This page was created by William Tyler Lott. 

Imperiia: a spatial history of the Russian Empire

What does it mean to be Ukrainian? The life of Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko was born a serf in village of Morintsy, Kiev Province in the year 1814. Naturally a painter, Shevchenko’s master sent him to an apprenticeship in St. Petersburg. At the age of 24, he bought his freedom by auctioning a painting of noted poet Vasily Zhukovsky. Shevchenko grew interested in the history of the Ukrainian people, and set out to write their national history through prose poetry. Aside from writing of Ukrainian nationalism, he was critical of Tsar Alexander I and serfdom. His critical views were shown in several paintings and writings. While in Kiev, Shevchenko joined Ukrainian freedom organization Society of Cyril and Methodius. Just one year later, in 1847, Shevchenko was arrested for his involvement in the organization and his revolutionary poetry. He was exiled to the military for 10 years, and forbade by Nicholas I himself from writing or painting. Years of brutality wore down Shevchenko, and he published fewer writings after his time in exile. He died in St. Peterbursburg in 1861 at the age of 47.  
                                             
The following are a collection of lines from Shevchenko’s poems, expressing his—and the budding Ukrainian movement based in Kiev—desire to be an independent people.
 
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“So fly, my fledgling falcons, fly
To far Ukraine, my lads —
At least, if there you hardship find,
'Twon't be in foreign lands.
Good-hearted folks will rally 'round
And they won't let you die;”
 
—From “Haidamaki” (1841)

This poem, published in 1841, details the 1768 rebellion of Ukrainian peasants against the Polish Empire. Key to Shevchenko’s poems is establishing a Ukrainian national identity. For centuries, no distinct idea of being “Ukrainian” existed. Through describing events of Ukrainian freedom, Shevchenko hoped to instill national pride among Ukrainian peasants, who at the time were dominated by the Russian Empire.
 
“A widow's crucified for taxes, while they drive
Her only son — her only hope! — in chains
Into the army. And there — more dead than live,
A starving babe beside a hedge awaits
Its mother from the feudal lord's estate.
And there, d'you see? My eyes! My eyes!”
 
—From “A Dream” (1844)
 
In a glaring critique of Alexander I’s regime, Shevchenko wrote “A Dream” to detail the suffering of the Ukrainian people at the hands of the Russian Empire. The selected lines show the sad fate for far too many Ukrainians—a families taxed into poverty, while the sons are conscripted for life. Shevchenko also highlights the extreme inequity, contrasting the poor peasant family with the feudal lord who gains wealth from the suffering of these people.
 

“His empress struts and preens,
All wrinkled like a dried-up prune
And like a beanpole lean,
While every time she steps, her head
Goes jiggling on her neck.
Is this the goddess whom they praise?!”

—From “A Dream” (1844)
 
Later in the same poem, Shevchenko attacks the Tsarina personally—indicating her grim image that the Russian lords fail to mention. These lines are perhaps the most controversial of the poem, as the focus shifts from the inequities of Ukrainian life to attacking the royal family directly. These few lines would land Shevchenko in exile just a few years after it was published.
 
 
“It may be Moscow's razed the land,
And emptied to the sea
Our Dnieper, and our lofty mounds
Dug up — so none may see
The relics of our former fame”

—From “A Dream” (1844)
 
In this selection, Shevchenko appeals directly to the reader’s sense of nostalgia. He creates an image evocative of ancient Rome—describing the Ukrainian peoples’ former glory—before having it destroyed at the hands of Moscow. To Shevchenko, Kiev is the heart of this former fame. Not only did the Russian Empire raze their land, but also actively suppressed Ukrainian culture, indicated by the line “so none may see The relics of our former fame.” This narrative was popularized by Shevchenko, as before his writings the empire was not seen as actively destroying Ukrainian culture. Organizations that arose in the mid 19th century—including the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius that caused Shevchenko’s exile—adopted this negative view of Russian imperialism in hopes that it would attract Ukrainians (even though many, especially lower classes, would not identify themselves as such) to the cause of reviving Ukrainian heritage and going even as far as a Ukrainian separatist movement.
 
 
“When I am dead, then bury me
In my beloved Ukraine,
My tomb upon a grave mound high
Amid the spreading plain,
So that the fields, the boundless steppes,
The Dnieper's plunging shore
My eyes could see, my ears could hear
The mighty river roar.”

—from “My Testament” (1845)
 
In a later poem, Shevchenko wrote of his own death and his desire to return to Kiev to be buried. The lines give sense of romanticism to Kiev, similar to how English writers of the 19th century would write about the countryside. Shevchenko’s use of nature to describe Kiev creates a city built on natural elements—the roaring Dnieper, the spreading plain. Notably, the cityscape is not included in the description. Perhaps this is because Shevchenko found the natural elements of Kiev—the true Ukraine—superior to the cityscape that had been dominated by Russian and Polish influences.   

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