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the attitude toward the tragic event. However startling the death of a young beautiful creature may be, there is something essential hidden beyond the situation which has to be highlighted and emphasized. For the poet, the tragedy lies predominately in the assertion that love is essentially failing to be adjusted to cruel and unfair reality. Ophelia is doomed to die. And yet the poem contains an unexpected ending. A question mark. Why? Is it the author's subtle doubt about the pertinence of a lament? Does he retain a slight hope that sincere love might transcend rigid reality? It is up to the reader to solve the puzzle and fill the meaning of Ophelia's death with his own vision. The imagery of Oleh Zujewskyj's poetry appeals to an intellectual and emotional understanding. But this same imagery, together with the poet's syntactical experiments and semantical play, have contributed to the difficulty and complexity that often face the reader. It is not surprising that Zujewskyj has an established reputation for being a complex master whose works are addressed to a sophisticated audience -- sophisticated with respect to a vast knowledge of European cultural heritage and a competence of thorough reading. However, the majority of Zujewskyj's poems have reliable clues for interpretation, especially the poet's "transformational translations" from the language of visual art. The essential thing about those verses is that the recipient of poetic information is supposed to participate actively in the "completion" of the work in his imagination by juxtaposing his own emotional and intellectual experience with that of the poet and the artist. However difficult such an interaction may be, A LAMENT FOR OPHELIA The stream is still murmuring Where the leaves conveyed brooding And the glances endowed in that instant, When there was neither breeze nor sandstorm, But only the stooping blue On the way, as befits a stableboy, Was leading the songs incessantly From lips to lips: who would not recognize The sweet sum of their knell Against the background of beach games In the presence of solitary sun Where, like mute clouds, Love itself with wreaths was flowing Toward morning in a startled dream? ('Translated by Jars Balan) it presents its reward in the many challenging decisions that the reader makes in the process. This quality gives Zujewskyj's poems their special appeal NOTES: 1. Ihor Kozetsky calls this technique a parody in the broad meaning of the word, understood as a kind of emphasized stylization, ("lak chytaty virshi Zujewskoho." Oleh Zujewskyj, Pid Znakom Feniksa. Munchen: Na hori, 1958: 10-11). Bohdan Rubchak defines it as a translation from one poetic or artistic world into another. ("Maister zorystoho pereklady." Svito-Vyd, 1, 1993:9). 2. Warner, M. "Ophelia." The Pre-Raphaelites (London): The Tate Gallery, 1984), 96-97. 3. Millais, Geoffrey. Sir John Everett Millais (London: Academy Editions, 1979), 32. About the author: Tatiana Nazarenko has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Kyiv State Uni versity and is working on a second Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. Her special interests are comparative literature and the literature and culture of the Ukrainian diaspora. Sir John Everet Mallais. Ophelia (1852). Oil on canvas. The Tate Gallery, London. ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, КВІТЕНЬ 1997 17
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