Symbolic content of the concept youth (based on Еnglish literary discourse)

Abstract

Symbol is one of the central notions belonging to different scientific fields: philosophy, philology, psychology, cultural studies, art history. At various times the notion of symbolism was different. The topicality of youth and its return recreates symbolic meaning of the concept YOUTH actualised in artistic and literary discourse, which is a kind of reflection of the ideas and images that occur in members of English society with the appeal to the investigated concept.

The purpose of research is seen in the study of verbalization specifications, which implicate or explicate the symbolic meaning of the concept in the literary discourse. The tasks of the research are the following: to outline the general theoretical background of the study of symbol in terms of different scientific approaches; using interpretative text analysis, to describe associative chains, underlying the symbol of youth return and preservation, formed in the minds of members of the English culture.

There is a number of proofs that the theme of youth return and preservation is a fairly common for members of English society. The major one is the existence of language means revealing such an idea. Mostly it is a central component of the phrase expressed by the verb, combined with the age lexeme И?young’. There is also a clear evidence in the literature that often the author is allegedly trying to “rejuvenate” its “not quite young” heroes, giving them the appropriate features and turning their memories at the time of their youth. As a result, there is confrontation between present and past, embodied in the desire to return the youth. Thus, the symbol of youth return is seen in the implementation of comparison of specific features between people of different age groups with young representatives.

The results confirm the universal, multidimensional and arhetypical nature of the symbol, that was manifested by many scholars in various scientific fields.

Conclusion: The inclusion of symbolic motivation in the semantics of the concept is the result of a long way of symbolizing literary speech based on associative connections through its regular use in a standard environment. As a result, a concept that once meant a symbolic action / situation begins to function as a symbol of the situation. Prospects of the research are associated with the study of symbolic content of the concept YOUTH based on a more representative material.