Aesthetics and Ontology of Landscape in “Priutino Cycle” Poems by N. I. Gnedich

Abstract

Drawing on the elegies “Autumn” and “Priutino,” as well as the elegiac epistles to I. A. Krylovov composed during Gnedich's residence at the Priutino estate, this study examines the distinctive aesthetics and ontology of landscape within the poet's artistic world. The analysis also incorporates his early works, including “Obshchezhitie” (The Common Life), “Milton, Lamenting His Blindness,” and “The Transience of Youth.” The paper considers Gnedich's pivotal role in the formation of the Russian elegiac school and reconstructs a spatial model of the universe in which the visible and the invisible are inextricably linked. A particular focus is placed on the symbolic richness of the forest image. The study demonstrates that Gnedich's nature poetry is directly connected to the beauty of the cosmos and represents an attempt to comprehend the mysteries of nature through aesthetic perception. It is argued that beneath the initial aestheticization of landscape lies a profound philosophical depth; these pictorial representations serve as a catalyst for meditations on nature's cyclical patterns, its meteorological manifestations, specific loci, and the poet's own emotional impulses. By synthesizing these elements, Gnedich reveals a state of the soul, thereby intensifying the confessional dimension of the elegy. The paper proves that Gnedich's definitive contribution to Russian elegy was his assertion of the forest's curative and restorative properties for the human soul. An analysis of the landscape's semantic content shows that for Gnedich, the forest landscape became paramount, establishing itself in his lyrics as a space of transfigured reality that visibly embodies the unity of the earthly and the celestial.