“Английский сад” как метафора в сочинениях Н.М. Карамзина

N.M. Karamzin's views on the English garden seem to be inconsistent: in some works (like the article ‘On Gardens’), he praises it as a synthesis of nature and art, whereas in others (like the essay ‘The Countryside’), he criticizes it for its artificiality. His poem ‘Gifts’ shows the significance of art for the comprehension of natural beauty, as found in untouched nature. In Karamzin's view, the ambivalent combination of natural and artificial elements in the English garden makes it a metaphorical equivalent of an ideal society, with its balance of diversity and order.