THE LYRICAL NARRATIVE BETWEEN EMOTIONAL POETICS AND WAR EXPERIENCE IN AMY LOWELL’S POETRY

Abstract

This research investigates the construing of a lyrical narrative as realised in poetic text. The lyrical narrative is characterised by the features of poetic text, in particular, imagery, emotionality, a special rhythmic and syntactic structure, and the core features of narrative in general: a story about events told by the narrator through the prism of the focaliser. There is usually a fusion of the narrator and the focalizer in lyrical narratives. Unlike prose fiction texts, which are characterised by a distinction between main and secondary characters, these figures form a lyrical image in a lyrical narrative. The article argues that two stories unfold in a lyrical narrative: an explicit story of feelings and an implicit story from the life of the lyrical hero/heroine, which becomes the basis for the narrative of feelings and emotions. The narrative of feelings can lie in their transformation in time and space, which is associated with rethinking, emotional development or their evolution. Such feelings are evoked by the story from the life of the lyrical heroine: the experience of war, unrequited love, and the fading of feelings. Lyrical narratives are distinguished by their imagery, which plays a key role in their construing, as it reveals the inner experiences, pain, and concerns of the lyrical heroine.The material for the study is the lyrical narratives of the American poet and Pulitzer Prize winner Amy Lowell, whose poetry is considered to be painting in words and cinematic frame changes. To analyse the specifics of constructing a lyrical narrative, two stories are reconstructed, which allows us to build causal relationships between the stories and trace the interaction between the narrative of emotions and the narrative of life. The narratives of feelings and emotions reflect the same fluidity and dynamism as the stories from the life of the lyrical heroine on which they are based.In Amy Lowell’s lyrical narratives, the verbal text creates visual and emotional images of war and blood alongside images of peace and faith. The emotional growth of the lyrical heroine is depicted against the background of the beauty of nature, where her admiration for flowers is intertwined with thoughts about death. The verbal images in Amy Lowell’s lyrical narratives reflect life’s complexity and multifaceted nature, as well as reveal the inner world of the lyrical heroine, her awareness of her inner state, her emotional experiences, her pain from unrequited love, and, ultimately, her sense of emotional silence. Thus, the images in the lyrical narratives explain stories of love, trauma experienced, and internal transformations.