Bezrukov A. English Metaphysical Poetry of the 17th Сentury in the Context of Western European Baroque Rhetoric

The object: the poesy of the Metaphysicals of the 17th century as well as the works of Baroque poets of Western Europe in its poetic and typological unity with metaphysical style. The goal of research: accentuation of the stylistic features of the poetry of the English Metaphysicals in the context of the Western European Baroque as the embodiment of the aesthetic phenomenon of the poetic and rhetorical unity of the 17th century literature. The research methodology is based on a combination of synchronous comparative analysis of the poesy of selected authors with elements of linguistic, stylistic, typological, hermeneutic, semiotic, historical and cultural approaches. The scientific ideas about the peculiarities and typological parameters of the style of metaphysical poetry, its origins and genesis under the conditions of renewal of poetic thinking in England in the late 16th – early 17th centuries are refined; the research of metaphysical poetry with its system of aesthetic principles, which is considered to be the phenomenon inherent in the Baroque era with a unique rhetorical position, re-opened by the modernists and updated in contemporary poesy, is supplied; the comprehension of the rhetorical and poetic unity, which can be expressed through Baroque metaphysical poetry, is used not only for the study of the 17th century literature but also in the aspect of approaching to the understanding the modern poetic practice. Materials of the thesis research can be used in preparation of lecture courses on the history of foreign literature, in particular Western European poetry of the 17th century, seminars, in writing monographic and qualification papers; observations and conclusions of the paper can be taken into account while translating the poetry of Metaphysicals. The scientific novelty of the research appears from the very attempt to demonstrate not only the national peculiarities of English metaphysical poetry of the 17th century, but also the diversity of its stylistic attributes in the historical and cultural context and from the position of poetic and rhetorical unity of West European Baroque. Comprehending the artistic paradigms of the English Metaphysicals is closely linked to the rhetorical characteristic of the time. The analysis of the poetical works of various genre variations is used; this approach not only reveals the genre variety of Baroque literature, but also demonstrates ways of combining the art of a ready-made word with author's poetic. The analysis of works is structured in such a way as to reveal not only their belonging to the Baroque general style, or to indicate the ideological, aesthetic, and stylistic features of this phenomenon; in the thesis, it is studied the rhetorical strategies of the Metaphysicals, their rhetorical position. The field of use: scientific research in literary criticism and educational process.