“FABLER” AS A TYPE OF “EMOTIVE-I” OF THE IDENTITY OF THE CHILDREN’ POET

Abstract

The proposed research considers the constructed essence of the identity of the English-language children’s poet, in particular the principle of emotive construction. The article aims to find out the components of “emotive-I” of the identity of such a contemporary British children’s poet as Julia Donaldson, whose poetic works are popular around the world.

This paper examines the concepts “identity” and “identity of the children’s poet”, and pays attention to the proposed scientific investigations on the mechanisms of identity construction. The next step is the representation of a methodology for distinguishing the components of “emotive-I” of the identity of the children’s poet, comprising the theory of “self-concept”, a psychobiological model of the emotive event that is the basis of the approach to the distinguishing the semantic models of emotional expression.

Based on the analysis of the interviews with Julia Donaldson and poetic texts (the total amount is 20 poetic tales and stories), created from 1993 till 2017, the principle of the emotive construction of the identity of the children’s poet is interpreted, in particular the components of “emotive-I” of the author’s identity are constituted. The article identifies the cognitive, affective, and behavioural components that allow to determine the “fabler” as the type of “emotive-I” of Julia Donaldson’s identity.

In the process of the research, Julia Donaldson’s rhyming tales and stories have been analyzed using the following scheme: the fairy tale’s type, the age of readers, the rhyme scheme, the story line and compositional scheme, the system of the characters, the chronotope, the correlation of the title, three-dimensionality and the other features of the tale, the linguistic and stylistic features of the verbalization of the “fabler” as a type of “emotive-I” of Julia Donaldson’s identity, the representation of the other types of “emotive-I” of the identity of the children’s poet.

The article provides an example of the analysis of Julia Donaldson’s rhyming tale “What The Ladybird Heard” concerning the actualization of such a kind of “emotive-I” of the identity of the children’s poet as the “fabler”. The method of the linguistic descriptions has revealed the linguistic and stylistic features that allow to distinguish the other types of “emotive-I”. Thus, in the rhyming tale “What The Ladybird Heard”, “optimist”, “joker”, and “humourist” are actualized as the types of “emotive-I” of the identity of the children’s poet.

The research concludes with the representation of the quantitative correlation of the types of “emotive-I” of the identity of Julia Donaldson in the children’s poetic discourse, and describing the opportunities for further investigation of the identity of the children’s poet.