Mystic motifs in silver age poetry and prose

Abstract

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a feeling of crisis, which overlapped different spheres of public life. Reality seemed vague and bleak, the future uncertain. At the same time it was a period of an intensive philosophical and religious quest, a search for values, which produced new forms and ideas in art and literature. It was Russian Symbolism that reflected the spirit of the time to the greatest extent. One of the recurrent themes both in poetry and prose of the Silver Age authors was the interaction of the world of the living and that of the dead. Love for Symbolists was mostly a tragic, mysterious, poignant feeling, and lovers were often doomed to part or to die. However, those who lose their beloved always feel their presence and continue to communicate with their souls which is brightly reflected in their poetry and prose.