The Versification of Joseph Brodsky, 1990–1992

Author: Smith G.S.¹

Source: The Modern Language Review, Volume 97, Number 3, 1 July 2002 , pp. 653-668(16)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

Using the Russian method of linguistic–statistical analysis, the article studies the versification of twenty-eight poems in Russian, written or first published in the years 1990–92 inclusive, by Joseph Brodsky (1940–96). The metrical repertoire of the poems falls into two principal groups, syllabotonic and non-syllabo-tonic. The seven poems in syllabo-tonic metres have in common an absence of authorial irony. The remainder use various forms of dolnik (otherwise known as strict accentual verse or strict stress metre), the metrical and rhythmical characteristics of which are illustrated and analysed with reference to examples and statistical tables. Brodsky is found to have developed a distinctive array of formal resources which expands the received metrical repertoire of contemporary Russian poetry.