“Amongst the roses...”: the frontline elysium of Bulat Okudzhava

The relevance of the topic of the article in the historical and literary terms, as well as in the theoretical aspect, is determined by the constant demand for interpreting the fate of traditional poetic images, “eternal images” (including a rose, Elysium, Paradise) in changing literature contexts. Both contemporary world literature studies and interdisciplinary studies employ actively floristic themes, recognizing the area as one of the most promising. Researchers of Okudzhava’s works, representatives of a relatively young scholarly trend, deal with various problems, among which an emphasis is put on the analysis of poems and specific images that represent invariable issues of the author’s artistic world. These are numerous roses of Okudzhava, which together with his sacramental images symbolize the inheritance of the so-called “golden age” in modern times for the author. The poet used the formula “poems about roses” as a declaration of his literary independence, as an antithesis to the Soviet idea of “civic poetry”. However, the classical imagery in Okudzhava’s lyrics could be subject to a paradoxical rethinking, could have an unusual function. The choice of the poem “From the Frontline Diary” for analysis is justified by the key role the metaphorical rose plays in it. “Thorny rusty roses” (explosions on the battlefield) are the flowers of death; the cross-cutting theme of “blossom” turns them into an attribute of the crepuscular Elysium fields. The experience of passing through death determines the existential problems of Okudzhava’s lyrics. The text is analyzed from this point of view for the first time.