The composition of «Doctor Zhivago» as close to poetic

The article examines peculiarities of dividing the novel «Doctor Zhivago» into chapters that produce the effect of «poet's prose». While the composition played a subordinate role as compared to the plot in the Russian classical novel, it has a crucial function in creating the meaning of the whole in Pasternak's text like a strophic construction has in a poetical text. A conclusion is drawn that the author's intention is not to oppose poetry and prose but to show their meaningful gradation.