Semantic opposition in the lyrical spiritual verse

Spiritual poems often become an object of scientists’ attention due to the fact that they are not sufficiently studied from the stand point of the language functioning. A description of all aspects of the spiritual verse language arrangement helps to get a complete picture of the works belonging to this poetic genre. The paper describes the phenomenon of semantic opposition of the spiritual lyrical verse. Employment of this phenomenon helps to realize dynamics of this genre. The principle of contrast is very important in the works of oral folklore, as well as equipollent structural and aesthetic functions of the spiritual verse. In the course of the analysis it was revealed that components of the opposition are characterized by the hierarchy, which helps to fulfill an important text-forming function.