Poetic prayer in Ukrainian wartime artistic discourse
Nataliia Piddubna, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Professor of Professor L.A. Lysichenko Department of Ukrainian Language
H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University
29 Alchevskykh St., Kharkiv 61002, Ukraine
Е-mail: piddubnan71@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0331-0496
Heading: Articles
Language: Ukrainian
Abstract: The article analyzes the features of the verbalization of prayer as one of the main genres of religious communication in modern war poetry. In particular, the role of prayer in the poetic expression of religious feeling is clarified, it is emphasized that in the works of the war period the author’s prayer often acquires the features of a talisman, revealing an intertextual connection with precedent religious texts-deprecations. The ironic appeal to God, which sometimes borders on the denial of the Almighty, is interpreted as a manifestation of a paradoxical, or mixed, reflection of religious feeling in a person.
The main features of traditional prayer present in poetic texts are determined, including established forms of prayerful address, repeated incentive constructions, negative constructions in polysyndeton, allusions, etc. The linguistic means of fascination inherent in the author’s prayer of the war period are characterized. Attention is focused on the intimacy of prayer through the use of comparative constructions and common address. The appearance of unusual addressees in prayer, such as to the wall or ceiling, is due to the verbalization in the poetic text of the state of anxiety of the lyrical hero. The prayer to Ukraine, actualized in modern war poetry, testifies to the sacralized perception of the Motherland.
The linguistic means of sacralization of Ukraine in war poetry are analyzed, the allusiveness of modern poetic prayer is demonstrated, its connection not only with religious texts, but also with texts of oral folk art is demonstrated.
It is demonstrated that the distributive environment in modern poetic prayer creates the effect of deceived expectations, which significantly expresses the text. Attention is focused on non-normative, in particular obscene, lexical elements, and on terminological and colloquial “military” vocabulary as linguistic means of expressivization in the prayer poetic text.
Keywords: allusiveness, expressivization, intimization, linguopoetics, linguostylistic means, language game, language means, fascination.
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Received 01.04.2026 Аpproved 26.05.2026 Рublished 00.00.2026