Abstract
The article considers the development of scientific approaches to the study of composite formation in the Russian language. Compounding is described as an intermediate link between the morphological and syntactic methods of word formation, combining the features of both systems. The main stages of the formation of linguistic ideas about composites are covered - from the works of A.A. Potebnya and V.V. Vinogradov to modern cognitive and functional-semantic studies. Particular attention is paid to the role of composites in a poetic text as an expressive means of the author's idiostyle and a carrier of cultural symbolism. It is shown that compound words have a high potential for the analysis of the linguistic and artistic picture of the world, and are an important object of modern linguistics.