RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE IN THE SCOTTISH AMERICAN EMIGRATIONAL POETRY OF THE XIXTH CENTURY

Abstract

The paper deals with the religious aspect of the Scottish American emigrational poetic discourse of the XIXth century. The purpose of the article is to consider the impact of faith on the literary works of Scottish poets-emigrants, as well as analyze the transformation of the Faith itself in new sociocultural conditions. The main trend in religious life was the development of Neoprotestant movement which to a large extent explains the main characteristics of religious discourse. The following features of the religious texts of the Scottish poets-emigrants are revealed: 1) the reduction of religious images and motives (weakening or losing of the cult of the Virgin Mary and Saints); 2) the secularization of religious images and motifs (the image of Christ is considered as Christ-«friend», Christ-«Brother», Christ-«family» close and open to any collaborations); 3) emphasis on emotions, not on metaphysics (increasing the of emotional vocabulary, «touching» plots and situations, the dominance of «gentle» and «sad» emotions).