"Poetry as the Resistance of a Language". Presidential Library’s Poetry Readings

On June 6, 2023 at 16:30 Moscow time the Presidential Library will host poetry readings to coincide with the birthday of Alexander Pushkin and the Russian Language Day. It is about poetry language.

The theory of "three calms", introduced by Mikhail Lomonosov, provides for a high calm in poetry (odes, heroic poems), a medium one (elegies and satires) and a low one (songs, fables). The grandiloquent odic calm was ridiculed by Alexander Sumarokov, who called it "ugly". Later, this opinion was supported by Alexander Pushkin, who saw a harmful effect on literature in a high calm, and Nikolai Gogol, who also believed that it was indecent for Russian speech to borrow sizes and forms of versification from German neighbors.

What should the language of Russian poetry be? Is it possible to determine the criteria for a "correct" poetry language? The controversy about this has not subsided so far.

Is poetry “simple”, understandable from the first reading, or “complex”, metaphorical, requiring intense reading and erudition, opening up with many plans and “increment of meanings”? Poems that copy reality or take one beyond the ordinary? The question of choice is in the language itself, which seems to be in opposition to the author and the reader himself, fearing to be inaccurate, random, approximate. That is why poetry exceeds the reader's expectations: a true poetry word is always unexpected and sudden, it is impossible to predict and foresee it.

Poets German Vlasov and Polina Kondratenko will focus on the possibilities of the poetry language in the Presidential Library.

The event is free. The meeting will be broadcast on the Presidential Library’s portal in Live Broadcasts section in accordance with the program of live events, on the Rutube-channel of the institution, as well as on the social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.

Accreditation of media representatives is until 12:00 June 5, 2023

Please forward applications for accreditation following the attached form marked Media Accreditation at media@prlib.ru, hudjakova@prlib.ru Alexandra Khudyakova, tel.: (812) 305-16-21, ext. 167; mob. +7 (981) 788-28-08.

The letter should contain the full name, date and place of birth, passport data (series, number, place of registration), a list of carry-on equipment, contact phone numbers, the name of the media.

We draw the attention of the media representatives that it is necessary to forward applications for accreditation and arrive at the event in advance.

Entrance to the Presidential Library is carried out only by prior registration and upon showing a passport: for media representatives - through entrance № 2, participants and guests of the event - through entrance № 1.