Verlibre - what is this? Anthology of Russian vers libre

The article will consider such a concept as vers libre. What is it, what are its features, history and differences from adjacent forms - we'll talk about all this. Let's start with the definition.

Features of the vers libre

Russian free verse is a phenomenon that engenders a lot of controversy. Literary critics, critics and poets are debating about where the vers libre comes from, what it is, what is its "age" ... There is even debate about whether it is appropriate to use the term itself. Nevertheless, in modern science, based on the work of the scientists of 1910-1920, mainly Y. Tynianov (his portrait is presented below), there is a fairly clear approach to understanding what liberalism is in literature.

This is a special type of versification, which is characterized by a consistent rejection of any "secondary signs" peculiar to the verse speech: the syllabic meter, rhyme, isosyllabism, isotonia and regular stanza. The absence of these characteristics helps us to determine libertarian. What this is, you will better understand based on the comparison with adjacent forms, which is presented at the end of the article.

The emergence of vers libre

Verlibre, understood in this way, could only appear in a country where the national system of verse was developed to a high degree. These were in the 19th century French and German versification, and at the beginning of the next - English and Russian. With the external similarity of pre-written forms of verse, mostly prayerful, with today's vers libre, one must recognize that these are completely heterogeneous phenomena in a historical sense. Folklore, oral "pre-liberation" appeared before the tradition of "unfree" verse in our country. This tradition operated for three centuries. And the modern was formed from the "pre-libra". He appeared through the gradual abandonment of authors from various external signs of verse, as the need for them fell away for both the poets themselves and the readers, who became more and more sophisticated.

It should be said that "similar" to vers libre individual works as early as 19, and even in the 18th century are found in Russian poetry. A. Sumarokov (his portrait is presented above), for example, in 1747 published 19 texts in the book he created, where the transcriptions of the psalms were placed. The subheadings with which these texts were provided are as follows: "just like in the Hebrew." They look quite modern free verses for the modern researcher.

Russian vers libre in the 19th century

Many poems without a meter, rhyme and other traditional signs are found in 19th century poets who translated French or German authors and loosely imitated them, in a manner peculiar to that era. Among these authors can be identified I. Turgenev, A. Fet, M. Mikhailov. Finally, Nikolai Yazikov (his portrait is presented above) in 1840 in his comic poem called "When would the Parnassian ruler ..." carried out an experiment that became very popular both with the supporters of free verse, and (in particular) in his opponents in 20 Century. Nikolai Yazykov wrote in the form of prose a metrical rhyme part of his message, and in the "column" - one that was devoid of signs inherent in the verse, that is, it was a vers libre (what is it you already know). These examples, like other similar ones, nevertheless, are united by one common feature. Sergei Kormilov, a modern poet, suggested to call it marginal. The fact is that this poetry (vers libre) is, as it were, "on the margins" of the development of literature - in translations, parodies, transcriptions, comic verses.

The development of Russian vers libre in the 20th century

This also applies to the first experiments of free verse in the middle of the last century. In M. Kuzmin, K. Balmont and V. Bryusov they appear mainly in the form of free imitations to foreign poets. And from the same Kuzmin, as well as from L. Semenov and A. Dobrolyubov - and in the form of a direct imitation of the spiritual folk verse. As for N. Roerich, his vers libra are poems that accumulate the wisdom of the East. However, at the same time in our country there are also the first samples of a marginal, pure virile.

His examples we find in the works of Gippius, Blok, Kamensky, Sologub, Kruchenykh, Guro, Khlebnikov ... Perhaps it would be easier to call the poets of the Silver Age who never turned to vers libre than those who addressed him.

Free verse is outlawed

Russian free verse in 1920-30-ies. Shared the fate common to many phenomena of domestic literature. At first it was declared the so-called orthodox kind of proletarian art. Later, in the years of "studying with the classics", he began to be considered a product of the disintegration of bourgeois art. This, in fact, put free vers libre. Authors who in the middle of the century interestingly and fruitfully worked with this form of verse (G. Obolduyev, V. Mazurin, S. Neldichen, D. Harms) were struck from literature.

Rehabilitation

Only in the late 1950's - early 1960's libertine again came out of the underground. However, his return did not last long: he seemed to have been removed from the official ideological ban, but the taste, editorial barrier (no less strict) continued to operate. Rare publications of the vers libres N. Rylenkov, K. Nekrasova, V. Soloukhin, V. Burich were invariably accompanied by negative criticism from the state. However, at the same time, without advertising, their own free poems are published by such masters of Russian poetry as I. Selvinsky, N. Ushakov, E. Vinokurov, K. Simonov, B. Slutsky, D. Samoilov, L. Ozerov, A. Voznesensky , A. Yashin, V. Bokov, O. Shestinsky - authors, referring to the most diverse areas in literary creation.

"The time of free verse"

In 1980-1990, the "time of vers libre" comes. This term was taken from the poem of the same name by Tatiana Danilyants, a Moscow poetess (pictured above). At this time poems without a meter and rhyme suddenly begin to be published in all magazines and newspapers, almanacs and author's collections. And now there is a new conflict around the domestic vers libre. Those who wrote to them for several decades, are going to fight for the "purity of the genre." They begin to oppose various kinds of polymeric hybrid forms in which proper verbi (unregulated in principle) adjoins metric, rhymed and other "strict" forms.

The distinction between "vers libre" and "free verse"

Authors representing a new wave that did not have to experience the full weight of the press, under whose yoke the seemingly dryish and laconic free verse of V. Kupriyanov, A. Mets, and V. Burich ripened, they demanded to call polymetric forms free. They rightly believed (from the point of view of common sense, of course, and not of the terminological one) that any restriction of freedom, including the fundamental refusal of the signs of verse taken traditionally, is a lack of freedom. So there was a distinction between "vers libre" and "free verse", which finally confused both the authors of the works and the readers. In fact, as already mentioned above, there is a strict system of concepts in the science of verse today. In it, vers libre (free verse) is a quite definite literary phenomenon. As for assembly, polymetric, hybrid and other similar forms, they have their own, also quite strict and definite names. Most poets, however, perfectly understand this. For the most part, discussions are conducted with advertising and other extraliterary purposes.

Activity of K. Dzhangirov

"An anthology of Russian vers libre" is a well-known collection compiled by Karen Dzhangirov. It was published in 1991. This collection includes the vers libre of contemporary Russian poets. It is notable for being one of the first of its kind. By the way, Karen Dzhangirov is considered to be a maestro of Russian free verse. In the 1980s, he changed the position of this form of poetry in our country, democratizing it, making it accessible to both authors and readers.

Verslibrus and other forms

So, it is believed that vers libre is a literary term characterized by the following features: it has neither rhyme nor size, and its lines are not ordered in length. However, in order to determine more accurately, it is necessary to separate the following concepts: white verse, vers libre, chopped prose, verses in prose.

Chopped prose

For some reason, it is believed that if you arrange a miniature text in prose in the form of sketchy lines, you get a free verse. This is so from a formal point of view. However, it is extremely important that one can differentiate into a line the same passage of prose. Such here "chopped prose" is often issued for vers libre. Examples of poems, even free ones, still differ from prose, although the text of the latter can be quite melodic. Nevertheless, it is not a verbiram, because the verse line does not appear in the process of partitioning.

Verses in prose

Poems in prose (without rhymes) - almost the same chopped prose, but more lyrical. It is characterized by melodious, saturated intonations. In it there are harmonies, elements of rhythm. Without breaking into lines, this poem should be designed. In this respect, the vers libre coincides with the form we are considering. The verses of poetry in prose are a continuous text. This is a beautiful poetic technique, but obsolete. Poet-lovers in our time often resort to him to hide flaws - technical or semantic.

Blank verse

A vers libre should be distinguished from a white verse, which is also a kind of free versification. However, it should have a rhythm and size that is the same in the lines. The text is in stanzas. The absence of rhyme is the only assumption. Technically, this is a fairly simple technique, but still it is poetry in which there is a "sublimated meaning." In the form of white verse, all the ancient poetry was built, since the tradition of rhymed versification at that time had not yet taken shape. Today, white verses are most often stylized as folk epic. Rhyme is ignored consciously.

So, vers libre is a literary term that should be distinguished from related concepts. The synonym for it is the term "free verse".