Seasons in the lyrics by Alina Podgornova

Muromtseva Alena Olegovna Student, Department of Finno-Ugric Philology, National Research Mordovia State University 430005, Russia, Republic of Mordovia, Saransk, Bolshevistskaya str., 68, office 513 alena.muromczewa@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

In modern Russian literary criticism, the problem of the aesthetic role and semantics of seasonal imagery has been thoroughly studied on the material of both the literature of a particular period ^{[13; 16; 17]} and the work of a particular author ^{[1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 9]}. According to the researchers, the images of the seasons "concentrate the most important ontological meanings" ^{[5, p. 79]}, contribute to the "trend of strengthening national themes", reflecting "the originality of national character, nationality, ... the search for historical roots" ^{[17, p. 103, 106]}, "mark the national civilizational picture of the world" ^{[1, p. 158]}, become "a kind of axiological tuning fork" ^{[6, p. 37]}, "the personification of the emotional and psychological state of lyrical subjects" ^{[9, p. 50]}.

The seasons as "traditional mythologems, widely represented in the artistic consciousness of various epochs and peoples" ^{[7, p. 317]}, are one of the dominant motif-figurative clusters in Mordovian literature of the late twentieth and early twenty–first centuries, as evidenced by the works of the elder poets (A. Moro, N. Erkai, A. Martynov, P. Lyubaev, S. Kinyakin, etc.), the middle (N. Ishutkin, A. Arapov, N. Tsilikin, R. Orlova, L. Dergacheva, etc.) generation and the so-called "new wave" (D. Taganov, L. Ryabova, M. Eremina, T. Mokshanova, etc.). However, the issues of semantic multidimensionality and functional significance of seasonal images in national lyrics are on the periphery of the scientific interests of Mordovian researchers. Women's poetry of recent decades has not been studied in the aspect of the stated problem. Meanwhile, the study of "spring", "autumn", "summer" and "winter" texts allows us to reveal not only the individual author's picture of the world, but also to identify thematic preferences, trends in the development of Mordovian literature as a whole.

The work of Alina Podgornova, a bright representative of Erzya poetry at the beginning of the XXI century, is considered in the aspect of the specifics of creative world reality ^[14], intertextuality and ways of its embodiment ^[15], forms of representation of the lyrical "I" ^[8]. The relevance of our article is due to the need to study the poetess's hitherto unexplored landscape and seasonal lyrics, which contain deep philosophical reflections, ontological meaning, reflecting the inner intentions of the lyrical subject, conveying the author's worldview and worldview. The author's works form a figurative and associative unity consisting of their "spring", "autumn", "summer" and "winter" paintings and related connotations. Each seasonal text has a certain system of motifs and images recreating the calendar chronotope, acting as temporary natural markers, contributing to the translation of the author's worldview.

The seasons in A. Podgornova's lyrics are not only a spatiotemporal background, they reveal the emotional and psychological state of the lyrical heroine, her reflection of the surrounding world, deep mental impulses, become plot-forming components. Seasonal images are endowed with existential meaning, which is due to the author's postmodern consciousness, characterized by a "tragic worldview, reflection of negative manifestations of reality, leveling of the universal value code" ^{[8, p. 108]}.

The most frequent image in A. Podgornova's lyrics is spring, depicted in the poems "Spring you", "From April", "Sentimental", "Bouquets", "Eh–wai, tundokai!" ("Eh-oh, spring!"), etc., endowed with heterogeneous symbolic semantics, ambivalent connotations. A number of "spring" poems contain a traditional life-affirming meaning: spring is associated with the resurrection of nature, the renewal of the life cycle, bringing joy, delight, and hope to a person. The attribute of spring for the author is, as a rule, birds and flowers. In the poem "Sentimental", the lyrical heroine confesses her sincere feelings for this wonderful time: "I love the time of the year when the garden blooms // And bird songs are hung on the branches..." ^{[10, p. 77]}. To convey the power of emotions caused by the onset of spring, a metaphorical construction with elements of color painting is used: "And all the lava – red, hot, powerful – // Will spill over my thin hands" ^{[10, p. 77]}. The coloronym "red" stands for the personification of life, energy, awakening, like an awakened volcano that "smokes heavily". In addition, the red color symbolizes a feeling of love that blooms with the surrounding world after a long winter, which is implied by the metaphor "Spring is the time for sharing / Sensations, nights, and maybe souls / If you know where they lie" ^{[10, p. 77]}. The heroine admits that she is ready to "meet spring ten times a day, / And not every moment to see her off" ^{[10, p. 77]}, because she gives her a special miraculous power.

In the poem "Steam flows like a hedgehog..." ("Today I'm in a good mood ...") The traditional symbolic semantics of spring as a time of mental purification and emotional ease is actualized. The lyrical heroine experiences harmony with the environment, rejoices at the arrival of spring: "Leak steam like a hedgehog: tundy warshtas valmas. / Vesela mizolkstto peshtize kudom. / Leak steam with a hedgehog: uli melem livtnems, / Ansiak vana Pazos eze kaze selmot. / Tundon koshtto arsyan es sedeem vitems, / And maryams es langsto kodatkak stalmot"" ^{[11, p. 16]} (Today I am in a good mood: spring looked in the window. / She filled my house with a cheerful smile. / Today I am in a good mood: the desire to fly, / Only God did not grant wings. / I dream of purifying my heart with the spring air, / Not feeling any heavy things on me. The poetess conveys the onset of spring through the Christian worldview, the manifestation of the life–affirming power of the divine principle - God annually sends spring to the sinful earth, thus resurrecting it. Spring correlates with the Resurrection of the Lord, with the bright feast of Easter, through which moral renewal and spirituality are transmitted to the world ("Pasty courts: "Oymesank telen ees lazovs, // Erado od viyse, mazy tundo sy!" ^{[11, p. 16]} (God says: "The winter ice has split in your souls, / Live with new strength, beautiful spring is coming!).

Cheerful pathos dominates the poem "Eh-wai, tundokai!" ("Eh-oh, spring!"), in which spring, in accordance with the folk poetic tradition, is perceived by a young carefree maiden, at the same time a nurse, bringing joy to people, giving health: "Wai tundyne, tundyne! // Pisgataev sudine, // Tsetsyan erget sodit kirgas – // Yakat paksyava dy virga. /Eh-wai, kormakai, Zyaro kenyarks, tundokai!" ^{[11, p. 19]} (Eh-oh, vesnyanka, vesnyanka! A nose with freckles, / I put on beads of flowers – / You walk through fields and forests. / Oh, nurse, / How much joy, spring!). The author's tender and reverent attitude towards spring is transmitted through diminutive forms ("tundyn" vesnyanka, "sudyn" spout) and lexemes reflecting kinship ("patyai" elder sister / aunt, "kormakai" nurse). The rapid onset of spring, the dynamics in nature are transmitted through verbs of movement: "morat-zernat" sing-rattle, "charat-tell" spin-walk, "yakat" walk, "ertnink" throw. This poem in content resembles a spring song, the call of spring, from the calendar and ritual cycle of the Mordovian people.

In the poem "Bouquets", spring is devoid of the semantics of natural time and seasonal markers. It is important for the author to correlate the anemone flowers, in European culture associated with the arrival of spring, the renewal and flowering of nature, the birth of love, with physiological manifestations in a person: "Millstones woke up in the chest and anemones bloomed, // The very ones that science called hormones ..." ^{[10, p. 83]}. The mythopoeic perception of flowers ("spring gave a flower to all the gods for a laugh", "in a primitive, powerful thirst to inhale its fragrance", "anemone paradise" ^{[10, p. 83]}) is replaced by the author's irony at human society, people who, like crazy, "make bouquets out of flowers" and "sow tirelessly anemone fields", give incomprehensible advice to others "not to endow with what is what is not" ^{[10, p. 83]}. Spring, included in the text through cultural tradition, is endowed with a plot-forming function, leads the reader to comprehend complex questions about the meaning of human existence.

In the poem "Spring you", the seasonal image is caused by the postmodern consciousness of the author, it does not correlate with its traditional interpretation as a spiritualizing time. Spring is called "possessed", "woken up to time", apparently, for this reason, the heroine's relationship with her did not work out: "After all, I'm not to blame / For becoming a burden to you / I'm with you – look – no jokes / Generous with revelations. / And you put your magic rod / into my soul – as a sign of forgiveness" ^{[11, p. 126]}. Spring, which brings changes with it, is perceived as an unknown force that disrupts the daily way of life, the usual regularity and tranquility. The lyrical heroine is experiencing a deep psychological shock, admits her weaknesses, inability to resist the spring: "Why did you, possessed spring, shake my soul out of me? / I'm a bit wintry now without winter. / I couldn't stand your warmth" ^{[11, p. 126]}. Nevertheless, she is not detached from the natural world, on the contrary, the personification of spring, the monologized dialogue with her testify to the heroine's recognition of power, the continuity of the natural course of time and the change of seasons. The lyrical reflection of spring, implied by the line "I am generous with you", reflects the heroine's willingness to make friends with her. Despite the antipathy in the relationship between the heroine and spring, the author emphasizes the bright plastic images of the spring exultation of nature: "You came in three robes, // And to my fire - in April all ..." ^{[11, p. 126]}, which is designed to convey the idea of the greatness of the natural principle.

The poetess's image of spring is associated with the theme of loneliness, human dissatisfaction, which is characteristic of postmodern consciousness. In the poem "From April", the temporary nomination is included in the compositional structure of the text, divides the space of the lyrical heroine into the past (spring, April) and the present (autumn, October), fills the work with an ontological meaning about the transience of life. A retrospective chronotope allows you to reveal the mood, the psychological state of the heroine in dynamics. She is not impressed with the past spring, "nothing happened in her life", she believes that there is "nothing left of spring. / But, fortunately, it turned out / The same dreams remained. / And fatigue has grown a little" ^{[11, p. 143]}. The disappointment of the heroine from unrealized dreams and desires is implied by the line: "What did not come true in the spring // Still creaks in the parquet floors" ^{[11, p. 143]}. However, the smell of spring ("It's already October. / And the smell of spring remained"), coming from "crushed by poems, / Dried up hopelessly jasmine", makes the heroine look at life differently, perceive the value of every pore. From this moment on, she strives to "save this smell until winter at least," because it gives her memories of the past.

Autumn is A. Podgornova's favorite season in the creative world reality. In the poems "What can I say about autumn?", "A shovel feels like a spin..." ("Leaves are falling from trees..."), "Sexy chinese – yutaz kizen..." ("The smell of autumn – last summer..."), etc. Attention is drawn not only to verbally expressed natural markers, but also to the symbolic semantics of this time of year. In the poem "What should I say about autumn?" Traditionally, the existential perception of autumn is conveyed only in the second couplet: "Crunch with dry leaves, break the longing, / thicken In the evening twilight, chop with rain" ^{[12, p. 40]}. In the main part of the text, autumn is personified, associated with a certain virgo, "beckoning from September to October, in amber – from gold", as lonely as the heroine ("Let's go to my apartment in a tight sternum! / It's not boring to miss together, my lovely one" ^{[12, p. 40]}). The elements of color painting ("in amber – from gold", "chernozem sadness", "green longing") allow you to convey different intentions associated with autumn. However, she is sweet and close to the heroine in any manifestation, as evidenced by her appeals "goldie", "my lovely", "my outlet", her recognition "you are so beautiful that it is painful for nature to endure" ^{[12, p. 40]}, the desire "let me see enough of you, stay, goldie" ^{[12, p. 40]}. The natural manifestations characteristic of autumn (dry leaves, pricking by autumn rain, early twilight) do not distance the heroine from this time. Autumn is close to the heroine, who has experienced psychological stress, disappointment, fading feelings, which is broadcast in the last lines: "So many hopes and feelings are dried up here ... / You will like everything here, my outlet!" ^{[12, p. 40]}. In this work, autumn is endowed not with an existential (despite the withering of nature, which causes a minor mood), but with an ontological meaning, associated with a certain cycle of human life, where wisdom, prudence, and spiritual unity prevail.

The poem "Sexy chinese – yutaz kizen" ("The smell of autumn – last summer ...") presents one of the recurring motifs in A. Podgornova's lyrics – the combination of the season with flowers: "Ozho lopatne – teke tsetsyat" ^{[11, p. 10]} (Yellow leaves are like flowers). The high semantics of autumn is actualized by the epithet "golden cheese", while it is correlated with natural seasonal manifestations: "The weight of the cake is pisement eiste. / Vese vechksiz nusmanya virtnen, / Syaldyt rudazont vese veise. / Dy meks-buti kiyak a kevkstni, // Mezen kise avardi peles, // Meks chipaes selmenze kekshtni, / Chopolgali valdo meneles" ^{[11, p. 10]}. (Everyone is hiding from the rain. / Everyone loves sad forests, / Everyone reproaches dirt together. / And for some reason, no one will ask / Why the cloud is crying, / Why the sun hides its gaze, / The bright sky is darkening). The traditional figurative and metaphorical series indicate that autumn in A. Podgornova fully corresponds to the interpretation of the image in Russian poetry. In the fourth stanza, the spatial markers of autumn are transformed into reflections of a "low" everyday nature: "Lomanenten eravi meze? / Setme eryamo, yarmak zepe. / Parste molest tevenze weight, / Avol kadovo shtapo-kepe" ^{[11, p. 10]} (What does a person need? / A quiet life, a pocket of money. / So that his business would go well, / So that he would not remain naked and barefoot). The last lines ("Pasos yaki minek ikelga – / A kapshatano shukonyamo" ^{[11, p. 10]} (God walks before us – / We are not in a hurry to bow to him) translate the plot into an axiological plane, reveal the true values of modern society, focused on material benefits, career, leveling the importance of spiritual values. This poem confirms the idea that the seasonal image of A. Podgornova rarely performs only a descriptive or contemplative function, but is filled with ontological meaning.

In the poem "The speed of the shovel feels straight ..." ("Leaves are falling from trees ...") causing negative connotations of space-time nominations ("Tuemste avardit narmunt, / Laishit, meze viest. / Azargali utxost warmas – / Sede kurok tuest. / Raujo meneles, prok dova, / Vedbaiget peverdi" ^{[11, p. 14]}) (Before departure, birds cry, / Sob with all their might. / The wind is raging among them – / They would fly away faster. / The black sky, like a widow, / Drops tears) receive an absolute response from the heroine, who perceives autumn as an "azorava" hostess, endowed with a special right in the natural environment. The positive semantics of the "azorava" lexeme also changes the reader's perception of autumn, explicitly depicted through traditional images (widowed nature, flying birds, cold wind, black sky). The lyrical heroine at this time of the year feels a surge of strength, spiritual uplift, energy that help her go through another stage of life: "Ansiak monen yalateke, // Tun ez mashto viy! // Lisyan, dy rudazgant kepe // Warmant melga – virev!" ^{[11, p. 14]} (Only I don't care / I'm not exhausted! / I'll go out and walk barefoot through the mud / Follow the wind up!). Thus, the withering of nature, its transition to a different state, do not correlate with the worldview of the lyrical heroine, however, perceiving them as natural and natural in the cyclical cycle of natural life, which does not cause the antinomy of autumn – heroine.

Summer and winter are less frequent seasonal images in A. Podgornova's lyrics. "Summer" paintings are explicated in the works "Tago kapshi tueme kizes..." ("Summer is in a hurry to leave again..."), "Ozho otma welkse ashti kizes..." ("Summer is standing over the yellow cliff..."), "Puzhoz tsetsyan pusmo seemed the shadow of kizes..." ("A bouquet of stuck flowers gave me summer..."). In the poem "Tago kapshi tueme kizes..." ("Summer is in a hurry to leave again ..."), the motive of the transience of this time of year dominates, the idea of the existentiality of the natural seasonal cycle is broadcast. Traditional space-time markers of summer ("here we are" the rain drizzled with water, "the sun warmed the fields, "menelse kizen kovos ozho testinetnese lovnos, uitsia peltnen melga vans" in the sky, the summer moon counted yellow stars, looked after the drifting clouds) are abruptly interrupted by autumn nominations: "That's why I feel like I'm safe – / Smeared pertpelkseske come to my senses" ^{[11, p. 45]} ("A leaf fell from a tree again – / Beautiful nature immediately faded away). The heroine's sense of self does not have time to correlate with the state of summer nature due to the transience of the seasonal cycle, which exacerbates the existential meaning of the image of summer. It seems that there is no time interval between summer and autumn, which is manifested in the anaphoristic lines: "Tago kapshi tueme kizes, // Tago utazent eiste arsyat. / ... That sex was apak terde – / Kickst endolon verde peverdi" ^{[11, p. 45]} (Summer is in a hurry to leave again, / You remember the past again. ... Autumn came again uninvited, / Dropping traces of lightning from above).

The same motif of the short duration of the summer period is implied in the poem "Ozho otma welkse ashti kizes..." ("Summer stands over the yellow cliff..."). The space-time markers of the season are traditional, but they are originally embodied in personalized images of the young summer and his wife: "Ojo otma welksse ashti kizes, / Nixie ledez tikshen tantei chin. / Shozhda warmes, psi kizen nise, / Sonze perka elnez-nalksez chiyni" ^{[11, p. 83]} (Summer stands over the yellow cliff, / Inhales the smell of mown grass. / A light breeze, the wife of a hot summer, / Running around him, enjoying herself). As in the previous text, summer merges with the approach of autumn, which is translated by the metaphor "zyars kizes ez veltyavt ozho kotstso" (until summer is covered with a yellow veil). In the second stanza, summer's awareness of its transience and last memories ("Ashti kizes, A lykiyak, ledstni / Kemgavtovo targon eryamonzo. / Pije selmestenze kapshaz petni / Bayginex meelce ledstyamoso" ^{[11, p. 83]} (It's summer. He does not move, remembers / His life for twelve weeks. His last memories are running uncontrollably from his green eyes) creates an elegiac discourse, which gives a dramatic sound to the lyrical plot, leads to an understanding of the ontological axiom about the impossibility of keeping time.

The image of winter, one of the most frequent in Russian poetry, due to the geographical and natural realities of Russian reality, is rare in A. Podgornova. We found only one poem, "Chevte lovos yala pras dy pras..." ("The white snow kept falling and falling..."), in which time markers and nominations are clearly traced. The image of winter here is endowed with positive connotations, associated with beauty, freshness, cordial gentleness, and care. Her perception of the lyrical heroine is conveyed by the line "Apak kapsha syrgan telent karsho" ^{[11, p. 6]} (I will slowly go towards winter). The winter space is not hostile either to man or to nature, which is translated by the metaphor "sedeis toki kelme chevtechise", "modas sovi telen lembe asho pises" ^{[11, p. 6]} (you can feel its cold softness of the heart, the earth enters the warm white nest of winter). The central image of the work – snow – is comprehended by a life-affirming element, which is conveyed by the author through lexemes with positive semantics: "chevte" is soft, "vanx" is clean, "asho" is white, "prok eide" is like a child, "bold" is beautiful, "od" is fresh. The motif of the fading of natural colors, which is traditional for "winter" texts, is present in the analyzed poem ("Modas raujo, prok veltize sod" ^{[11, p. 6]} (The earth is black, as if covered with soot) it does not receive a negative connotation due to the metaphor "modas sovi telen lembe asho pises" ^{[11, p. 6]} (the earth enters the warm white nest of winter), which strengthens the motif of the warmth of the cold season.

Thus, the explication of the seasons in A. Podgornova's lyrics is conditioned by the author's worldview, his creative concept. Seasonal natural paintings are firmly involved in the ontological tasks of the poetess: changes in the natural environment become an occasion for reflection on the eternal questions of human existence. The author's favorite time of the year is autumn, represented by spatio–temporal markers with a negative connotation, nevertheless perceived by the heroine as a close-minded element. "Spring" texts are endowed with diametrically opposite semantics: in some, spring receives a positive assessment, in others it symbolizes loneliness, chaos, disharmony. The images of summer and winter are on the periphery of A. Podgornova's creative worldview. Winter corresponds to its traditional interpretation as a time of transformation, purification, and tranquility. Summer causes the heroine a certain disappointment, since the boundary between summer and autumn is illusory.