History as Argument: Rhetoric of Political Poetry by F. I. Tyutchev

Abstract

The political poetry of F. I. Tyutchev is considered in terms of classical rhetorical tradition functioning in it. The author believes that the political poems of the poet most clearly expressed his historiosophical ideas about Russia’s role in world history, the necessity of unification of the Slavic peoples, etc. Many of these ideas are very controversial, therefore the rhetorical task of persuasion of the opponents should have been addressed by proven and effective ways. Tyutchev used the techniques typical to the genre of the ode as a “ready words” in cases where the issue underlying the political poems was in need of an effective argument. Genre characteristics of odes, thanks to the “eloquent” rhetorical task, consistent with this objective. The author argues that Tyutchev also used the techniques of oratory, including judicial eloquence, in the political poetry. It is shown that many of his poems are built as a journalistic or forensic speech, in strict accordance with the requirements of the composition of such texts. The author concludes that for the evidence of political ideas the poet uses two types of arguments: arguments and examples with a considerable predominance of the latter. The article describes the cases of the use of arguments-arguments and arguments-examples in specific texts and the analysis of the poem “Encyclica” as “associated” speech with all the rhetorical characteristics of the text.