Некоторые наблюдения о ритме четырехстопного хорея Сергея Есенина

Квантитативная филология. 2025. № 2 (10). С. 54–64.

Stepanova E.

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the metrical repertoire and rhythmic organization of the trochaic tetrameter in the poetry of Sergey Alexandrovich Esenin. The research is based on a corpus of 366 poetic texts (of which 55 are trochaic), ensuring the representativeness of the analysis. Focusing on the various stages of his creative development, this paper investigates the evolution of rhythmic structures in his poetry. Special attention is given to identify the connection between Esenin's trochaic tetrameter and the folk poetic tradition, as well as its correlation with the rhythmic specifics in the evolution of this meter in Russian poetry of the 19th–20th centuries. The study provides a detailed analysis of the rhythmic patterns: it examines stress profiles, characteristic stress-syllabic configurations, and their dynamics in a chronological perspective from the early texts of the 1910s to the later works of 1924–1925. Significant attention is paid to a comparative analysis of the rhythmic patterns of Esenin's trochaic tetrameter with the poetic tradition of his predecessors and contemporaries, a group that includes both key representatives of the new peasant poet’s direction and other significant figures in Russian poetry. This approach makes it possible to determine the place of the rhythmic uniqueness of Esenin's trochaic tetrameter within the broad literary context and to identify its individual characteristics.

Keywords: стиховедение, ритмика, verse studies, rhythmics, New Peasant poetry, trochaic tetrameter, poetry of Sergey Esenin, новокрестьянская поэзия, четырехстопный хорей, поэзия Сергея Есенина