Ohiienko's poem "Don't ask why I have teary eyes..." as an artistic structure

The poetic works of this outstanding figure of Ukrainian culture, Ivan Ohienko, remain on the margins of academic attention. However, his youthful poem "Don't ask why I have tearful eyes...", which became a folk song, was the object of separate researches, in particular, its connection with folklore is considered in the article by M. Tymoshyk. However, a systematic analysis of this work was not carried out. In this article, the work is analyzed at the levels of organization of verbal material (external form), image system, and mental plan (content). It is emphasized that the figurative parallelism "lyrical hero - nature" has its lineage from oral folk art. Escape to the grove, conversation with the forces of nature is an characteristic feature of the Slavic worldview. The semantic series "grove - dark woods - withered flower" is a clear symbol of psychological tragedy, love defeat, which provokes an escape from people. At the same time, it is noticeable that the lyrical hero here is, in fact, a young girl, and not a man. Ohiienko is concerned about the tragedy of the abandoned girl - a traditional Ukrainian folklore theme, that was canonized in T. Shevchenko's "Catherine". The melody of the poem is determined by the focus on a mournful folk lyrical song, although at the same time there is a springy intonation of dignity and will, spiritual stability is demonstrated. The five-foot amphibrachium chosen by the author creates an atmosphere of epideictic speech, a sense of the significance of what is being said. It should also be noted the dilettantish neglect of rhyme, which is partly rooted in the practice of European poetry of the second half of the 19th century, where rhyme begins to lose its accuracy and gradually falls out of use. Therefore, the postulate of "love-pity", characteristic of Christian culture, clearly prevails over the pagan ideal of the "rogue man", the destroyer of women's hearts.