The Mythical space of death and afterlife as embedded in the structure of the poetic narrative

ENThe article aims at examining the remnants of the mythical system of thought in the poetic narrative of Baltic and Germanic traditions. Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf and Lithuanian funeral laments are analysed as sources of different poetic devices which refer to ancient burial rites and mythical perception of death and afterlife. The author attempts at reconstructing an intricate system of beliefs by employing the methods of comparative Indo-European poetics and archetypal literary criticism. The mythic mode of poetic narrative (Eddic poetry) and its transformations in the mimetic mode of poetic narrative (epic poem Beowulf and Lithuanian funeral laments) are investigated in relation to the Germanic and Baltic funeral rituals. The motifs of funeral pyre, burial mound, journey, spatial orientation of the afterlife are analysed in relation to the opposition sacred/profane which is seen as the basis of mythical thought.