Formation of the term “poetry” in Russian literary studies of the XVIII century and the first half of the XIX century

The article is the first attempt to systematically describe the formation of the term “poetry” in Russian literary studies of the XVIII century and the first half of the XIX century. Its meaning seems obvious, this is why it has not been clearly defined so far. In Russian literary studies, the term “poetry” first appeared in the Latin-language poetics of Feofan Prokopovich, who focuses on Aristotle’s Poetics and quotes it close to the original. Without giving a clear definition of this term, Prokopovich understands poetry as imitation through speech. In the critical and theoretical words of the classicist this term changes its meaning, being identified with the poetic form of literary works. Despite the impact that the theory of European classicism had on his dictionary, Nikolay Ostolopov returns to Aristotle’s conceptual idea and says that the terms “poetry” and “verses” are not equivalent to each other. Vissarion Belinsky’s article “The Division of Poetry into Genres and Forms” is the only work that unequivocally defines poetry as an imitative art regardless of its form.