Philosophy and poetics of the four elements in the poem ''Ganz Kyuhelgarten'' by N.V. Gogol

Early poem ''Ganz Kyuhelgarten. Idyll in pictures'' (1829) by N.V. Gogol is considered in the paradigm of the modern study of Gogol as a full and integral part of the behavioral text of the writer. In this regard, the role is stressed of the idyllic tendency in all subsequent works of the artist and the connection of the poem ''Ganz Kyuhelgarten'' with ''Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka'', with the story ''The Old-World Landowners'' (V.V. Gippius calls it the ''second idyll'') and the texts of late Gogol, in particular, the ''Selected Passages from correspondence with Friends'' (''third idyll''). Indeed, Gogol calls his poem an ''idyll'' on purpose: a combination of formal orientation to the canons of the romantic poem lyric-epic type and following the traditions of the idyllic setting generates a principal author setting - striving for synthesis and cosmogony. Genre definition becomes a philosopheme, which contains a set of ontological laws of the universe and axiological values. The phrase ''idyll in paintings'' emphasizes the focus on ''Pictures of nature'' by Alexander von Humboldt. The basis of the work of the German scientist is a lot of empirical evidence that forms soulful integrity, harmonious structure of the universe. Of course, the attraction of Gogol to synthesis is correlated with the precepts of Humboldt. A kind of ''key'' to the ideological and axiological dominants of the poem is poetics of four elements. Indeed, the text includes many references to the elements that form the concept sphere which operates according to certain laws. Thus, each of the elements is rarely presented in isolation from the other primary elements, and their synchronous system has no contradiction and division into the center and the periphery, thus reviving organic archaic-mythological syncretism that enabled cosmogony. ''Striving of life and Elements'' (Lotman) in the world of the poem is not observed either, in contrast, the patriarchal way of life is due to the ontological laws of being, which are manifested in the elements. The main conflict of the poem is that between the original harmony of the ontology of being and aspirations of the people who do not see this harmony. Due to the interaction between the ontological and anthropological aspects of the problems of ''Ganz Kyuhelgarten'' the romantic antinomy of ''wanderer'' and ''homebody'' is made topical. The romantic conflict between the worldview positions of ''wanderer'' and "homebody'' is born in the controversy of important works of V.A. Zhukovsky and K.N. Batiushkov - ''Theon and Aeschines'' (1814) and ''The Wanderer and Homebody'' (1814-1815), respectively. In ''Ganz Kyuhelgarten'', the problem transfers to a qualitatively new level of understanding, because the hero combines both ''wanderer'' and ''homebody''. This is a synthesis that combines the thesis and antithesis, which are claimed in the works of Zhukovsky and Batiushkov. The person in the idyllic chronotope of the poem is an integral part of the ontology of life, and the four elements are the point of contact, in which the interpenetration of ontology and anthropology occurs, and it is possible to reconcile ''wanderer'' and ''homebody'' in one person, and include the history of humankind in the eternal natural cycle. Thus, in the poem ''Ganz Kyuhelgarten'' the patriarchal values of idyllic life and the romantic impulses of a restless soul reconcile. Four elements interact in the ontology of being without opposition. This clearly shows the tendency of young Gogol to synthesis and cosmogony.

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