The object of the study is the notion “absence” referring to the basic abstract notions that play a significant role in the conceptual system of any language and are of social and cultural significance. The subject of the research includes poetic contexts in which this notion is represented. Poetic texts have not been chosen by random since it is in them that the reflection of the perception of “absence” reveals the cognitive potential of personalities who individually select and use verbal means that convey this notion. The study of the mechanisms of the formation and representation of the notion “absence” in a poetic text is carried out taking into account the principle of anthropocentrism as a fundamental one in cognitive linguistics. Linguocognitive analysis based on the theory of prototypical description of lexico-grammatical phenomena makes it possible to identify a wide range of representation of the notion “absence” in poetic discourse.