Motif of Flight in the Poems by A. D. Raevsky

Purpose. The article contains results of philological analysis of the motif of flight in the poems by the contemporary Kuzbass poet A. D. Raevsky. The material for analysis is The Golden Bug (Zolotoy Zhuk; 2021), a collection of works of different periods. Poems containing the motif of flight are analyzed and classified by topic.Results. The authors consider five groups of poems: 1) poems where flight is the central element of the plot; 2) poems tied to childhood, homeland, nostalgia, memories of the past; 3) landscape poems dedicated to nature; 4) love poems; 5) philosophical poems with metaphysical, existential topics.The motif has a range of functions: 1) expresses psychological state of the hero, for example, his joy or delight, love, passion, fatigue, sorrow, calmness; 2) becomes an element of the philosophical plot of the poem corresponding to such topics as sense of life, death, soul; 3) becomes an element of the space developing the chronotop of the poem, making it bright and emotional.Conclusion. The motif of flight expressed with various verbs and nouns plays an important role in the poetry by Raevsky. It is associated with love, nature, freedom, homeland, family members, memory and nostalgia, as well as with philosophical topics such as death and sense of life. Various images, from animals (birds, horses, etc.) and natural objects (leaves, clouds) to supernatural creatures (a flying horse, a witch) reveal this motif.