YOUR MISTRESS OR MINE? BRIUSOV, BLOK AND THE BOUNDARIES OF POETIC "PROPRIETY".

The article uses the poem "La belle dame sans merci," by Valerii Briusov as rich test case to examine how Russian Symbolist poets delineated poetic propriety in their verse. Topics mentioned include occupation of the study of intertext with the distinguishing of subtextual allusions, convergence of imagery and topoi within the older decadent and younger mythopoetic camps, and an instance of territorial anxiety and the workings of poetic propriety in Russian Symbolism.