Abstract

The article discusses the dispute of Romantics with Classicists, however, it does not raise literary or ideological issues around which the discussion was held, but selected elements of Romantic rhetoric. The analysis comprises the image of Classicists and Classicist art emerging from the texts of their critics. Special attention has been paid to the use of the word “dead” and related words. It seems that this word is a kind of a key – tracing its meanings, contexts of use and attributed to it value judgment allows to recreate main postulates of the new trend in art, as well as pay attention to creating the image of the opponent, which takes place in the texts discussed. Finally, it becomes the starting point for indicating elements of similar rhetoric in contemporary literary polemics.