A Wobble in the Worldview of Modern Kalmyk Poets

In the worldview of modern Kalmyk poets, feather grass is one of the phytosymbols of their native land, steppe, beliefs, and cultural code. Despite the fact that it is less frequent on the pages of poetry books than the main phytonym “wormwood”, feather grass plays an important role in the steppe landscape. It is reflected in the plant world of the epic “Dzhangar”; in folk tales, a feather grass stalk becomes one of the targets of a heroic shooting competition, and a bunch of feather grass blocks the path of evil spirits like a plug. The image of feather grass is presented at different times of the year, at different ages, but as an invariable floristic sign: “tsakhan ѳvsn” (“white grass”). The general panorama of the steppe in Kalmyk lyrics includes feather grass in all its manifestations: appearance (green – white), dynamics (swaying, swaying, swinging, running) or statics (sleeping), acoustics associated with the wind (noise, whisper, song). Associations of feather grass waves with sea waves, with silver, with the “dolgan zeg” ornament actualize the motives of space, beauty, freedom. Dry stems of feather grass are used in the ritual of prolonging life “nas avkh” during the national holiday Zul, therefore Kalmyk poets do not have connotations of death, the end of life in the description of feather grass. With feather grass, the motive of memory dominates, first of all, of the native land, less often in a historical perspective. The plant's phytoportrait is depicted in two poems by Mikhail Khoninov, “Khalmgin tsagan tolhata ѳvsd” (“Kalmyk feather grass”, 1974) and Erdni Eldyshev, “Tsagan ѳvsnә dun” (“Song of the feather grass”, 2007). The “national landscape” in M. Khoninov's text is based on a number of ethnographic details. In the poems of other Kalmyk poets, feather grass is present in different ways: as an integral part of the steppe landscape, as a participant and witness of events in the life of the lyrical subject, as a means in the ritual of life extension, as a bouquet for a date. In the poetics of the titles of such poems, the name of the plant is not always indicated, as in M. Khoninov and E. Eldyshev. Cf. “Teg boln tengs” (“Steppe and Sea”) by A. Tachiev, “Khar Khazr” (“Black Lands”) by T. Bembeev. The olfactory factor is not involved in the poetics of feather grass, since it does not smell, but at the same time, its tactile aspect is absent from the texts, except for dryness. Several poetry books by M. Khoninov and E. Eldyshev in Russian translation are named after feather grass (“Feather Grass”, “Feather Grass Turns Silver”, “Feather Grass Song”). Not all available Russian translations of poems by Kalmyk poets about feather grass correspond to the form and content; key codes and symbols, significant ethnic details of everyday life and culture, and beliefs are omitted.