Reading the poem by Pasternak “Vse sneg da sneg…”
This paper examines the appellative structure of the fictional work, focusing on the pervasive indeterminacy of its artistic audience: the poetic language addresses all hearers, thereby encompassing universal elements of the depicted reality. The compelling nature of artistic language is defined by its reliance on aesthetic appeal to elicit a response from the audience. The interplay of inner and outer perspectives in the artwork necessitates a corresponding duality in the reader’s engagement. The reader comprehends the hero by adopting his perspective, thus entering the poetic realm. An external perspective of the hero provides a wider aesthetic horizon. This paper analyzes the poem by Boris Pasternak “Vse sneg da sneg…” (“It is snowing and snowing…”). The interpretation rests upon the manifest conflict between contrary states in the depicted life. These polar states, the preceding and the following, are seen as symbolically multilayered, unfolding in several dimensions. The poem is set in the subjunctive mood, with the reader experiencing, in the modus operandi of “as if”, the annoyance at the prolonged winter and imagining the character and his girlfriend from the outside. A distinctive double-lighting system serves to highlight the characteristics of this artistic event. The poem synthesizes disparate elements of the world, encompassing natural and cultural realms, external and internal experiences, and contrasts in scale, elevation, style, and volume. The plot is the event of the opening: of a window, of a bottle, of impressions of the outside world. It is the story of the “inner spring” arrival, a sentimental rebirth.
Keywords
Pasternak, text, reader, appellate structure, value tension, symbolAuthors
Name | Organization | |
Fukson Leonid Yu. | Tomsk State Pedagogical University | 12fukson@gmail.com |
References

Reading the poem by Pasternak “Vse sneg da sneg…” | Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal - Siberian Journal of Philology. 2025. № 2. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/91/7