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- U k r a i n i a n W o m a n - Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) Taras Shevchenko “whose ge nius was rooted in the people while yet rem aining in tune w ith the advanced aspirations of the age”1 is an unique figure in world literature. Born a serf, he rose to the greatest heights of fam e in his own land and became not only U kraine’s greatest poet, but also a national prophet, a spiritual leader of his people. Shevchenko’s life was full of hardships. Born into poverty and serfdom and orphaned at an early age, Shevchenko spent his youth traveling as his m aster’s servant. Thanks to his extraor dinary talent for painting, he was “discovered” by some a rt ists, who collaborated in buying Shevchenko’s freedom for 2,500 rubles, when he was 24 years old. Of his 47 years of life only 9 were free. Subsequently, Shev chenko entered the St. P eters burg Academy of A rt, and upon graduation began to make his living as a “free a rtist.” In 1840 the first volume of his poetry, Kobzar, appeared in print. This soon was followed by Haydamaky, a long epic, publish ed in 1841. Shevchenko’s poetry attracted immediate attention. It was “received w ith great en thusiasm in his native country, and made the name of the author immediately celebrated in the U kraine.”2 Having settled in Kiev, Shev chenko joined a secret society —- the Brotherhood of SS. Cyril and Methodius, which advocated reli gious freedom, education of the people and abolition of serfdom, as well as the transform ation of the Russian empire into a federa tion of autonomous nations. For his membership in this secret so ciety, as well as for his writings, which glorified the Ukrainian past and attacked the feudal sys tem and the Russian domination of Ukraine, Shevchenko was im prisoned and sentenced “to ban ishm ent and to m ilitary service, for life, w ithout promotion, as a common soldier.”3 He was sent to the Asiatic frontier of Russia “with the express prohibition of all w riting and drawing.”4 Ten years of Shevchenko’s life were spent in this b itter exile. His friends were finally able to ob tain his release, but his health was gone, and he died after only four years in freedom. Shevchenko began his literary career as a Romantic poet. He used the Cossack past and the wealth of U krainian folklore as inexhaustible sources of poetical them es and subjects. To Shev chenko, however, U krainian his tory was “not only a source of sad memories and melancholy m editations, but an open wound th a t continued to bleed.”5 From the early folklore and historical ballads Shevchenko turned to powerful socio-political poetry, in which he expressed his hatred of tyranny and of slavery, and his belief in the ultim ate victory of rig h t and justice. He looked with adm iration tow ard the United States of America, and in one of his poems expressed a longing for an U krainian George W ashington “with a new and righteous law.”6 Shevchenko’s genius tran s cends the boundaries of his own nation. As Clarence A. Manning, an American authority on Uk rainian literature, put it: “He expressed the sufferings of hum anity, the evil of in ju st ice and wrong, the need and in evitability of the trium ph of right, of kindness, and of broth erly love. His poems . . . have a message for all hum anity and are an appeal for a better, a tru er, a more decent life for all men and women everywhere.”7 1 Janko M atthews Lavrin, “U krain ian L iterature,” Cassell’s Encyclope dia of W orld L iterature, ed. S. H. Steinberg, p. 564. (1953). 2 D. Doroshenko, Taras Shevchen ko (W innipeg: U krainian Publishing Company, 1936), p. 18. ?> Ibid., p. 21. 4. Ilbid., p. 21. 5 Ibid., p. 33. 6 Taras Shevchenko, K obzar (In U krainian). Edited by J. B. Rudnyc- kyj (W innipeg; U krainian Book Cliib, 1960, p. 378. 7 Taras Shevchenko, the Poet of U kraine Selected poems, Translated w ith an introduction by Clarence A. M anning, (Jersey City, N. J.: U k rainian N ational Association, 1945, p. 36.) MONUMENT INSCRIPTION The monument of Taras Shev chenko in W ashington, D. C. is nearing completion. All U krain ian communities are anticipating the unveiling ceremony. Recently we learned about the excerpt from a poem, which is to be inscribed on the foundation. It stem s from “The Caucasus,” a poem dedicated to the U krainian struggle for freedom : “. . . our soul shall never perish, Freedom knows no dying, And the greedy cannot harvest Fields where seas are lying; Cannot bind the living spirit, Nor the living word, Cannot sm irch the sacred glory Of Alm ighty Lord.” The poem was translated by the young English poetess Vera Rich. Her volume “Song Out of D arkness” includes m any poems of Taras Shevchenko and her recent poem “Elizabeth, the Wise King’s D aughter,” in Our Life No. 9, 1963 proves her in terest in Ukrainian history. НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — БЕРЕЗЕНЬ, 1964 IS
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