The Semantics of the Color Experiment in Boris Poplavsky's Artistic Discourse

Bezrukov Andrey Nikolaevich ORCID: 0000-0001-7505-3711 PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Ufa University of Science and Technology (Branch in Birsk) 452455, Russia, Republic of Bashkortostan, Birsk, Internatsionalnaya str., 120-V, sq. 9 in_text@mail.ru Other publications by this author

In modern humanities, works related to coloristic vocabulary have increasingly begun to appear. This problem has not been ruled out until now, and there are enough works and serious studies of the point order ^[1-6]. The question of the mechanisms of the functioning of coloratives in a literary work is debated, attention is more often drawn to this. Thus, it is advisable to prolong the analysis of the role of color vocabulary in a literary text. It should be noted that the verbal image is formed due to the poetic language, the special organics of words within the existing sign structure. For poets, the most effective tool for building a so-called visual dialogue with the reader is the colorative vocabulary. In this article, the analysis of the lyrics of Boris Poplavsky, one of the brightest representatives of the first wave of Russian emigration, with verification of the significance of coloratives, as well as the definition of their main functions, is carried out. In our opinion, the work of Boris Poplavsky, an experimental poet, an innovator poet, an author of poetry, where the visual principle is the main one, is most successful as an illustrative background for the use of coloratives. The toolkit of color lyrics creates the effect of a living picture, the image is significantly expanded, supplemented, becomes accurate and objectively understandable.

At the beginning of the work, it is worth noting that the color palette in fiction is built at the expense of various linguistic units. In this case, no limit of language is excluded, but this is most accurately and holistically manifested, of course, at the lexico-semantic level. For example, nouns, adjectives, verbs, predicatives, adverbs can be used to manifest, objectify the available color. The poetic text, by virtue of its reality, unlike the prosaic one, in our opinion, actively absorbs the color composition. It is permissible to adjust the brightness of the picture, the brightness of the artistic image in drama, but there the task of the author-creator is reduced to something else, sometimes even unrelated to visualization. As such, the frame is further created by the director, actor, director.

The term "colorative" itself is controversial in the scientific community. There is no unity in views yet, maybe this will not happen further. In our opinion, coloristic vocabulary should be understood as a number of linguistic or speech units, the semantics and root morpheme of which are focused on the color representation of an object, phenomenon, process. It is worth noting that coloratives are not phenomena of the present and the near past, variants of their active use are found in folklore, chronicles, epics, monuments of ancient Russian literature, literature of the XVII – XVIII centuries. The 19th century is also possible, with a rich palette illustrating historical events, everyday life, and external realities. Researchers usually refer in their works to the definition of the functional load of these linguistic units, because it is productive, conceptually, weighted. Poetic language is entirely colored, its semantic origin is not in a literal nomination, but in a contextual and visible objectification of space.

In Boris Poplavsky's poetry, coloristic vocabulary plays an essential role. It can be assumed that she is the main one of his poetic world. Without coloratives, the space, the event course, the imaginative series, the plot of Boris Poplavsky's poems is simply not feasible. Poplavsky's craving for modernism, the avant-garde, in particular surrealism, determines the obviously rich visual output. The enrichment of the visible, vividly presented, the realization of the living organics of actions, the embodiment of the evaluation paradigm of the frame can be carried out only with the help of the "colorist". Boris Poplavsky's coloristics are of a special order, they are not trivial, not monochrome, but spectral and diffractive. It seems that the analysis of the color hierarchy of a text makes it possible to assess the style of a writer, poet, to determine the manner of his writing, to concretize artistic handwriting, and also to decipher ideological boundaries while at the same time identifying axiological guidelines.

The lexical and semantic composition of Boris Poplavsky's poetry in this thematic segment is focused on six main colors. These are white, black, blue, green, red and yellow (gold). The continuous sampling method in this work is not the main one, since the goal is still not to concretize the statistics of the use of a particular color, but to identify the functional limits of B.Y. Poplavsky's coloristics. In our opinion, this does not contradict the actual linguistic work, because the content layer is the main one within the framework of cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, and semiotics, etc. The analysis of coloratives in the texts of B. Poplavsky ^[7] was made based on the first volume of the collected works (the most complete format), which was compiled and commented on by E. Menegaldo and A.N.. Theological. At the moment, this publication has a number of academic features, it is systematic and holistic.

The poetic imagery of Boris Poplavsky is quite interesting. Spatial coordinates at first glance have a traditional version: top, bottom, horizontal and vertical. However, the visual effect created with the help of coloristic vocabulary expands the conceivable and acceptable boundaries of this world. When systematizing the linguistic material, taking into account the frequency register of a particular color, it was revealed that white color clearly dominates in B.Y. Poplavsky's poems (more than 120 mentions). In this case, the synonymic series is not taken into account, lexical and morphological accuracy is more important, although the nuances of shades in the visualization mode are also interesting. In our opinion, this frequency of white color is the author's desire to reveal the space of the text, to make it more free and clean. Aesthetic painting on a surface uncovered with any paint is an existential pleasure for B. Poplavsky. It seems that in this case the function of the emotional-evaluative plan is triggered, both the lyrical hero and the reader form a projection of an acceptable convention. Everyone will be able to draw an image, a detail, an object in their own way. For example, we see this in the following lines:

"The white world is beautiful every minute,

It is crowded, deserted and silent,

Flawlessly foggy and clear,

It is clear to everyone and fatal to everyone" ^{[7, p. 123]}.

Or:

"There is barely any white snow over the white house,

It barely rustles, or it seems to be white...

I came at two, two, and two, and two –

I didn't find it. But he froze. What to do!" ^{[7, p. 73]}.

If in the first case the space is coloratively designated as beautiful, boundless, deserted, but clear. In the second case, the color already marks a certain state of the lyrical hero; it is not by chance that he "did not catch", but "froze".

Black is the second most widely used color (more than 100 mentions) in the linguistic manner, style ^[8] B. Poplavsky, but this is done deliberately to contrast the spatial limits. At the same time, the objects visually become more expressive: "black eyes", "black bread of the road", "black juice", "black light in the dark", "black cloak", "black hair trees", "black iceberg blocks", "black heat", "black strange light", "black coffin rooster", "black dove", "black lump of earth", "black beer", "black timpani", "black smoke", "black airship", "black hare", "black acrobat", "black sphinxes", etc. The depth of black color is especially noticeable in the following fragment:

"Like the black color, like the beauty of the hand,

Like a quiet scratching of fear,

Your words were great to me. –

I lost them, a young slob" ^{[7, p. 131]}.

We see here how functionally the emotional is intertwined with the metaphysical, how the color becomes more complicated in the overall visible and visible frame. The greatness of Boris Poplavsky's black is difficult to underestimate: time, detail, words – all this is synthesized in the color of black.

The third color in terms of importance and frequency of use (more than 80 times) becomes green. The symbolic variation of the interpretation of this color comes down to understanding it in a parametric grid – peace, peace, hope, life. Boris Poplavsky builds a rather interesting and aesthetically solid frame using this colorative in the following lines:

"Green, green houses,

Where is the white air like milk,

And the corridor is creeping like a novel,

The hall has no doors, it is inconvenient for dancing" ^{[7, p. 137]}.

The white color is not excluded in this quatrain, which complements the picture, makes it both compressed – literally to the "house" – and open to the "airy" sphere. One of the features of Boris Poplavsky's poetics is paradoxical. It manifests itself both at the phonetic level, when inharmonious units come together into a single sound point, and at the lexical level, and as we see, in the mode of coloristic layering. The function of coloratives in this case is nominative – nominal – and axiological – evaluative. The dualism of the background, the frame, is welcomed by modernists, the visibility of the image becomes more complicated, and as a result, the immanent meaning multiplies ^[9].

The blue color with various shades – blue, turquoise, azure (azure), lunar – is the fourth in frequency. It can be stated that this colorative creates the effect of replacing real space with a fictional one. The fluctuations of the ontological order in the case of using blue are very dynamic, original, provocative. For example:

"And the tree will not stretch a branch to the ground,

To crush, as with a finger, the evil boredom.

And there will be no being outside

The call of the blue stars is like the squeak of rich dolls" ^{[7, p. 55]}.

Or:

"Blue, blue sunrise rising,

Causeless jerky sleep,

Absolute December, real,

In the winter sky, retribution for everything" ^{[7, p. 123]}.

A special visualization with a focus on the blue color (even the mixing of colors) also applies to private, individual images. The assessment is obvious, therefore, the function of the receptive order can be designated as effective:

"How dare he believe in a blue jacket,

In orange delicate shoes

And in the blue-blue tie of Parisians,

In a pink shirt and pants from the picture!" ^{[7, p. 124]}.

Note that with the help of this colorative, surreal traces are shown in a very textured, emblematic, picturesque way. Boris Poplavsky was not only a poet, but also an artist, therefore, he had an inherent understanding of the proportionality of color combinations, both on canvas and in the organization of the space of the poetic world.

Yellow, as a variant of gold, as well as red color relative to the previous coloratives considered by B. Poplavsky is less common. A bright picture using these basic tones is still not so positive: "yellow skies", "yellow roofs", "yellow lanterns", "yellow wheels", "yellow fur coats", "yellow ghosts", "yellow halo", "yellow sunset", "yellow leaf", "yellow smoke", "yellow arrows", "dark yellow sand", "golden doors", "golden soul", "golden bowl", "golden coin", "golden birds", "golden dragonfly", etc. Poisonous combinations prevent the poet from finding some harmony, so their choice is limited. The variants with red color are especially difficult, while the meaning is existentially ^[10] objective: for example, "red eyes", "red glare", "red smoke", "red dust", "red nose", "red-skinned swimmer", "red coats", "red moon", "red the moon", etc.

Poplavsky's lyrical hero uses coloristic vocabulary to build a spatial vertical and horizontal. Objectification of feelings is also not excluded in this case. For example, in the following lines:

"Blue stars are quietly passing over the city.

The yellow smoky brothers below are lanterns.

The stars call them to heaven; there are games and recreation,

Only they don't want to leave before dawn" ^{[7, p. 195]}.

One more function can be designated in connection with this fragment – it is the accessibility of understanding of the processes taking place next to the hero. There is memory, social discomfort, nostalgia, and the ultimate, a kind of finiteness of life. If white and black gave hope, then blue, yellow and red are burdensome, they do not allow you to capture the moment of happiness. Boris Poplavsky's poetry is characterized by a relaxed musical tone ^[11], even taking into account interruptions, not such a verified rhythm. The poem "The Spirit of the Air" can illustrate our assumption:

"The virgin autumn came out of paradise.

The sky is blue to the very edge.

It is quiet in the high seas of the light-eyed

The white ship of the lonely is sinking.

Under a birch tree in the yellow forest

The beautiful forest Jesus sleeps

A meek hare stands over him,

He warms his paw against a yellow halo.

Virgo autumn, you are good,

Like my lost soul" ^{[7, pp. 219-220]}.

Time in Boris Poplavsky's poems seemed to have stopped. Let's assume that emigration was, of course, a way out for him, but it did not bring the desired result. Poplavsky never received happiness, harmony, and tranquility. In the memoirs of contemporaries, the idea is sometimes expressed that he did not succeed in realizing himself completely. The poetic forms are interesting, but not fully verified, the prose is better formed, but even here the final result is not achieved. Fear, fear, uncertainty, how the motives of the lyrics are duplicated by Boris Poplavsky, while color, of course, plays a significant role:

"The fish are bravely guarded there, soldiers,

The glass city where you always live.

There are skulls cooing over the porch

And the red smoke is crawling like a snake out of the stove" ^{[7, p. 93]}

Thus, certain conclusions can be drawn regarding the functions of color vocabulary in the lyrics of one of the interesting, tragically departed emigrant poets of the early twentieth century. For Boris Poplavsky, color in poetry is, of course, a certain marker. As the statistical analysis of the color nominations shows, the basic ones in poetry are white, green, blue, black, yellow (gold) and red. The functional load of coloratives is not uniform. We have identified such options as emotional-evaluative, nominative, axiological, receptive, and, of course, visual (figurative). The spatial coordinates of Boris Poplavsky's poetic cosmos are also verified due to color combinations, while semantic unfolding is not excluded.

Lyrics are characterized by more open descriptions of the external, objective world, but B. Poplavsky builds his own special visual contour, different, for example, in the mode of comparative studies ^[12] from the texts of Nikolai Gumilev, Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov, Alexander Blok, or Westerners – Charles Baudelaire, Paul Eluard, Arthur Rimbaud. What attracts in Poplavsky's poems is the ability to find an unusual angle of consideration of the issue. The nontrivial tone, or even the nature of his texts, testifies to real art, the ability to say universally, relevant things about the eternal. Life, death, happiness, love, dream, freedom – these are, perhaps, a small set of important topics for the poet. For example, how exactly do they connect in the following poetic lines:

"The music sings in the white gym.

With a star on the hat in the restaurant

You came in, my friend, to be sad without doing anything

About the last of the distant countries,

Where the lost steamboat fell asleep

And where the flowers are carried by the river.

And my soul, laughing, goes away

On the sand in a sailor suit" ^{[7, pp. 234-235]}.

Boris Poplavsky's name has become a model of free experiment for world literature. The musicality of his poems is undeniable, the visual borders on the masters of surrealism, in this case, the colorative vocabulary works, the meaning is based on the edge, which should be realized in the art of the poetic word.