Elements of commedia dell'arte poetics in Poem Without a Hero by Anna Akhmatova

The article tells about the problem of using elements of poetics of Italian commedia dell'arte (13th century), a specifically Italian phenomenon of a universal cultural importance, in Poema bez geroia [Poem Without A Hero] by A. Akhmatova. During the first decade of the 20th century the theater flourishes in Russia. The common climate of the era (or, rather, the turn of the era) is marked by an avocation to the spirit of mysticism, prophecy and eschatology. The theme of masquerade is one of the most common in this period. Therefore, masquerade has different interpretations, it is not only the carnival fun, but also deception, art, mysticism, even dance macabre. The concept of the mask corresponds to the concept of magnitude, hypocrisy. It most suited the Silver Age characterized by numerous life-building experiments. Russian artists submitted their everyday behavior to a mask or a role they selected wanting the audience to see the image of their real faces they created themselves rather than their real faces. It should be noted that com-media dell'arte is not the only genre tradition in the implementation of the carnival theme. Poetics and semantics of the carnival are determined not only by its antique (of the ancient Rome, thus proto-Italian) origin, but also by the European Medieval (especially French) tradition. In addition, there are motifs of the coven that refer to Goethe's Faust. Thus, commedia dell'arte, originally an entertaining genre, acquires tragic and infernal nature ("infernal harlequinade") in Akhmatova's work, where actor's dramatic identification may have the semantics of witch metamorphosis, change of the essence, not of change of masks. In Poem Without a Hero, dedicated to the 1910s, the theatrical theme is associated with the image of the protagonist, Olga Glebova-Sudeykina, whose life and love story is the basis of the poem. However, the main character represents the epoch, as indicated by her nomination "Colombine of the '10s". The multidimensional image of the character which consists of the "top" and the "bottom" carnival elements is described using the motif of the doll, provoking the reader to ethically evaluate the "carnival" of the 1910s and of its participants. The love triangle is a traditional story interpreted through figures of commedia dell'arte. In the story, there are several levels, the line of the heroine is projected on the storyline of the author. This theme of duality and mirror is also in the artistic code of commedia dell'arte. In this article, the author concludes that poetics of commedia dell'arte is one of the structural and semantic elements of the poem, although it was be perceived via the tradition and the esthetics of masquerade.

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