Nikol'skiy S.A. From 'The Unknown Lady' to 'Christ'. The Melody of Alexander Blok's Poetry in Russian Literature

Abstract: It is Georgy Fedotov's idea that just like a philosopher and historian, a poet performs educating and identifying functions and often appears to be a messenger of approaching changes. To what degree does this statement deserve to be treated seriously? It would be obviously unscientific to admit that a poet can play a role of a medium. On the other hand, many literary geniuses have been prophets. A good example is Lermontov and his poem 'Prophecy' written in 1830 when Lermontov spoke of a 'dreadful year of Russia' when 'the crown of Russia shall fall'. The subject of the present research article is Alexander Blok's poetic heritage, its conceptual and prophetic potentials. The method of analysis is Sergey Bulgakov's statement that a teacher can create his own interpretation of a poem through 'summarizing thoughts and impressions thereof' as well as Mikhail Bakhtin's idea that a person who perceives a poetical work also perceives its 'rhythm, intonation, articulatory tension, and internal gestures' and, thus, starts to 'think and live according to culture'. The novelty of the article (and the main conclusion) is that the author emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary research in the integrated analysis of Alexander Blok's poetical writing who, as he said himself, felt the future in the music of his poems. According to the author, such analysis could have been made by literary critics, poets and experts in musical creativity. 

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