IAMBIC TETRAMETER OF VL. KHODASEVICH

This paper aims at summing up a several-year research on the versification of Vladislav Khodasevich. It provides a detailed analysis of the most relevant features of each of the five Khodasevich’s books of poems. The iambic tetrameter is the main metric form in four poetic books out of five (Putem zerna being the exception). The comparison of rhythmic curves creates an illusion of his following the tradition of the 19th century in the second and third books, shows the Pushkin-type rhythm in the fourth book (Heavy Lyre) and the most classical and traditional iamb belongs to the last book — European night. But the feeling of a new, smooth and even modern manner of this book makes us think that there is not a sufficiently persuasive foundation for the well-known statements about the fact that all the formal characteristics of Khodasevich’s verse contradict all the features common for his time.The study of all the rhythmical forms of the iambic tetrameter (just for this purpose we created a new computer programme that makes a duet with a human, which helps to almost completely avoid statistical mistakes) allows us to conclude that the rhythmical manner of Khodasevich is autonomous and individual. His largely believed «return to the Pushkin standard on all possible levels» is an exaggeration.