DOI 10.52172/2587-6945_2021_18_4_14
Abstract
The goal of this research is the comparative analysis of the frequency of nouns used in the poetic language of A. Pushkin and A. Dante. The lists of the most frequently used nouns by outstanding Russian poets from different epochs are provided: G. Derzhavin, A. Pushkin, M. Tsvetaeva, and I. Brodsky. It is shown that a common core of lexemes frequently used by the poets throughout centuries exists and the evolution of this core over time is observed. A hypothesis is proposed that a common core of the most frequently used nouns in the poetic language of different European poets exists: A. Dante, W. Shakespeare, J. Goethe, A. Pushkin.
To test a hypothesis, in the first stage, the lists of the most frequently used nouns in “The Divine Comedy” of A. Dante in each of the three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, and the whole poem, were provided and compared. The change of nouns from the Inferno to the Paradiso is analyzed and it is found that the frequency of the nouns with positive connotation increases (God, love, life, virtue and others) while the frequency of the nouns with negative connotation decreases (death, suffering, fear, evil and others). A classification of nouns into positive, neutral and negative in “The Divine Comedy” of A. Dante is proposed and the analysis of non-obvious words on this basis is given: earth, sky, shadow, word, voice and others.
A comparison between the frequency lists in the poetic corpus of Dante and Pushkin is given and a common core among these lists is found. It is planned to continue the research comparing the frequencies of nouns in the writings of other European poets such as Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe and Pushkin to confirm or disprove the hypothesis of the existence of common and most frequently used nouns in the languages of outstanding European poets of different epochs and cultures.
Keywords
Pushkin and Dante, Divine Comedy, poetic language, comparative analysis, nouns, frequency lists, Shakespeare, Goethe, Derzhavin, Tsvetaeva, Brodsky, core of the poetic language, frequency and rank of lexemes, hypothesis of the existence of a common core of nouns in the poetic language of outstanding European poets.