Levchuk O. The Image of a Horse within the System of Zoomorphic Symbolism of the Ukrainian Folklore.

The PhD thesis is the first complex and integral study of the image of a horse within the system of zoomorphic symbolism of Ukrainian folklore. The research analyzes and generalizes the history of the study of animal images in Slavic folklore in general and in Ukrainian in particular. The specificity of methodological bases of zoomorphic figurative and symbolic folklore system analysis is revealed. Mythological image of a horse is analyzed through its specific characteristics at the morphological, actional and “social” levels, often using the method of binary oppositions. Based on the study of various genres of oral poetry and traditions, rituals that explain the text, symbolic significance of the animal image within the folklore picture of the world of Ukrainians is revealed. The perception of the image of a horse is traced starting from mythological one in the most ancient genres of folklore to actually poetic in lyrical songs, small folklore forms, folklore texts. It is proved that the image of a horse occupies one of the defining places within the system of zoomorphic symbolism, revealing the ambivalent nature but, for the most part, the positive functional load. It is generalized that among the animal figurative and symbolic system of song folklore the image of a horse is marked by the highest level of aestheticization. This image is diverse on both the formal and semantic levels. Even the unusual morphological, actional and “social” characteristics of the horse are perceived as a means of folk songs aestheticizing.