Experiences of psychological analysis of Boris Pasternak’s poem “Snow is Falling”

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Recieved: 06/20/2023

Accepted: 07/01/2023

Published: 08/21/2023

Keywords: poem; psychological analysis; character; color preferences; experience; role of rhythm; author’s meaning; text interpretation

p.: 72-86

DOI: 10.11621/npj.2023.0308

Available online: 21.08.2023

To cite this article:

Sobkin, V.S.. Experiences of psychological analysis of Boris Pasternak’s poem “Snow is Falling”. // National Psychological Journal 2023. 3. p.72-86. doi: 10.11621/npj.2023.0308

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Sobkin, V.S. Federal Scientific Center of Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research

Abstract

Background. The comprehension of deep psychological meanings of art by means of, on the one hand, “reading” into the text, and, on the other hand, “reading out” the author’s meanings appears to be one of the most profound and multifaceted ways of manifesting the psychology of art today. The author’s view on Pasternak’s poem “Snow is Falling” opens up the possibility to touch the multilevel meanings of the work and to demonstrate the ways of text analysis at different angles.

Objective. Psychological analysis of the content of the poem by B. Pasternak “Snow is Falling”, including the analysis of the influence of such aspects as multiple meanings of words, use of color, spatial and temporal characteristics, rhythm on understanding the meaning is the scope of the work.

Methods. The structural analysis of the poetic text and psychological interpretation of the meaning of poetic statements were used.

Results. The peculiarity of the methods of “meaning montage” based on the use of multiple meanings of words was analyzed. It is shown how the multiple meanings of the word allow the author to justify thematic transitions in the development of the poem content. Psychological analysis of uniting separate lines into the rhythmical totality on the reader’s orientation in pointing out the semantic dominant in the text of the poem has been carried out. The phenomenon of “keeping” and reproducing personal experiences with the help of certain rhythmically organized structures of the text, when rhythmically designed structure acts as a special sign means (like a “knot for memory”) to fix significant life experiences at subconscious level was characterized.

Conclusions. The influence of the phenomenon of “word double meanings” both on the actualization of the state of personal problematization in the lyrical hero of the poem and on the inclusion of elements of the poet’s life context, their “infusion”, into the semantic structure of the text has been recorded. The possibility of using the principles of color preference analysis by M. Lusher methodology for meaningful interpretation of changes in psychological states of the lyrical hero in the course of the plot development is shown.

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To cite this article:

Sobkin, V.S.. Experiences of psychological analysis of Boris Pasternak’s poem “Snow is Falling”. // National Psychological Journal 2023. 3. p.72-86. doi: 10.11621/npj.2023.0308

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