“The best poet among artists”: David Burliuk

The article is devoted to the analysis of the creative activity of the avant-garde poet of the early 20th century David Burliuk. The research is undertaken in order to identify the features of D. Burliuk’s “abstruse” experimental poetry. Comprehending the role of artistic vision in the formation of his poetic text and deciphering the features of his verbal and visual practices is of considerable importance. Against the background of the work of artists and poets of the first Russian avant-garde, the author of the article traces the patterns and trends of the birth of new art in the early 20th century and actualizes the main dominant poetic style of D. Burliuk, reveals the features of the poet’s avant-garde experimentation. In particular, the author examines the creative connection between the techniques of Burliuk the artist and Burliuk the poet, traces the tactics of visualization of verse, the introduction of graphic elements into the poetic text. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time it asserts the role of D. Burliuk not only as the organizer of futurist associations in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, not just as the “father of Russian futurism”, but also defends the idea of a gifted and original poet of the Silver Age, who was adept at all the tactics and strategies of new avant-garde poetry, its diverse techniques and methods. For the first time, interpretations of the “abstruse” elements of D. Burliuk’s poetry are proposed, and its “dark places” are deciphered. As a result, it is shown that the nature of D. Burliuk’s creative gift is diverse, it is not only artistic, but also poetic, it is not only original, but also extremely expressive and meaningful.