Poetic language and compositional mechanisms

This article analyzes the poetic structure, compositional mechanisms, and aesthetic principles of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales. It explores how the opening and closing formulas (“Es war einmal…”, “und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind…”) create a frame that separates the narrative from reality and serve the moral closure of the tale. The author reveals the rhythmic and dramatic function of triadic repetition and three-stage structure (as described by Axel Olrik and Max Lüthi) in oral performance. Furthermore, using Vladimir Propp’s morphological model and Algirdas Greimas’s actantial schema, the article examines the driving forces, functional sequences, and the poetic naming system of characters. The functions of the motif and chronotope (based on Bakhtin’s theory) are interpreted as dramatic, liminal, and normative elements of the fairy-tale world. The study systematically uncovers the poetic mechanism of Grimm’s tales built upon simplicity, repetition, and normative closure.