Nilova, A. Yu. FORMATION OF THE TERM “POETRY” IN RUSSIAN LITERARY STUDIES OF THE XVIII AND THE FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2023;45(3):105–111. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2023.891


Literary theory

FORMATION OF THE TERM “POETRY” IN RUSSIAN LITERARY STUDIES OF THE XVIII AND THE FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY

Nilova
A. Yu. 		Petrozavodsk State University
Keywords:
Aristotle
Poetics
poetry
versifi cation
Feofan Prokopovich
Trediakovsky
Kantemir
Glagolev
Ostolo pov
Shevyrev
Belinsky		 Summary: The article is the fi rst attempt to systematically describe the formation of the term “poetry” in Russian literary studies of the XVIII and the fi rst half of the XIX century. Its meaning seems obvious, this is why it has not been clearly defi ned so far. In Russian literary studies, the term “poetry” fi rst appeared in the Latin-language poetics of Feofan Prokopovich, who focuses on Aristotle’s Poetics and quotes it close to the original. Without giving a clear defi nition of this term, Prokopovich understands poetry as imitation through speech. In the critical and theoretical words of the classicist this term changes its meaning, being identifi ed with the poetic form of literary works. Despite the impact that the theory of European classicism had on his dictionary, Nikolay Ostolopov returns to Aristotle’s conceptual idea and says that the terms “poetry” and “verses” are not equivalent to each other. Vissarion Belinsky’s article “The Division of Poetry into Genres and Forms” is the only work that unequivocally defi nes poetry as an imitative art regardless of its form.



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