Artistic Concepts:

Insights from
Cognitive-
Discursive and
Linguo-Poetic
Perspectives
N AT A L I I A R O M A N Y S H Y N

LV I V P O LY T E C H N I C N AT I O N A L
UNIVERSITY
• Ukrainian lingual-conceptual studies;
• Definitions;
• Cognitive-discursive perspective:
The role and place of artistic concepts in the
structure of a literary / poetic text;
• Lingual poetic aspect of artistic conceptualization;
• Methodology;
• Examples
Conceptual
literary studies

studies in
communicative
poetics
linguistics

modern
Ukrainian Stylistics discourse

Linguistics
Ethnolinguistics metaphor
The unity and
interconnectedness of these
perspectives,

the foregrounding of either cogniti linguo-

perspective should be ve- poetic
viewed as a theoretical discurs perspe
maneuver ive ctives
Cognitive-
discursive
perspective
• Artistic concept:

• an element of the poet's consciousness

• a deep meaning

• a tightly condensed semantic structure

within the text
• psychological complexityambiguity

• associativity

• symbolism
Artistic concepts:
Inherently dialogic; resonate with a variety of significant viewpoints and infuse the entire structure of a
work, often extending beyond its confines into broader cultural realms; evolve, adapt, and sometimes
distort, accruing more meaning than initially infused ; "associative boundlessness"; embody diverse
constants, archetypal, existential, and transcendent qualities, universal and culturally specific
values ; "active centers" within the artwork, invigorated anew by specific circumstances and the
historical context

• An artistic concept is a dynamic element of the

artistic worldview, a linguo-cognitive unit created
from the interactions between the author’s and the
recipient's artistic consciousness within the
artistic text-world. It is distinguished by its
semantic richness, unlimited interpretative
potential, and aesthetic importance, and it reflects
the culturally and socially influenced content. The
artistic concept permeates the entire literary
spectrum, including individual works, an author’s
body of work, literary movements, and epochs,
and extends beyond these boundaries into the
cultural constants of a nation.
• Cognitive structures of varying
complexity and abstraction formed in the
act of artistic communication perform
pragmatic, ideological, and aesthetic
functions.

Artistic concepts
not rigidly fixed; they can expand
and be enriched depending on the
spatial and temporal distance
between the author and the
recipient, the socio-historical
context of reception.
The role and
place of artistic
concepts in the
structure of a
literary / poetic
text
 Lingual poetic
aspect of artistic
conceptualization
• Conceptual meanings arise from the intricate interplay of all textual details within various
relational systems: associative imagery emerging from the interplay between the denotative and
connotative meanings of language units, expressive stylistic elements, narrative-compositional
techniques.
• addressing the relationship between "form and content" and "meaning and sense"

• "internal" and "external" layers

• The role of poetic language
Methodology:
contextual-interpretive method
The vector of analytical procedures entails
the movement from textual material to the
single artistic concept / selected concepts, to
the description of the conceptual model of the
work, determining the place of specific
artistic concept / concepts or conceptual
dominants in the author's individual artistic
system.
• The stage of contextualization:
• Identifying the system of explicit concept’s nominations:
the so called “strong positions of the text”
• isolating a system of thematically and content-wise
connected textual verbal fragments within a single artistic-
semantic plane.
• Identifying the system of macro- and micro-context with
"complex," "implicit," and ambiguous forms of activation of
the relevant concept/concepts
• The stage of interpretation: coordinated analytical
operations aimed at extracting textual meaning moving from
the particular to the general and vice versa, since
understanding the whole is possible based on
comprehending its homogeneous and heterogeneous parts.
Procedures • Revealing lingual-poetic aspects of the text through
stylistic, lexical-semantic, and associative-semantic
analysis
• Revealing pragmatic characteristics of the text and the role
of pragmatic meanings in verbalizing axiological, ethical,
and emotional aspects of poetic conceptualization;

• Cognitive-semiotic analysis to identify the system of

symbols in the artistic text and interpret them from the
perspective of embodied conceptual meanings.
• Identifying extralinguistic factors of text creation and
interpretation, elucidating the characteristics of the author's
worldview in a broad cultural, intellectual, religious
context, and the individual psychological foundations of
poetic creativity
Conceptualization of
human being-space
relations based on the
William Wordsworth’s
poetries Lucy Grey or
Solitude and George
and Sarah Green
Lucy Grey or Solitude

a symbol-allegory of human solitude and existence is considered legitimate: the journey and its barriers (space – field, peak, marsh;
elements – storm, snowdrifts) symbolize tragic destiny and life; a young girl – the symbol of the vulnerability of a solitary
individual, a human being as a toy plaything at the mercy of fate.

• The conceptual domain of "movement" encompasses verbal structures

that denote the purpose and direction of movement ; as well as
characteristics of movement ; nouns such as "The print of Lucy's feet,"
"footmarks," and numerous expressions indicating the trajectory of
movement and wandering.
• The conceptual domain of "space" is represented by linguistic elements
like "the moor," "the bridge of wood," "the steep hill's edge," "the
broken hawthorn hedge," "the long stone-wall," "an open field," "the
snowy bank," and "the middle of the plank."
• The conceptual domain of "natural phenomena"

• The conceptual domain of "the state of the subject"

George And Sarah Green:
poem’s rich metaphorical layers: the grave symbolizes both death and a release into tranquility. Each thematic "slice" opens avenues
for a symbolic reading of the Human motif in space, presenting life’s meaning, human values, and the determinism of fate, dictated
by higher, unyielding powers.

• Conceptual domains of movement (illustrated by phrases like "wife

and husband roam; Not many steps: A few short steps; For 'any'
dwelling-place of man / As vainly did they seek"), natural elements
("By night, upon these stormy fells"), and rugged landscapes
("those sternly-featured hills"). These lexical elements in the
context evoke (akin to the previous poem) associations of life as a
journey or a wander through dark spaces.
• Sound: "voice was heard; lonely shriek" symbolizing alienation and
despair.
• - Death: Phrases like "He perished; A body without life; O darkness
of the grave; That last and dreary living one; O sacred marriage-bed
of death, / That keeps them side by side" intensify the narrative’s
grim tone.
• - Psychological state : Contrasting states of suffering and
tranquility
Conclusions • In Wordsworth's poetic discourse, the interaction between
humans and their environment is nuanced and complex. This
complexity primarily manifests in the changing dynamics of
how the environment influences the individual's state and
how the individual's psychological and spiritual state in turn
impacts the environment. Moreover, the loss of land and
property, traditionally viewed as the pinnacle of value and
purpose, precipitates the physical and spiritual collapse of
individuals, leads to family breakdowns, marginalizes
certain social strata, and transforms peasants into outcasts
and criminals. This scenario also prompts a reevaluation of
moral and legal principles and blurs the distinctions
between familiar and foreign, home and abroad.
Conclusions • Space, once a nurturing and stabilizing force, becomes an
antagonistic and hostile entity that either devours its
inhabitants or fills the emptiness left by their downfall. The
adverse effects of the environment on individuals are
vividly portrayed through the layering of figurative models
that express themes of vulnerability, sacrifice, inevitability,
susceptibility to fate, and social disparity. These themes are
encapsulated in textual resources that connote destruction,
death, dissolution, exhaustion, proliferation, desiccation,
and purposeless movement. Geographic features, natural
elements, and phenomena symbolize the forces of fate and
destiny, the eternal conflict between good and evil, and the
binary of life and death, culminating in a profound sense of
social and physical estrangement.