes of creativity and poetry. Studying the poems during the lessons (using a frontal, group approach), it’s possible to learn not only the particular qualities of the lyrical text (the important in the small space of a lyrical work ‘conflictuality’ among elements of the artistic form – details of objects, words belonging to different stylistic registers) but also the functions of quotation in artistic texts: for A. S. Kushner, quotation is a way to create composite image of literature and culture, while for Arbenin, it’s a means to highlight the ‘conventional,’ that which the poet seeks to overcome in the search for his ‘own’ word.