International Journal of Philology

The study is based on the analysis of the genre canon of the sonnet through the prism of reading the events of the 20-33s of the twentieth century, which demonstrates the scale and unusual perception of ancient heritage in the works of M. Rylsky and M. Zerov. The aim of the research is to present a new reading of refined and strict style in Ukrainian literature through the prism of the creative genius of Ukrainian neoclassicists of the first third of the last century. Materials and methods of research. Historical and culturological approaches are used in the work to understand the depth of artistic thinking and literary heritage of the Ukrainian neoclassical school. The sonnets by M. Rylsky and M. Zerov differ. Rylsky allowed deviations from the metric tone, rhyming is not always canonical. The works of M. Zerov mostly need at least a brief explanation of historical and cultural realities, names, because they are less related to modernity than Rylsky’s sonnets. They echo more with antiquity. M. Rylsky, dedicating a poem to M. Zerov, did not follow his translational style; he was not a strict copyist of ancient standards, but became a real innovator, who created unique and yet very simple, natural, transparent forms based on ancient, Ukrainian and Russian classical themes. The genre canon of the sonnet implies conceptuality. Іt is a balance between the stable and the variable, a dialogue with yourself, with the world; this is the beauty of dramatic trembles of poetic content. Finally, this is a distinctive stylistic thinking which attracts primarily the poets of the rationalist mindset

sonnet; neoclassics; European heritage; poetic tradition; ancient world