The first collection of poems by the Armenian poet Avetik Isahakyan, “Songs and Wounds” (1898), was warmly received by both the reading public and literary circles. Critics particularly praised the folkloric element of Isahakyan’s poetry, the unique interweaving of national and universal emotions. This first collection became the cornerstone upon which Isahakyan’s unique style and poetic thinking, as well as the key features of his lyrical hero, were formed.
In an effort to overcome the pathetic and sober patriotism of Romantic literature, Armenian poetry of the late 19th century made an open transition to folkloric elements, national spirit and thoughts, guiding the development of our poetry in a new direction. Isahakyan’s “Songs and Wounds” became one of the clearest manifestations of this tendency. Elements of Armenian folk poetry found their expression not only through the borrowing and imitation of motifs, moods, and poetic imagery, but also through the imitation of metrical forms.
The greatest influence on Isahakyan’s early poetry was the folklore of Shirak, with which he was familiar since childhood. Isahakyan was undoubtedly familiar with and influenced by the first attempts to collect and publish examples of Shirak folklore in the second half of the 19th century. This article is the first attempt to explore the connection between the metrical forms of Isahakyan’s first collection and folk poetry, conducting a comparative analysis of several works. It is known that brevity, short lines, and metrical units are characteristic of folk songs and rhymes. Isahakyan’s first collection also features a predominance of short meters, with a combination of 8- and 7-syllable lines (approximately 70 percent of the poems). It should be noted that this meter was Isahakyan’s preferred form of poetry during the first two decades and became a hallmark of his poetic style.