Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko Hryhorowytsch (Ukrainian Тарас Григорович Шевченко, scientific transliteration Taras Shevchenko Hrihorovič; . * 25 Februarjul / March 9 1814greg in Morynzi, Kiev Governorate, .. . † 26 Februarjul / March 10 1861greg in Saint Petersburg ) was the significant Ukrainian poet.

Life

Shevchenko was born in the village Morynzi in Kiev, the son of serfs. Since the serfdom in Ukraine had been introduced only a few years ago, his family of reading and writing was knowledgeable and was able to bring Tara close at a young age religion, culture and literature. He worked both as a shepherd boy, but on the other hand, was able to visit the school and read the age of 13 works by Hryhorij Skovoroda and Ivan Kotlyarevsky, founders of Ukrainian literature and philosophy. Early discovered a talent for drawing and painting. At age eleven, Shevchenko was an orphan; A few years later he was hired by his landlord as a valet and accompanied him on many trips to Poland, Lithuania and St. Petersburg. They allowed him to go to a St. Petersburg painter in teaching. By living in St. Petersburg, the center of Russian intellectual life, and the acquaintance with his countryman Soschenko Shevchenko learned within a few years a well rounded education. He made his first attempts as a poet and found friends and recognition in literary circles. The moral dilemma, to be still serf, and the longing for freedom and self-determination loaded him; latter would be life like a thread found in his works. In 1838 he was able to, with the financial support of influential friends, including the Russian painter Karl Pavlovich Briullov, ransom from his bondage. He became a student at the Academy of Arts and financed his life in Petersburg through his work as a painter.

Since 1838 Shevchenko more concentrated on his literary work. With his first releases in 1840, the specific nature of his role was as a poet: On the one hand a peasant, born of slavery and bondage voice, on the other hand, cultured and highly educated, he processed these elements of his personality in a new way in his poetry. His first book of poems, kobzar, was issued only heavily censored, yet he learned a profound resonance in the Russian intelligentsia. They certified him talent, but sharply criticized the fact that he had supposedly chosen a primitive dialect of Russian, for his poetry, the " peasant " Ukrainian language.

Emerged in the following years - influenced by numerous trips through his home, where Shevchenko again bondage and poverty, but also the ancient testimonies of Ukrainian culture met - more and more works with undisguised rebellious undertone that gave him in all layers stormy admiration. Shevchenko was with his style became the prototype of the Ukrainian romantic.

After Shevchenko had the end of the 1840s an idealistic revolutionary organization, the " Kyrillo - Methodianischen Brotherhood " in Kiev connected, he was sentenced in 1847 to life as a soldier. They banished him, forbade him for life to return to Ukraine and every poetic activity. Later he spent on suspicion of conspiracy some time in the penitentiary. Since 1850 he has been in the fortress Nowopetrowsk (now Fort Shevchenko, Kazakhstan) held on the Caspian Sea under strict supervision. Despite writing and Malverbots emerged during this period seals, which were published under the pseudonym of friends as well as paintings that he could even sell.

1857 reached influential friends Shevchenko release from Nowopetrowsk; he lived and worked under the strictest censorship in Petersburg, supported by wealthy friends and celebrated, but also feared by the Russian society. In 1861 he suffered from angina pectoris and died surrounded by his friends. At his funeral in St. Petersburg, many people took part, including the Russian poet Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, Saltykov -Shchedrin and Leskov. Already on 26 April / 8 May 1861 the remains were transferred to the Ukraine and buried in Kaniv on the banks of the Dnieper, as Shevchenko had it wished Sapowit in his poem. In his honor is there, built on the slope of ( named after him ) Tara Hill, a memorial.

Honors

Taras Shevchenko is revered in Ukraine as the most significant historical and literary figure. Poems like Sapowit ( " Legacy" ) from his collection of poems Kobsar are deeply rooted in the consciousness of all generations and walks of life to this day. At the rallies of the Orange Revolution in 2004 on the Maidan in Kiev and the Euromaidan 2013/2014 again and again poems of Taras Shevchenko were recited.

In Ukraine it many streets, squares and places to honor named after him, see also Rajon Shevchenko, Schewtschenkowe and Korsun- Schewtschenkiwskyj.

In Kiev there, next to a Taras Shevchenko Boulevard and Taras Shevchenko monument in Shevchenko Park a Taras Shevchenko Opera House, a Shevchenko Museum as well as the most well-known Kiev University, which is named after him.

Also a National Taras Shevchenko Prize of Ukraine will be awarded to deserving artists.

Works

Poetry

• Kateryna, 1838
• Kobsar ( collection of poems ), 1840
• The Hajdamaken, 1841
• Tschyhyryn, 1844
• Kavkaz ( " Caucasus" ), 1845
• Cholodnyj Jar ( " The cold canyon " ), 1845
• Sapowit ( " Legacy" ), 1845

Werkausgaben

• Taras Shevchenko. The Kobsar. Moscow: Publishing House for Foreign Literature, 1962.