Taras Shevchenko [Ukrainian poet] - The Complete Poetry (3 books)

* Taras Shevchenko [Ukrainian poet] - The Complete Poetry (3 books)

TARAS HRYHOROVYCH SHEVCHENKO (1814 – 1861) , also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was the foremost Ukrainian poet of the 19th century and a major figure of the Ukrainian national revival. His literary heritage is regarded as the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language.

Shevchenko combined the vernacular with folk rhythms of Ukrainian songs to capture and embody the sufferings and deepest strivings of his people. It may not be much of an exaggeration to say that today’s independent Ukraine could not have been realized without Shevchenko's poetry and his presence as poet-prophet to galvanize Ukrainian identity.

His entire oeuvre in its parts and sum comprises a compendium of the trauma of the Ukrainian people under czarist oppression, and an indictment of all authoritarian rule. Shevchenko chronicles both imperial czarist abuse as well as an unquenchable thirst for Ukrainian freedom, self-determination and nationhood. From the publication at the age of twenty-six of his slim but critically acclaimed volume Kobzar, which originally contained just eight poems, Shevchenko inspired an entire population ranging from illiterate peasants, who only heard and memorized the poems as oral literature or song, to the leaders of a small but avid band of Ukrainian intelligentsia with the agenda of nation building.

Shevchenko was convicted in 1847 for explicitly promoting the independence of Ukraine, writing poems in the Ukrainian language and ridiculing members of the Russian Imperial House. He 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.

THE COMPLETE KOBZAR (2013) is the first-ever English translation by Peter Fedynsky of Shevchenko's entire collected verse. With enthusiasm and care, Fedynsky sets out to showcase the breadth of the poet’s concerns and to convey the fullness of his message of freedom and justice to Ukraine, and to the world.


The following books are in ePub or PDF format as indicated:

* The Complete Kobzar [tr. Fedynsky] (Glagoslav, 2013) – ePub
* Poetry, 5th edition (Standard Ebooks, 2023) – ePub
* Selected Works: Poetry and Prose (Progress, 1979) – PDF


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