Mortal themes and images in Khodasevich\'s mature lyrics («By Way of the Grain», «Heavy Lyre», «European Night»)

This article examines the main mortal themes, motifs and images in V.F. Khodasevich's later three collections (By Way of the Grain, 1920, Heavy Lyre, 1923, European Night, 1927). To this end, the following tasks have been set: to analyse the motif and image systems of each of these collections, to identify the main mortal images, motifs and themes in each of them, and to show how Khodasevich's artistic world is transformed through the prism of mortality. Particular attention was paid to the transformation of the persona and his worldview. The following poetic features related to the theme of death in the context of the lyrics was considered: chronotope, character system, type of death depicted (non-violent, violent, temporary [sleep, including lethargy], metaphysical, eschatological), thematic world, also the motif of dying and resurrection and others specific to each particular book.