The Early Pasternak's Mythopoetic Images

The article discusses some aspects of the early Pasternak's poetry, in particular of two poems, ‘The Urals for the First Time’ and ‘Mirror’. The author discusses the device of metonymy, as well as images in these poems that can be seen as operating as the device of “making strange”, as formulated by Viktor Shklovskii. Here the motif of the railroad is especially important. Other motifs can be considered as rooted in ancient mythology, in particular in ancient Oriental (Hittite) poetry. Jakobson's discussion of the statue coming alive is also relevant in this context.