Vėjo vaizdinys lietuvių poezijoje

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Vėjas; Poezija; Prasmė; Metafora; Ženklas; Wind; Poetry; Mental image; Meaning; Metaphor; Sign.

ENThe sum total of individual metaphors defining one fragment of the reality shows the specifics of thinking and feeling of the authors (and of the linguistic society, to which the authors belong), their abilities of the cognition of the world, principles of structuration. The aim of the paper is to identify the features and actions attributed to wind. The fragments of 248 poems, written by 102 Lithuanian poets, have been analysed. The horizontal air stream in poetry is denoted by the noun vėjas (wind), less often by the diminutives vėjelis ‘weak wind’, vėjūkštis ‘naughty wind’, words indicating the direction of the air stream rytys (east wind), pietys (south wind). It is common to talk about a strong, angry, sharp, consequently, unpleasant phenomenon of nature. Only the wind of spring or early morning is lovely: calm, warm, gentle. The poets focus their attention on the most distinct feature of wind, on moving in space. Moving is usually defined as elemental, uncontrolled: the wind hustles, roams, wanders, rampages, crawls, coils, etc., it is seldom steady. The actions are usually followed by the sounds. These features permit identifying wind with living beings able to talk, sing, whine, howl, squeak, crow, gnaw, etc.: with a person (vagabond, stray, crazy man, monk, shepherd, robber, thief, sweeper, flutist, miller, baker, prince, young man, child), predator (beast, lion, wolf, dog, cat, kitten, hare), rodent (rat, mouse), bark beetle, flyer (bird, stork, cock, moth), reptile (snake, adder, boa), eel. The wind is also called a plant (bush, rose, lily), a water-stream (rain, wave).Wind in poetry performs most various things, for example, sweeps the sky, rolls the sun, scatters the cobweb, combs the birch-trees, spins the leaves. In this case wind is perceived as a part of body of a living being or an instrument held by a living being – the following metaphors are mentioned in poetry: eyes, lips, hands, cupped hands, fingers, claws, hair, plait, mane, tail, wings; broom, arrow, sword, needle, net, leash, lap, curtain of the wind. The actions condition the change in the state of the object and the object that is acted upon: wind tears away its wings, dies out of breath, gnaws round the star, blows out the candle, etc. The field of the activity of wind is very broad: from the sky to the heart. The colour of wind is sometimes indicated: it has a light tone – white, yellow, grey, bluish, greenish. The hue is dictated by the environment or the object, with which wind is identified. For example, the wind acting in a snowy winter is white, while the green wind is still young, maturing. Fragrant, breathing wind reminds of what is lovely and enjoyable. Conceptually, on the level of ideas wind is perceived as spree, freedom, rumble, delirium, shiver, pride, change, treat, memory, promise, favour. [From the publication]