"The Portrait" by A. K. Tolstoy: Poetics and Literary Context

Student: Aleksandrova Maria

Educational Programme: Philology (Bachelor)

Year of Graduation: 2017

Partly biographical poem by A. K. Tolstoy "the Portrait" (1875) is based on one of the most common literary plots: the main character falls in love with an image (sculptural or pictorial) which then becomes alive. Autobiographical and fictional in this poem engage in a complex interaction: the traditional romantic story becomes personally significant and plays a key role in the character’s fate, while the circumstances of the writer's childhood are rather mystified. This work is devoted to evince an intratextual interaction between autobiographical and fictional, present and past, and is dedicated to reveal the hidden fantastic part, which reflects the historical, political, and artistic viewpoints of the poet.

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