The Poetics of Stalker (Poetic Cinema)

This chapter examines the film’s classification as ‘poetic cinema’, defining that term in comparison to other films within that genre--notably Sergei Parajanov’s cinema, and juxtaposing this against the literal use of poetry in the film, and the history of the specific poetry of the film. This mostly focuses on Andrei Tarkovsky’s penchant for utilizing the poetry of his father Arseny Tarkovsky in nearly all of his films, and compares various translations of his poems. The film also prominently utilizes a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev, which is analyzed in this chapter as well, in comparison to a recent reimagining of the same poem in a musical composition by the popular Icelandic art-pop musician Björk.