The article will consider such a thing as a verliber. What is it, what are its features, history and differences from related forms - we will talk about all this. Let's start with the definition.
Features of Verliber
Russian free verse is a phenomenon that causes a lot of controversy. Literary scholars, critics and poets debate about where the verliber comes from, what it is, what its “age” is ... There is even debate about whether this term is appropriate to use. Nevertheless, in modern science, based on the work of scientists from 1910-1920, mainly Yu. Tynyanov (his portrait is presented below), a fairly clear approach has been developed to understand what a verbal is in literature.
This is a special type of versification, which is characterized by the consistent rejection of any "secondary signs" characteristic of verbal speech: syllable meter, rhyme, isosyllabism, isotonia and regular stanza. The absence of these signs helps us determine the verliber. What is it, you better understand based on the comparison with related forms, which is presented at the end of the article.
The emergence of the verlibre
The verliber, understood in this way, could only appear in a country where the national system of verse was developed to a high degree. Such were the French and German versification in the 19th century, and at the beginning of the next - English and Russian. With the external similarity of the preliterate forms of a verse, mainly a prayer book, with today's verbal, it must be recognized that these are completely dissimilar phenomena in historical terms. The folklore, oral "pre-verb" appeared before the tradition of "not free" verse in our country. This tradition has operated for three centuries. And the modern one was formed from the “pre-calibrator”. It appeared through the authors' gradual abandonment of certain external signs of the verse as the need for them disappeared both for the poets themselves and for the readers, who became more and more sophisticated.
It should be said that individual works that are "similar" to the verb are still in the 19th and even in the 18th centuries found in Russian poetry. A. Sumarokov (his portrait is presented above), for example, in 1747 published 19 texts in a book he created, where transcriptions of psalms were placed. The subheadings that provided these texts are as follows: "just like in Hebrew." They look for a modern researcher quite complete free poems.
Russian verliber in the 19th century
Many poems without a meter, rhyme and other traditional signs are found among poets of the 19th century, who translated French or German authors and freely imitated them, in a manner characteristic of that era. Among these authors, one can distinguish I. Turgenev, A. Fet, M. Mikhailov. Finally, Nikolai Yazykov (his portrait is presented above) in 1840, in his comic poem entitled “When would the Parnassian ruler ...” performed an experiment that became very popular among supporters of a free verse, and (especially) among his opponents at 20 century. Nikolai Yazykov wrote in the form of prose the metric rhymed part of his message, and in the “column” - the one that was devoid of the signs inherent in the verse, that is, it was a verbal (what you already know). These examples, like other similar ones, nevertheless, have one thing in common. Sergei Kormilov, a modern poet, suggested calling her marginality. The fact is that this poetry (verbiber) is, as it were, "on the sidelines" of the development of literature - in translations, parodies, transcriptions, comic poems.
The development of Russian verliber in the 20th century
The above applies to the first experiments of a free verse of the middle of the last century. At M. Kuzmin, K. Balmont and V. Bryusov, they appear mainly in the form of free imitations of foreign poets. And at the same Kuzmin, as well as at L. Semenov and A. Dobrolyubov - and in the form of a direct imitation of a spiritual folk verse. As for N. Roerich, his verlibres are poems that accumulate the wisdom of the East. However, at the same time, in our country, the first samples of a marginalized, pure veryber appeared.
We find his examples in the works of Gippius, Blok, Kamensky, Sologub, Kruchenykh, Guro, Khlebnikov ... Probably, it would be easier to name the poets of the Silver Age who never turned to the verliber than those who turned to him.
Free verse is illegal
Russian free verse in the 1920-30s shared the fate common to many phenomena of domestic literature. At first it was declared the so-called orthodox type of proletarian art. A little later, during the years of "studying with the classics," he began to be considered the product of the decomposition of bourgeois art. This, in fact, put the verliber outlawed. Authors who in the middle of the century worked interestingly and fruitfully with this form of verse (G. Obolduev, V. Mazurin, S. Neldyhen, D. Harms) were deleted from the literature.
Rehabilitation
It was only in the late 1950s and early 1960s that the verliber again emerged from the underground. However, his return did not last long: it seemed that an official ideological ban was lifted from him, but the taste, editorial barrier (no less stringent) continued to operate. Rare publications by N. Rylenkov, K. Nekrasova, V. Soloukhin, and V. Burich’s verbalists have invariably been accompanied by negative criticism from the state. However, at the same time, without advertising, such free masters of Russian poetry as I. Selvinsky, N. Ushakov, E. Vinokurov, K. Simonov, B. Slutsky, D. Samoilov, L. Ozerov, A. Voznesensky publish their free poems. , A. Yashin, V. Bokov, O. Shestinsky - authors related to a variety of areas in literary work.
"Time of the verliber"
In the years 1980-1990, the "time of the verliber." This term was taken from a poem of the same name by Tatyana Danilyants, a Moscow poetess (pictured above). At this time, poems without a meter and rhyme suddenly begin to be published in all magazines and newspapers, almanacs and copyright collections. And now a new conflict arises around the domestic verliber. Those who wrote to them for several decades, begin to fight for the "purity of the genre." They begin to oppose various kinds of polymetric hybrid forms in which the verliber proper (unregulated in principle) is adjacent to the metric, rhymed and other “strict” forms.
The distinction between "verliber" and "free verse"
The authors, representing a new wave, who did not have to experience the full weight of the press, under whose oppression the seemingly dry and laconic free verse of V. Kupriyanov, A. Mets, V. Burich, on the contrary, demanded to call polymetric forms free. They rightly believed (from the point of view of common sense, of course, and not from the terminological one) that any restriction of freedom, including the fundamental rejection of the signs of a verse that have been traditionally accepted, is non-freedom. Thus, the distinction between “verliber” and “free verse” arose, which completely confused both the authors of the works and the readers. In reality, as mentioned above, in the science of poetry today there is a strict system of concepts. In it, the verlibre (free verse) is a very definite literary phenomenon. As for mounting, polymetric, hybrid and other similar forms, for them there are their own, also quite strict and specific names. Most poets, however, understand this very well. For the most part, discussions are held for advertising and other non-literary purposes.
Activities of K. Dzhangirov
"The Anthology of the Russian Verlibre" is a famous collection compiled by Karen Dzhangirov. It was published in 1991. This collection includes verlibres of modern Russian poets. It is notable for being one of the first of its kind. By the way, Karen Dzhangirov is considered the maestro of Russian free verse. In the 1980s, he changed the position of this form of poetry in our country, democratizing it, making it accessible to both authors and readers.
Verliber and other forms
So, it is believed that the veriber is a literary term that is characterized by the following features: it has neither rhyme nor size, and its lines are not ordered by length. However, in order to determine more precisely, it is necessary to separate the following concepts: white verse, verliber, chopped prose, verses in prose.
Chopped prose
For some reason, it is believed that if you make a miniature text in prose in the form of fragmentary lines, you get a free verse. This is so from a formal point of view. However, it is extremely important that the same passage of prose can be divided into lines in different ways. Such a "chopped prose" is often issued as a verb. Examples of poems, even free ones, nevertheless differ from prose, although the text of the latter can be quite melodic. However, it is not a verbiber, since the poetic line does not appear in the process of breaking.
Poems in Prose
Poetry in prose (without rhymes) is almost the same chopped prose, but more lyrical. It is characterized by melodious, saturated intonations. It contains harmonies, elements of rhythm. Without breaking into lines such a poem should be made out. The verliber in this respect coincides with the form under consideration. The stanzas of verses in prose are a continuous text. This is a rather beautiful poetic device, but outdated. Amateur poets in our time often resort to it to hide flaws - technical or semantic.
Blank verse
The verliber should be distinguished from the white verse, which is also a type of rhymeless versification. However, it must have a rhythm and size that is the same in the lines. The text is executed in stanzas. Lack of rhyme is the only assumption. Technically, this is a fairly simple technique, but still it is poetry in which there is "sublimated meaning." All ancient poetry was built in the form of a white verse, since the tradition of rhyming versification at that time had not yet taken shape. Today, white verses are most often stylized as a folk epic. The rhyme is ignored consciously.
So, verliber is a literary term that should be distinguished from related concepts. Its synonym is the term "free verse".