Taras Shevchenko

Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko

(March 9 1814 - March 10 1861)

    Shevchenko was born in 1814 in peasant's family. His childhood was unhappy and rugged: when he was nine his mother died, after three years his father died. Taras led his youth working hard and without family. He learned how to read, write and draw by the village precentor. At the age of 14, his owner Engelhardt took him, to serve as houseboy. He traveled extensively with his owner, firs to Wilno and then to St. Petersburg.

    In Wilno, he learned to speak Polish and met the famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. Engelhardt noticed Shevchenko's artistic talent and apprenticed him to the painter V. V. Shiriaiev for 4 years. During that period he met compatriots I. Soshenko, Ye. Hrebinka, V. Hryhorovych, and O. Venitsianov. Trough them he met the Russian painter K. Brullov.
    K. Brullov painted the portrait of the Russian poet V. Zhukovsky to be disposed of in a lottery. Tsarina bought the portrait because V. Zhukovsky was the teacher of her children. The proceeds from the lottery, 2500 Ruble were used to buy Shevchenko's freedom from Engelhardt in 1838.

    T. Shevchenko enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and pursued his art studies and general education. In 1840 he published his first collection of poems, Kobzar. It was followed by the epic poem Haidamaky (Rebels) and the ballad Hamaliia. In 1840s Taras visited Ukraine three times. Those visits made a profound impact on him. He was struck by the ravanged state of Ukraine. In 1842 Shevchenko pained the picture "Katherina" where he was expressed his own strong. In 1843, he wrote his drama "Nazar Stodolia".

    After graduating from the academy in 1845, he became a member of the Kyiv Archeographic Commision. That position gave rise to extensive travels during which he sketched a lot. It was in this time that he wrote his most satirical and politically subversive poems "Dream" and "Caucasus".
    In 1845, he wrote his famous program verse "Testament". In the poem "Charwomen", he depicted the fate of mother, one of the best images in the world literature.
    In 1846, T. Shevchenko came to Kyiv and joined secret Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. A denunciation resulted in the armrest of the members of the Brotherhood.
    In 1858 he met and made friends with I. F. Aldridge, the American outstanding tragic actor wo was on tour in Russia and Ukraine.
    In 1860 Shevchenko decided to become a family man, but his plans were ruined and he lived the next years alone.
    The writer died on Sunday, February 26, 1861, at morning.

    Taras Shevchenko has a uniquely important place in Ukrainian history. He created the conditions that allowed the transformation of the Ukrainian into a fully functional modern literature. He was the inspirer of a modern democratic ideal of renewed Ukrainian statehood. His poetry greatly to the evolution of national consciousness. His influence on cultural and national life if felt to this day.