Unit 4

Taras Shevchenko and the

Ukrainian Romanticism


 Taras Shevchenko and the Ukrainian Romanticism
In the 1830s the city of Kharkiv became the center of Ukrainian
Romanticism. In western Ukrainian Romanticism was represented
by the “Ruthenian Triad”. In the 1840s these two outlying areas
were bridged by the development of Romanticism in Kiev; the
Romantic movement reached its peak there and found its highest
expression in the Brotherhood of Saint Cyril and Methodius.
Romanticism is an artistic and ideological movement in
literature, art, and music and a world view which arose toward the
end of the 18th century in Germany, England, and France. In the
beginning of the 19th century it spread to Russia, Poland, and
Austria, and in the mid-19th century it encompassed other countries
of Europe as well as North and South America. Romanticism, which
appeared after the French Revolution in an environment of growing
absolutism at the turn of the 19th century, was a reaction against the
rationalism of the Enlightenment and the stilted forms, schemata,
and canons of classicism and, at times, sentimentalism.


 Paramount features of romanticism were idealism, a belief in
the natural goodness of the individual person, and, hence, the cult of
feeling as opposed to reason; a predilection for the more ‘primitive’
expressions of human creativity as being closer to the fundamental
goodness of the person and, hence, an enthusiasm for folk art,
poetry, and songs; a belief in the perfectibility of the individual
person and, hence, a predilection for change and the espousal of
‘striving’ as a mode of behavior; and a search for historical
consciousness and an intensified learning of history (historicism),
coupled at times with an escape from surrounding reality into an
idealized past or future or into a world of fantasy. The Romantic
world view fostered its own style and gave rise to specific genres of
literature: ballads, lyrical songs, romances, and historical novels and
dramas.
Taras Hryhorovych
th
Shevchenko, 19 century
Ukrainian romantic national
poet, is widely accredited with
having first demonstrated that
the Ukrainian language deserves
literary attention and in turn
rekindling a latent Ukrainian
national spirit. His first
importance to Ukraine is clear:
his works for the first time
proved the intellectual maturity
of the Ukrainian language and
culture. Although the Russian
Empire would ban the study and
even the use of Ukrainian at times, history had already spoken:
Ukraine has articulated itself.


 Born a serf, Shevchenko was freed in 1838 while a student at St.
Petersburg Academy of Art. His first collections of poems, entitled
“Kobzar”, expressed the historism and the interests of the Ukrainian
Romantics, but his poetry soon moved away from nostalgia for
Cossack life to a more somber portrayal of Ukrainian history,
particularly in the long poem “The Haidamaks”. When the secret
Brotherhood of saints Cyril and Methodius was suppressed in 1847,
Shevchenko was punished by exile and compulsory military service
for writing the poems “The Dream”, “The Caucasus”, and “The
Epistle”, which satirized the oppression of Ukraine by Russia and
prophesied a revolution
Shevchenko’s literary oeuvre consists of one mid-sized
collection of poetry (“Kobzar”); the drama “Nazar Stodolia” and
two play fragments; nine novellas, a diary, and an autobiography
written in Russian; four articles; and over 250 letters. Already
during his first period of literary activity, he wrote highly
sophisticated poetic works. He adapted the style and versification of
Ukrainian folk songs to produce remarkably original poems with a
complex and shifting metric structure, assonance and internal
rhyme, masterfully applied caesuras and enjambments, and
sophisticated alliterations grafted onto a 4 + 4 + 6 syllable unit
derived from the kolomyika song structure. He also abandoned use
of the regular strophe. Innovations can also be found in
Shevchenko's use of epithets, similes, metaphors, symbols, and
personifications. A man of his time, his worldview was influenced
by Romanticism. But Shevchenko managed to find his own manner
of poetic expression, which encompassed themes and ideas germane
to Ukraine and his personal vision of its past and future.
The significance of Shevchenko and his oeuvre has given rise to
thousands of multifaceted biographical, bibliographic, literary,
textological, linguistic, lexicographic, psychological, pedagogical,
religious, philosophical, political, sociological, and art-historical


studies. Of prime importance to all of them have been Shevchenko’s
poetic and artistic works.

Key-Words
romanticism [rə(ʋ)ʹmæntısız(ə)m] романтизм (літ. напрям)
idealism [aıʹdıəlız(ə)m] ідеалізм
folk art [fəʋk ɑ:t] народне мистецтво
historism [ʹhıst(ə)rız(ə)m] історизм
fantasy [ʹfæntəsı] фантазія, ілюзія
ballad [ʹbæləd] балада
lyrical song [ʹlırık(ə)l sɒŋ] лірична пісня
romance [rə(ʋ)ʹmæns] рицарський роман, роман, романтика,
музичний рроманс
historical novel [hıʹstɒrık(ə)l ʹnɒv(ə)l] історичний роман
artistic [ɑ:ʹtıstık] художній
bard [bɑ:d] поет.: бард, співець
assonance [ʹæsənəns] співзвуччя, співзвучність, асонанс
alliteration [ə͵lıtəʹreıʃ(ə)n] алітерація
epithet [ʹepıθet] епітет
metaphor [ʹmetəfə] метафора
personification [pə͵sɒnıfıʹkeıʃ(ə)n] уособлення

Comprehension Check

I. Check your understanding.

1. What is the period of Romanticism noted for?
2. What did Taras Shevchenko reflect in his Kobzar?
3. What city became the centre of Ukrainian Romanticism?
4. What authors represented Romanticism?
5. What can you say about Taras Shevchenko?


 II. Define the following words using the dictionary:
romance____________________________________________
metaphor____________________________________________
epithet______________________________________________
ballad______________________________________________
novel_______________________________________________
III. Read the text about Kobzars:
Kobzar is the “kobzar player” or “ministrel”. They are
wandering folk bards who performed a large repertoire of epic
historical, religious, and folk songs while playing a kobza or
bandura. Kobzars first emerged in Kyiv Rus’ and were popular by
the 15th century. They were esteemed by the Cossacks. Whom they
frequently accompanied on various campaigns against Turks,
Tartars, and Poles. The epic songs they performed served to raise
the morale of the Cossack army in times of war, and some kobzars
were even beheaded by the Poles for performimg Dumas that incited
popular revolts. Hnat Honcharenko was one of the most famous
kobzars. Blind from childhood, he learned to play the kobza at 20-
22 and wandered throughout the Kharkiv region, singigng and
playing Dumas, psalms, and humorous songs in the traditional
manner and teaching other kobzars.
Choose the correct ending:
1. Kobzars were wandering singers
2. Kobzars frequently accompanied the Cossacks
3. Their songs served
4. Hnat Honcharenko
5. His Dumas were recorded
a) to raise the morale of the Cossack army.
b) wandered throughout the Kharkiv region.
c) who performed epic songs.
d) on various campaigns.


V. How do you know Taras Shevchenko’s biography:
1. Where was T. Shevchenko born … .
a) in Kyiv
b) in the village Kyrulivka
c) in the village of Moryntsi
2. Shevchenko was purchased from serfdom in … .
a) 1837
b) 1841
c) 1838
3. T. Shevchenko’s tomb is … .
a) On the Monastic Mount in Kaniv
b) On the Holosiivskyi cemetery in Kyiv
c) On the Smolenskyi cemetery in St. Petersburg
4. Taras Shevchenko’s “Kobzar” is a collection of … .
a) prose
b) poetry
c) poems and stories
5. T. Shevchenko was arrested for … .
a) writing the poem “Son”
b) taking part in the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius
c) writing the poem “Caucasus”
6. The first collection of works appeared in … .
a) 1840
b) 1847
c) 1861
7. T. Shevchenko was purchased from serfdom by … .
a) Karl Briullov, Vasily Zhukovsky
b) А. Mokrytsyi, Ye. Hrebinka
c) М. Chernyshevskyi, M. Dobroliubov


 8. The first collection of poetry was named … .
a) Prychyna
b) Kobzar
c) Poetries

VI. Complete the puzzle and find a kind of a book:

1. __ __ __ __
2.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
3. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
4. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
5. __ __ __ __ __
6. __ __ __ __ __ __
7. __ __ __ __ __ __
8. __ __ __ __
9. __ __ __ __ __

1. The story of a book, film or play.

2. The people in a book, film or play.
3. A book about a person’s life.
4. Someone who writes books about imaginary people and
events.
5. Books with the same style or topic are in the same
literary … .
6. Walk around a shop looking at things, but not planning to
buy them.
7. The writer of a book, article, play, etc.
8. Have you got a … of that book you were talking about?
9. Look quickly through the pages of a book, newspaper or
magazine.