Phytomorphic metaphors in reflecting the concept “woman” in Russian poetry

About the author:

Elena V. Kupchik, Dr. Sci. (Philol.), Professor, Department of Russian Language and General Linguistics, University of Tyumen; e.v.kupchik@utmn.ru

Abstract:

The article considers the realization of the metaphorical model “womanplant”, reflecting the culturally significant concept of “woman”. The article is based on a wide corpus of extracts from Russian poetry XVIII-XXI centuries, where comparisons between a woman and a plant are used as figures of speech. The juxtaposition is based on the traditional characteristics of a woman such as beauty, youth, freshness, tenderness, spring renewal. The peculiarities of the outer image are based on comparing a woman with a tree, with certain semantics being actualized. The most traditional, however, is the imaginative representation of a woman as an aesthetic object. These models show a woman’s weakness, the need of a man’s support through life. Poetry of XX-XXI centuries reassesses and develops traditional models, determined by the alteration of the traditional image of a woman, as well as by the tendencies of new poetics movements.

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