Batyushkov’s “arrogance” (On Mandelstam’s poem “No, not the moon, but a bright clock-face…”)

Abstract

The article clarifies the possible sources of Osip Mandelstam’s poem “No, not the moon, but a bright clock-face...” (1912, first published 1913). A new interpretation of references to K. Batyushkov, which more than once attracted the attention of poet’s contemporaries and modern researchers, is proposed. According to the author of the article, Mandelstam, theoretically asserting the “thingness” (even super-lightness, quintessence of thingness) of surrounding world as the very essence of poetry, enters into a consistent debate with the mad poet, and through Batyushkov — with Symbolism as a certain world outlook and the artistic system reflecting it. The poem sets a contrast between the phenomena of life that live in real time of the shaky eternity of Symbolism, which fits into the general context of the book “Stone”. As a result of a detailed analysis, it is concluded that Mandelstam’s little poem “No, not the moon...” played a significant role in the history of Russian poetry. At the very initial stage, it reflected the opposition (struggle) of two most important poetic systems of the Silver Age — Symbolism and Acmeism.

Keywords

• osip mandelstam
• “stone”
• konstantin batyushkov
• symbolism
• acmeism
• cosmogony