Functions of somatisms in the poetry of B. Pasternak
- Pages
- 34-44
Abstract
The article analyzes the somatic vocabulary in the poetry of B. Pasternak. It is concluded that the poet actively uses the words of this semantic class that is associated with some peculiarities of his world perception. The quantitative analysis of somatic elements shows that more than 100 somatisms are used in the poet's lyrics. Of these, the words associated with visual perception (eyes, pupil, etc.) are most actively used, the second most important unit is the hand and its components (arm, shoulders, palms, elbows, etc.) which is determined by the representation of love contact. It is noted that a person is often represented metonymically in Pasternak’s poetry through the enumeration of individual organs that represent and replace him entirely. Simultaneously, all the entities of the world are personified by assigning them parts of the human body which act as personifying details. Often somatisms are presented as part of phraseological units, both transformed and not, but in both cases a new figurative meaning is generated, often not embedded in these idioms.