In our daily interactions, a word does not serve merely as a collection of arbitrary signs, but as a living carrier of ideas, awakening images and emotions.

The Poetic Duality of Words

In our daily interactions, a word does not serve merely as a collection of arbitrary signs, but as a living carrier of ideas, awakening images and emotions. Entering the world of language, we often think of it as a shimmering reflection of societal conventions, where every word has only a prearranged meaning. However, when we delve deeper into words, their intuitive perception transforms into something much more multifaceted, resembling a magical bridge between the external world and our internally rich imagination.

The core of this fascinating process lies in the fact that words in poetry and artistic speech lose their conventionality, turning into an inexhaustible source of images. They begin to evoke not only specific representations but also a complex spectrum of associations, arousing an emotional response that is hard to explain in simple terms. The same term is capable of simultaneously designating something material while still leaving room for imagination—as if reminding us of the deep, somewhat enigmatic, almost Platonic idea of what it represents. In this way, language acquires duality: a rational correspondence between sign and meaning, alongside the unexpected, powerful influence of the images that gave birth to the sign.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that the true beauty of a word is revealed precisely in its ability to transport us beyond ordinary perception. Instead of a banal, memorized definition, we receive an emotional and multifaceted experience that makes communication lively and rich. It is precisely here, at the intersection of the rational and the intuitive, that poetry is born, leading us to see language as a magical force capable of awakening not only thoughts but also feelings.

How can one interpret the play on words "the word is not a sparrow, but a sparrow is a word" from the perspective of the peculiarities of language and the symbolic meaning of words?

The play on words "the word is not a sparrow, but a sparrow is a word" can be understood as a statement that words in language possess a dual nature. On one hand, they are arbitrary signs, conventionally agreed upon in society; on the other, it is only in poetic, intuitive perception that we begin to sense something more in them than just the arbitrary correspondence between sign and what it signifies.

As noted in one source:
"— So, out of the two possibilities juxtaposed in this dialogue—the correspondence of words to their meaning 'by nature' and 'by law' (or by agreement)—do you reject the latter and decisively choose the former? — Only for poetic speech and for the emergence of speech in general. In the languages studied by linguists, in rational and practical language there is nothing but the generally accepted conventional connection between signs and what they denote. But when words cease to be for us a mere two-sided coin, when we listen carefully, when we ponder them, a 'natural' connection is revealed to us, one justified by something inherent in their quality—not with their specific, unitary meaning, but with their preliminary, pre-substantial, and therefore not fully defined sense. This sense begins to appear as inherently belonging to them, and they themselves—the words of our native language—become indispensable and necessary for this sense. They hint at it, inspire precisely that meaning..." (source: link txt)

Here it is emphasized that in poetic speech, a word ceases to be merely a conventional sign—it acquires its "natural" connection with the concept it expresses, becoming an image that evokes a whole set of associations and feelings.

Furthermore, another quote from the same source illustrates how the same word can evoke different representations: it may not so much denote a specific object (for example, a sparrow on the windowsill) as awaken the image, the idea, the universal representation of it. Thus, the word "sparrow" is perceived by some not simply as the name of a particular bird, but as an image reminiscent of its "Platonic idea":
"— I hardly understand you. The word 'sparrow' suggests to you a sparrow, while a sparrow sitting on the windowsill… — It suggests nothing to me but—on occasion—reminds me that it is called 'sparrow' in Russian. Whereas the word 'sparrow' did not impress this sparrow, its image, or thoughts of it; it represented to the mind and imagination 'sparrow in general', depicted it—it was for them an immaterial entity, existing only in our thoughts as a sparrow. — Exactly some kind of Platonic idea…— Regardless of any philosophy about it" (source: link txt)

Thus, the play on words here indicates the difference between a real, concrete perception and the deeper symbolic meaning of a word. In this wordplay, it is emphasized that a word does not simply "fly" like a sparrow, carrying a message, but is a bearer of ideas and images that live in our imagination and culture. This demonstrates the complexity of the language system, where the same word can serve both a utilitarian function and bear a rich symbolic load, which is especially evident in the poetic use of language.