Military vocabulary in the poetry of Alexander Pushkin

Abstract

The article studies the characteristic features of military words in the poetry of A. Pushkin. The research is related to the study of military vocabulary and terminology in the language of classical Russian literature of the 19^th century. The relevance of the topic is determined by the focus on the linguistic and stylistic resources of poetic speech, in particular the influence of stylistically diverse words on the text. The research is based on A. Pushkin’s poetic works dating from 1815 to 1836, presented in a collection of his selected works and a 10-volume complete collection of his works (1950–1951). We selected and analyzed frequent lexemes, related to military topics, using the methods of continuous sampling, contextual analysis and description. To systematize the material, we used the classification of A. Kozhin, which provides the main sections of military vocabulary in the Russian language. In 696 poems by A. Pushkin, military vocabulary was found in 70 works, of which 10 poems were selected for a more detailed analysis. We have established that the military vocabulary in the poems of A. Pushkin includes: a) ranks and positions that are used to convey realistic details of military life and to create satirical images; b) elements of military activity and c) weapons that represent war as an arena of heroism, trials and fateful decisions, but at the same time – as chaos, tragedy and inevitable destruction. In a poetic context, military words acquire an epic and philosophical meaning, revealing the historical stability of Russia and the fate of individuals in the whirlpool of wars and upheavals.