The academic paper highlights the results of studying zoomorphic metaphors of modern Ukrainian linguoculture. Poetic texts of the ХХ - ХХІ centuries were primarily the source base because the language of poetry is the natural medium of metaphor. In poetry, the potential of metaphor is fully implemented. It conveys numerous shades of meaning, and semantic nuances, as well as the purpose of influencing the reader, stimulating his creative imagination, giving aesthetic pleasure, expanding the worldview, involving in co-creation, etc. Publicistic texts containing zoomorphic metaphors were also included in the analysis. The purpose of the research was to identify the principal types of zoomorphic metaphors and to find out the features of their semantics and functions in the language of modern Ukrainian poetry and journalism. It has been established that in the Ukrainian linguoculture, the basic donor zones of zoomorphic metaphors are the concepts of animals, birds, domestic animals, reptiles, and insects. A separate donor zone in Ukrainian linguoculture is the wing concept. Based on these donor zones, the types of zoomorphic metaphors were determined. Most zoomorphic metaphors recorded in Ukrainian poetry and journalism are traditional in their form using and implemented content. They have a distinct ethnocultural color and are connected with mythology. The rest of the metaphors are individually and authorial, arising based on the similarity of the compared concepts. All zoomorphic metaphors are divided into three groups according to the presence of an additional evaluative value: metaphors with a positive emotional and evaluative value, metaphors with a negative emotional and evaluative value, and metaphors with a neutral value. Metaphors of positive evaluation are noticeably predominant in Ukrainian poetry. They create specific sensory images of nature and objects and characterize a person and his mental state. The research proved that zoomorphic metaphors are frequently employed in the English language to convey figurative meanings by likening human characteristics or actions to those of animals. These metaphors utilize the traits, behaviors, or physical attributes of diverse animals to enrich the description or comprehension of a specific subject. It was acknowledged that the prevalence and characteristics of zoomorphic metaphors in the English language may diverge from those observed in Ukrainian linguoculture. The particular attributes, cultural associations, and symbolic interpretations assigned to various animals can vary across different languages and cultures.

During its long existence, Christianity had a powerful influence on the development of world culture in general and Ukrainian culture in particular. The Bible and other Christian texts determined the formation of the aesthetic foundations of ancient Ukrainian literature and became an inexhaustible source for the creativity of Ukrainian writers of the new era. Today's tragic events actualized in the country’s cultural space religious texts of various genres and themes, which in the literary and artistic sphere became a powerful source of language and expressive means, as well as new contents and ideas. The modern poetic reception of Christian texts preserves the durability of the national literary tradition and at the same time is characterized by numerous different types of innovations. Through the concepts of Christian culture, their reinterpretation, the authors convey the tragedy of the events, the difficult trials that once again befell the fate of the Ukrainian people, and at the same time support and inspire people. The recorded units are divided into groups (1) concepts of God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and biblical figures (Simon, Pilate, Judas, St. Peter), (2) biblical toponymic concepts, (3) concepts of mythical creatures (angels, beast; animals), (4) object concepts (cross, thirty pieces of silver, cup). It is natural that the concepts of the first and second groups are the most used in modern Ukrainian poetry, and the concepts of the third and fourth groups are less used. The artistic reception of Christian concepts in war poetry is diverse in terms of form and method of use, realized content and functional significance, and frequency of actualizations. Despite the differences in the stylistic and worldview-aesthetic direction of the artists’ creativity, they have in common an appeal to Christianity as the spiritual core of national culture. Concepts of Christian culture are emotional and meaningful clots of collective memory, spiritual culture, which deepen the content of poetic texts, appealing to universal values, evoking a wide range of associations. The actualization and reinterpretation of these concepts helps convey the tragedy of the events, the difficult trials that befell the Ukrainian people, and at the same time support and inspire people. Their use in poetic texts testifies to the bibliocentricity of the linguistic thinking of Ukrainian authors.

The problem of language aggression, hostility, and contempt is one of the most acute in the modern world. The rapid spread of this phenomenon is associated with the development of the Internet and social networks, which led to revolutionary changes in people's communication and the emergence of new types of socio-political interaction. The accessibility of internet resources, the absence of communication barriers that are present in real life, and the speed of information transmission have greatly expanded social contacts. The growth of language aggression, hostility, and contempt in society and the resulting need to invent and implement models of nonviolent language interaction have created new areas for research for Ukrainian linguists. The purpose of the study is to define such concepts as language aggression, hostility, and contempt; to identify the dominant areas of language aggression, hostility, and contempt in the Ukrainian political internet discourse. Language aggression, hostility, and contempt are aimed at humiliating other people or a group of people. The most frequent stereotypes of aggression are associated with discrediting based on political views, ethnicity, language views, less often – gender, age, religion, social status, etc.

Metaphors of nature are very important in the works of Ukrainian poets M. Rylskyi and L. Kostenko. Metaphors of nature are a means of expressing key artistic ideas and a marker of individual style, and an indicator of the dynamics of figurative language. For M. Rylskyi and L. Kostenko, nature is a source of inspiration and an object of poetic image. Through the metaphorization of the concepts of nature, the authors realize a wide range of ideas about the eternal problems of mankind. Most often metaphorical expression in the poetic texts of M. Rylskyi and L. Kostenko have traditional for the lyrics images of the seasons (autumn, spring, summer, winter), flora (forest, individual trees (willow, oak), atmospheric phenomena, rain, snow, fog, wind), parts of the day (evening), reservoirs (river). A separate subject of metaphorization is nature, the world as a whole. Most of these metaphors profile the beauty and perfection of nature, but often have the semantics of time, memory, recollection, will, freedom. Metaphors of nature in the poetic texts of M. Rylskyi and L. Kostenko are characterized by a synthesis of intellectualism and emotionality. In the poetic texts of artists, they contribute to the realization of the author’s intentions and at the same time preserve the connection with tradition and show signs of a particular artistic style (romanticism, classicism, realism). Metaphors of nature evolve with the development of language creativity of artists, which is manifested in the associative and semantic-grammatical complication of the structure and expansion of the functions of these metaphors.

The friend – foe dichotomy, as a special way of categorising reality, is at the heart of ethnic self-consciousness, building the world around a person. The interpretation "friend" and "foe" is invariably axiological. "Friend" refers to a personal possessor, a socio-cultural group that is identified based on various types of similarity, where "correct", "native", "close", "safe" is perceived as positive. The conceptual model "foe" is the opposition: everything "other", "strange", "unusual", "wrong" is perceived negative. The axiologiness of this opposition is relative and depends on the ethical attitudes of an ethnic group based on the conceptualisation of the friend – foe dichotomy from the standpoint of the binary opposition I – Other; the factors, mechanisms, and results of interaction between the components of the opposition are clarified; the content transformations of the friend – foe dichotomy are traced; the identification function of the latter is updated in the context of modernity. For Ukraine, where the identity development has happened to be incredibly complicated by the incongruity of value, foreign, and political orientations, the issue of borderline, "border strategies", the presence of the "friend" / "foe" dichotomy in the socio-cultural space is extremely relevant.