The Principle of Antinomy in A. A. Fet’s Lyrics (Historical and Poetological Aspects)

Antinomianism is examined as a key principle in Fet’s poetics. Polar series of images unfold in his poems, sharply counterposing two separate worlds. Two types of lyrical oppositions have been identified. First, the duality of high and low is manifested primarily as an opposition in reflections on the essence of poetry: true poetry, beauty, inspiration vs. pseudo-poetry, vulgarity, sober calculations. While affirming the true, the poet contemptuously denies the false. This irreconcilable contrast applies to the earthly world, to the horizontal plane of existence. The vertical oppositions of the second group of poems, which can be attributed to the sphere of poetic ontology, reveal not only the tension of the duality of the earthly world and the world above, but also its transformation into a higher unity. The polarity is expressed in the opposed images not according to the principle of the contrast of low and high, but as an opposition of the high (earthly beauty) and the highest (spirituality of the higher spheres of being). For the poet, these are two equally desirable worlds, and they are interconnected by various threads: direct gaze into the higher world, contemplation of beauty, the experience of creativity or love. Antinomic worlds are permeable to each other in vertical connections. In the descents of the higher and ascents of the earthly, the harmonious realization of antinomies is achieved.