Sergey Yesenin and Paul Verlaine: historical and literary parallels and contexts

For the first time on a systematic basis the study reveals historical and literary parallels between the artistic worlds of the leader of the French school of symbolist- poets Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) and Sergey Yesenin (1895-1925). Some facts are provided proving that lifetime criticism captured “Verlaine” principles in Yesenin’s poetic style, considering him as a follower of post-symbolist trends in Russian poetry of the first quarter of the XXth century, as a peasant symbolist poet. The similarity of the two poets is revealed by the author in the framework of comparative typological analysis. The similarity in the sound of anti-urban themes is shown, as well as in psychologized recreation of images of nature - “landscapes of the soul”, in the poetics of colour, in the confessional manner of lyrical utterance, in the elegiac key of late verses.