ELIZABETH STEWART’S POEM THE TERRIBLE BEAST: HISTORY OF TEXT AND POETICS OF SPACE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the children’s poem by the Siberian poet Elizabeth Stewart (1906–1984), first published in 1935 under the title Fear has Big Eyes. In 1935–1965, the poem was published in the poet’s author’s collections six times, three times under the title Terrible Beast. In 1938, under this title, it was published as a separate book. Critics’ reviews of the poem have been collected and systematized. The space of the poem is analyzed in detail. It is shown that it reflects that stage in a child’s development when he can navigate well in a room and in an apartment, moves freely in this space, communicates with adults, but does not yet have even a vague idea of geography. The literary and cultural implications of the poem are shown. An unpublished version of the poem, which was made by the author during the years of persecution of “cosmopolitans” (1948–1953), is analyzed. She was accused of being out of touch with modernity and of disrespecting the child. Because of her noble origins and non-Russian aristocratic surname, Elizabeth Stewart was repeatedly persecuted in literary criticism. An assumption has been made that the subtext of the poem contained the memory of the aesthetics of Nikolai Gumilyov.

Keywords: children’s literature, children’s poetry, Elizabeth Stewart, image of space, Nikolai Gumilyov, literary criticism in Siberia