The macabre plot in D. Burliuk's poetry: reception, interpretation, polemics

This article examines the reception of the macabre motif of the "Dance o f Death" in early 20th century Russian poetry through a comparative analysis of Alexander Blok's cycle "The Dances of Death" and David Burliuk's cycle "Catafalque Dance". The central thesis posits that Burliuk's cycle constitutes a sustained artistic polem ic against the aesthetics of Symbolism, specifically targeting the work of Alexander Blok. Particular attention is paid to the poem « Blok kolb » a direct response to Blok's famous work «A n ight, a street, a lamp, a pharmacy... » . Employing comparative hist orical and hermeneutical methods, the author demonstrates how Burliuk, while appropriating key images from his predecessor, radically reinterprets them using the arsenal of Futurist poetics: idiosyncratic neologisms, "telegraphic" syntax, cubist compositio n, and intermedial strategies. By treating death as a natural part of human existence and investigating it like any other phenomenon, Burliuk approaches the theme from multiple perspectives, as if striving to form a comprehen- sive understanding of it. The a uthor comes to the conclusion that the image of a specific, personal death crafted by Blok in continuation of medieval tradition is transformed by in D. Burliuk within the framework of the characteristic strategy of futurists. It is objectified and acquire s a depersonalized colouring.