Apocalyptic Archetypes in M. Voloshin’s Poetry of October Revolution and Civil War: Frame Text and Plot Structure

This article examines the manifestation of biblical semantics and the eschatological semiosphere within the frame text of M. A. Voloshin’s lyrical works composed during the Russian Civil War. The primary sources are the poems included by the author in the collection “The Unburnt Bush” (Neopalimaya Kupina), considered in the aggregate of its various editions compiled between 1917 and 1923. The study presents the results of a comparative analysis of different versions of the poems across these years. A typology of frame text is developed in accordance with the principal meanings of biblical semantics as expressed both in the frame and in the poetic text itself. It is emphasized that references to the Bible, particularly to the Book of Revelation, are accompanied by motifs of demonic possession and hell on earth. The analysis reveals that the poet interprets national calamity as a punishment for sins, with the possibility of redemption through suffering. The article concludes that Old and New Testament quotations and allusions, which permeate the textual frames of individual poems and cycles, fulfill an apperceptive and suggestive function, establishing semantic parallels between biblical prophecy and contemporary reality for the reader. It is demonstrated that biblical imagery and eschatological intuitions embedded in paratextual components enabled Voloshin to infuse the national catastrophe with a deeper spiritual and symbolic meaning, while also instilling hope for a “post-apocalyptic” rebirth.

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