SYMBOLIC CODES OF WORLD CULTURE IN THE POETRY BY MYKHAIL SEMENKO

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the symbolic codes of world culture in the poetic legacy of Mykhail Semenko, the leader of Ukrainian Futurism. The study applies a psychology-oriented approach to literary studies and cultural studies, which makes it possible to identify the underlying mechanisms of artistic modeling in avant-garde texts. The artist’s work is examined as a coherent aesthetic system aimed at radically renewing the national tradition through its deconstruction and integration into the global cultural space. Particular attention is focused on the function of the figure of Pierrot as a key symbolic code and artistic mask that helps the poet distance himself from established discourse and create a new, intellectualized intimacy. It is demonstrated that this character, transforming from a Renaissance trickster into a modern hero, becomes an indicator of original sensibility and a representative of complex psychological processes. The intertextual interaction between Semenko’s poetry and the European artistic landscape is analyzed; in particular, direct references to the works of Jonathan Swift, Charles Baudelaire, Edvard Grieg, Alfred de Musset, and others are identified. An important part of the study is devoted to examining the synthesis of painting and poetry in the artist’s oeuvre. The functions of references to innovative artists (Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Niko Pirosmanishvili) as markers of the dismantling of academic conventions and the formation of a new visual language of Futurism are explored. The study also examines the specifics of the reinterpretation of biblical imagery and ancient myths (Rebekah, Atlantis, Croesus), which, in the context of avant-garde aesthetics, take on a modern resonance and serve as means of self-affirmation for the artist-demiurge. It is concluded that symbolic codes in Semenko’s work function as reservoirs of creative energy (libido) and facilitate the transition from ethnographic insularity to global art. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the combination of psychopoetic and cultural studies approaches to the analysis of the avant-garde megatext.