Horatian Understanding of Painting in the Poem by Maria Stepanova

A poem by Maria Stepanova “Kto tot yunosha bil, Pirra, priznaysia mne!.. (Who was that young man, Pyrrha, confess to me!)” is both a gloss and at the same time the permissive interpretation of Ode I, V by Horace – the work of the Roman poet that reveals both versions of the origin of painting: as a development of tributary signs about rescue and as a reflection of experience of a pleasant place. The purpose of the article is to establish the basis on which the Goratinian imagery was combined in M. Stepanova’s poem with a sapphic, general theme and idea of the poem, as well as the source and methods of representing the sensation of sublime experience in it. Methodologically it is necessary to refer to the techniques of studying ecphrasis as a way of turning the depicted images into plot effects, the study of those properties of the poetics of the odes that give stability to its variations, and the interpretation of the poem in the context of M. Stepanova’s entire work, which is characterized by a certain set of values and stylistic rules. The authors note that Horace compares the version of the origin of the visual arts with a complex plot of love temptation as catastrophic and inevitable, whereas Stepanova interprets the temptation as a sublime experience. While Horace resolves the conflict by dialogue, Stepanova uses figurativeness of inevitable being after a catastrophe. We prove that Stepanova's plot development is rooted in the ancient understanding of the theophany, the phenomenon of a deity, which allows one to see a traumatic experience behind the brilliant facade of antiquity. It is concluded that Stepanova deeply perceives the prerequisites of ancient culture and contextualizes them within the modern gender and traumatic perspectives, which makes it possible to recreate the standard of ecphrasis in modern poetry in a new way.

Horace, Maria Stepanova, painting in poetry, ecphrasis, stylization, variation, semantic aura of the meter, erotic topic, ancient traditions in poetry, pictorial semantics