October 11, 2025

The Philosophy of Taoism and Buddhism in Mythopoetics of the Silver Age (On the Example of the Works of K. D. Balmont and E. I. Dmitrieva)

Key Points

Taoist and Buddhist philosophical ideas significantly influenced the works of Russian poets during the Silver Age, particularly Balmont and Dmitrieva.
The study highlights the theme of 'emptiness' as a key concept in both Taoism and Buddhism, impacting literary expressions.
Cultural-typological and mythopoetic methods were utilized to analyze the transformation of these philosophies in poetry.
The significance of the concept of 'Great Emptiness' in Taoism and 'shunyata' in Buddhism was clarified, showcasing their differences.

Abstract

The article explores Taoist and Buddhist philosophical ideas, motifs, and images, as well as their transformations in the works of K. D. Balmont and E. I. Dmitrieva – Russian poets of the Silver Age. The focus of the analysis is Balmont’s poems of the 1900s and 1910s, closely related to Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, as well as Dmitrieva’s “Chinese” cycle “The Little House Under the Pear Tree” (1927). The article employs cultural-typological and mythopoetic methods with elements of comparative and motif analysis. Special attention is paid to the semantics of the key concepts of Taoism and Buddhism, and above all the concept of “emptiness” in traditional Chinese culture and in the philosophy of the Silver Age. The semantic content of the concepts of “emptiness”, “the Great Emptiness” in Taoism, and “shunyata” in Buddhism, as well as their differences, are clarified. In the course of the analysis, the significance of Taoism in the cultural space of the Silver Age is identified – both as a philosophical and mythopoetic system and as an aesthetic phenomenon.

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