The Methodological Potential of Poetry by Maksym Kryvtsov in Teaching Cognitive Poetics

Abstract

The article examines the theoretical and methodological framework for employing contemporary Ukrainian war poetry as source material for teaching cognitive poetics in higher education institutions. The aim of the article is to provide a theoretical and methodological justification of the didactic potential of the poetry collection “Virshi z biinysi” (Poems from the Embrasure) by Maksym Kryvtsov as a representative illustrative base for teaching a cognitive poetics course in higher education, as well as to identify and systematically describe the cognitive mechanisms underlying the construction of emotive concepts in contemporary Ukrainian war poetry. The study embraces an integrative methodology synthesising George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory, the conceptual frameworks of Zoltán Kövecses, Charles Fillmore’s frame semantics, the ethnolinguistic approach grounded in Anna Wierzbicka’s theory of semantic primitives, and Ronald Langacker’s cognitive-grammatical profiling theory. Building on the theoretical framework outlined above, the study employs a methodological apparatus comprising conceptual analysis of poetic text, metaphorical structure modelling, frame analysis, and axiological interpretation of emotive lexicon. The study identifies the architecture of the emotional concept as a three-component structure encompassing a conceptual core, an imagery-associative periphery, and an evaluative-axiological dimension. A system of dominant emotive concepts in the collection is established, including WAR, ZERO IDENTITY, LOVE–NORMALITY, FEAR–DEATH, and MUNDANITY. It has been demonstrated that in Kryvtsov’s poetry, conventional metaphorical models undergo deformation under the pressure of traumatic experience, giving way to fundamentally fresh configurations. The mechanisms of frame deformation, semantic inversion, and conceptual gradation from the corporeal to the cosmic level of representation are described. A three-tier modular teaching model (theoretical, analytical, and productive modules) spanning 4–6 contact hours has been developed, along with a system of four task types organised according to the principle of gradual complexity, ranging from receptive mapping of conceptual metaphors to independent conceptual analysis. The study concludes that “Poems from the Embrasure” constitutes methodologically productive material for a university course in cognitive poetics, owing to the synergy of its documentary authenticity, cognitive expressiveness, and axiological density. The integration of contemporary war poetry into the educational process provides a high degree of receptive relevance for twenty-first-century students, transforming the interpretation of poetic text from a formalised instructional procedure into a space of meaningful intellectual reflection on collective national experience. Prospects for further research include expanding the corpus, conducting a comparative analysis of emotive concepts across works by different authors of contemporary Ukrainian war poetry, and deepening the study of the receptive dimension of conceptual structure decoding by student audiences.