Elegies by A. I. Gotovtseva in the 1820s: Genesis and Poetics

The article traces the genesis and analyzes the poetics of Gotovtseva’s elegies of the 1820s, created within her attraction to Lamartine’s tradition. We emphasize that a free translation of Lamartine’s elegy “Loneliness” already shows the creative uniqueness of Gotovtseva. In “Hope,” the poet responds to the motifs of Lamartine’s elegy “On Man (To Lord Byron)”. The semantic polyphony of this poem by Gotovtseva is provided through reminiscences from Batyushkov’s elegy “Hope,” from Derzhavin’s ode “To the Death of Prince Meschersky,” as well as from the Psalter and the Book of Prayers. The article notes that in “Autumn,” Gotovtseva inherits images of nature and human beings from Lamartine. The poet overcomes the feeling of inconsolable bitterness typical of Lamartine and asserts the idea of eternal life through the active use of Christian motifs.