Philip Larkin and Alexander Kushner: affinity of lyric personas

The article attempts to identify some features of Philip Larkin's poetics through a comparative analysis of the poems of Larkin and Kushner on the material of the works "This Is The First Thing" and "An Arundel Tomb" by Larkin, "Times do not choose..." and "How exuberantly life boils on the walls of the sarcophagus!" by Kushner. The choice of texts is determined by thematic and motivational coincidences, while the analysis focuses on the specifics of creating the image of a lyrical personas, depending on the content of the composition and the author's position. The term "lyrical personas" is relevant for the studied texts that are rooted in poetic traditions and contain a descriptive lyrical subject that is not identical to the author. As a result of the analysis, the similarity of the positions of the lyrical characters in relation to the object of attention is revealed: in the process of reflection or contemplation, they resort to metaphor as a means of understanding both philosophical categories and objects of culture and art. The causation of the lyrical personas by the biographical and ideological features of the author is also common. The differences are primarily in the relationship between the poet and the reader, who is easier to identify with the hero of Kushner, emotionally more open and encouraging dialogue. Larkin in his poems creates an image that coincides with the stereotype of «Englishness»: his character is ironically distant, lonely and suffering. The author concludes that the originality of Larkin's poetics is connected with some peculiarities of the English mentality inherent in his lyrical personas, which are especially clearly manifested in the "dialogue" with the lyrical personas of the Russian poet.