The life of the glorious daughter of the Ukrainian people, Lesya Ukrainka, can be compared to an extravaganza drama in which a person’s tragic struggle with a physical illness takes place against the backdrop of the flourishing of a truly fabulous poetic talent. “The daughters of Prometheus,” as the poetess is proudly called, throughout her life her courage never failed, and she even “hoped without hope” (she has a poem “Contra spem spero”). The only thing Lesya Ukrainka was afraid of was being “famous, but not read.” Having lived only 42 years, the writer created a huge number of original lyrical, epic and dramatic works, translations and scientific research. She did not give herself time for rest and respite; she was always in the thick of literary and social life. Lesya’s resilience amazed her contemporaries, AI. Franco noted that “as a lyrical talent, she is noticeable for her courage and great depth of feelings.” Probably, all the spiritual strength of the ancient Kosach and Drahomanov families, where she came from, dating back to the 15th century and leaving a noticeable mark on Ukrainian history, poured into a fragile, sickly, but unusually talented woman.

Artistic expression reigned in Lesya's family. Her father, Pyotr Antonovich Kosach, graduated from the Faculty of Law and was engaged in peasant affairs. In the family he was a stronghold of kindness and calm. He was comprehensively educated, loved and knew literature, and treated his talented daughter with special tenderness. His wife, Olena Pchilka (Olga Petrovna Dragomanova), a famous writer, ethnographer, was an active person both in family and in public life. The birth of six children did not turn her into a mother hen. She put all her efforts into ensuring that the younger Kosachis grew up to be educated people who love Ukraine and their native language, people “needed” by society. She said, not without pride, that she had created a “literary family.”

Lesya was born on February 25, 1871 in the city of Novograd-Volynsky. At baptism, she received the name Larisa, but her family called her Moose, and the inseparable couple (Larissa and her brother Mikhail) were jokingly called Mouse Elk. By the age of five, the girl learned to read and deliberately signed her first letter to her beloved uncle Mikhail Drahomanov with the name Lesya. Already in early childhood, she was an exceptionally gifted, observant and persistent child, she embroidered and painted with enthusiasm, easily adopted folk songs, recorded and performed them, and played the piano beautifully. Her musical abilities were noted by the composer Lysenko. In the home theater, Lesya was both a performer, a director, and a decorator. Foreign languages ​​were easy for her, especially German and French, and she knew ten languages ​​in total. Since her mother was categorically against sending her children to school, Lesya systematically studied under her guidance with home teachers, but only for two years. “Lesya acquired all her knowledge herself,” recalled her sister Olga, “thanks to her enormous craving for it and her unusually strong and lively character...”

The girl wrote her first poem when she was less than ten years old, under the impression of the bitter news of the arrest and exile of her aunt E. A. Kosach. To this day it opens any collection of the poetess and does not at all resemble a nursery rhyme.

I have no share, no will,

There is only one hope left:

Hope to return to Ukraine again,

Take another look at the native land,

Take another look at the blue Dnieper, -

Live or die there, it’s all the same to me...

When Lesya was 11 years old, trouble happened. The girl, fascinated by folklore, stood for many hours watching baptismal rites on the Styr River, and caught a severe cold. Frozen feet, inflammation of the joints, and high fever, as it turned out, were evil harbingers of the “thirty-year war” with tuberculosis, which, after the bones, affected the lungs and kidneys, leading to anemia. A body tormented by pain, wounded by operations, tractions, plaster casts, crutches - and within it is an unbroken, pure soul. “I will go out alone against the storm and stand - let’s measure our strength!” - Lesya wrote in one of her poems. During her lifetime, her stamina became as legendary as the power of poetry, which was not typical for a woman.

When Lesya was 13 years old, her poem “Lily of the Valley” was published in the magazine. Since then, beautiful poetic lines signed with the proud and beautiful name Ukrainka have become known to the whole world. This pseudonym was a kind of challenge to the existing order, a biased attitude towards everything Ukrainian and, first of all, towards language and literature. From youthful, almost idyllic poems, the poetess moved on to the motives of courage, strong will and struggle, to a philosophical understanding of existence. But her poetry retained its unique musicality. Many composers, starting with N. V. Lysenko, wrote songs and romances based on her poems, used the texts and plots of her poems and dramatic works for operas, ballets, chamber and symphonic works.

Lesya Ukrainka quickly entered the world galaxy of poets as a brilliant lyricist, whose feelings are heightened by constant suffering and the impossibility of ordinary human happiness.

From cycle to cycle (“Tears-Pearls”, “Melodies”, “Rhythms”), from one poetry collection to another (“On the Wings of Songs”, 1892; “Thoughts and Dreams”, 1899; “Echoes” , 1902) a style of extraordinary artistic power crystallized. The poetics of L. Ukrainka’s works are as diverse as the themes. It “amazes with its extraordinary variety of stanzas, metrics, rhythms...,” noted M. Rylsky. “We see in her canonical sonnets, octaves, sextins, hexameters and completely original constructions of stanzas...” L. Ukrainka was fluent in literary and folk speech, which, combined with the original gift of artistic vision of the world, made her a master of the poetic word.

The seriously ill woman did not isolate herself in her creativity. She constantly took a direct part in social and political life. When her family and friends urged her to “reject all politics,” Lesya said: “I just can’t, because not only my convictions, but also my temperament does not allow me to do this... Then I need to abandon my poems, my most sincere words...” The poetess participated in the publication of Ukrainian newspapers and magazines, was an active member of the Pleiades and Enlightenment writing circles, and taught Ukrainian language courses in Kyiv.

Lesya Ukrainka appeared in print as a publicist and critic. Thus, for the magazine “Life” she wrote six large review articles, covering with a single glance the most important processes of modern literature, and in “Notes on Contemporary Polish Literature” she raised questions of aesthetics, sociology, history and modern politics. Lesya's erudition was phenomenal and constantly expanded thanks to an indefatigable thirst for knowledge. Contemporaries were struck by the fundamental nature of her education. To homeschool her sisters, at the age of 19, Lesya wrote a textbook in Ukrainian, “Ancient History of Eastern Peoples” (it was published by Olga Kosach-Krivenyuk after her sister’s death). A deep knowledge of history gave the Ukrainian poetic imagination amazing persuasiveness. But no matter what historical events Lesya touched on in her works, their main idea was easily projected onto the fate of Ukraine and its people. And the plots of the poems “Pan-Politician” and “Pan-Lover of the People” (1905) seem to be glimpsed in today’s day:

Now every boor shows his nature,

Should we talk? This is a terrible shame!

But I am ready to support this program!..

I announce my candidacy!

For her merciless and freedom-loving poems, which revolutionaries often referred to in their appeals, Lesya Ukrainka was under secret police surveillance for many years, and in 1907 she was even arrested. She lived with faith in a just social reorganization of society, in which the Ukrainian people and their language would be free, but she treated with contempt those political figures who did not want to see anything further than their “navel” and considered it the center of the universe.

The word, which Lesya Ukrainka compared to a spark, fire, steel, she considered her only weapon in the fight for a better future.

Word, my only brother,

It’s not our fault that both of them perish!

Maybe in the hands of unknown brothers

You will become a stealing sword for the Kats.

Lesya was friends with many such “unknown friends.” One of them, S.K. Merzhinsky - one of the first Belarusian Marxists - sank deeply into her heart. However, Olga Petrovna sharply opposed the feelings of the young people, taking advantage of the financial and physical dependence of her sick daughter. Sergei was also unwell, and when he was dying of tuberculosis in 1901, Lesya, rejecting all prohibitions and excessive maternal care, looked after him for almost six months in Minsk. Merzhinsky’s death became for her “a dark day and at the same time the brightest surge in creativity.” In fact, in one night, Lesya wrote the dramatic poem “Obsessed,” which she dedicated to her friend who had passed away forever. In a letter to I. Franko, she admitted: “...I wrote on such a night, after which I will surely live for a long time, if I was still alive then. And she wrote without even exhausting her grief, but at its very climax. If someone asked me how I came out of all this alive, I could answer: J’en ai fait drama (I created a drama out of this), that means fate.”

Among the friends who shared her grief was K.V. Kvitka. They met in the spring of 1898. Kliment studied folk music and recorded Ukrainian songs and melodies. Since childhood, Lesya has also been interested in folklore. They looked closely at each other for a long time. In the woman’s soul there lived a pain about a lost love, and Clement, having experienced many shocks in childhood, was distrustful and taciturn. They were brought together by their common work on folklore collections. And this time Lesya did not allow her mother to interfere with her feminine happiness. She wrote to her sister Olga: “I will not change my attitude towards Klena (Clement), except in the direction of even greater goodwill. But it’s still annoying, and difficult, and fatal that not a single friendship, or sympathy, or love of mine has so far been without this poisonous jealousy on the part of my mother...”

On June 25, 1907, Clement and Lesya got married in the Church of the Ascension in Kyiv. None of the relatives were present. For a long time, the family did not want to believe that Lesya could find happiness away from her family, with a younger man who was poorly adapted to life and, moreover, also suffering from tuberculosis. But the spouses lived in peace and harmony, supporting and helping each other in everything. Lesya’s mother was right about only one thing - Clement could not provide for the family financially. Lesya’s treatment in Crimea, Italy, Egypt, and trips to doctors in Germany and Austria required large expenses. And the poetess still really wanted to help other people. Thus, she subsidized and took an active part in the folklore expedition of F. Kolessa to record kobzar dumas and folk songs in the Poltava region on a phonograph. Lesya was often forced to put aside unfinished works and write critical articles, compose and rewrite various papers. But the main income came from transfers. The Ukrainian, who had an excellent knowledge of 10 languages ​​and world literature, worked in this field from the age of 13. Thanks to her, the poetry and prose of G. Heine, W. Hugo, W. Shakespeare, J. G. Byron, A. Negri, M. Maeterlinck, G. Hauptmann, N. Gogol, I. Turgenev, and also ancient Indian “Rig Veda”, poems of Homer and Dante, ancient Egyptian lyrics. The lion's share of translations, as well as original works, was published in Western Ukraine, since Russian censorship prohibited the publication of books in Ukrainian. The poetess translated works of Ukrainian authors - V. Stefanik, O. Kobylyanskaya, I. Franko - into Russian. The poetic lines of L. Ukrainka were subsequently translated into Russian by such masters as S. Marshak, A. Prokofiev, N. Zabolotsky, M. Svetlov, P. Antokolsky, M. Aliger and others.

A significant place in the creative heritage of L. Ukrainka is occupied by poems that are amazing in style and poetic perception. The epic form of the narrative of “Robert the Bruce - King of Scots”, “One Word”, “Sister Villas”, “The Old Tale” and “Isolde the White-Handed” allowed the poetess to convey with utmost clarity the events, moods, depth of feelings and psychology of her characters in a surprisingly elegant style .

Long story! and looks like a bike, -

And in it there are songs of joy, there are also dreams,

It’s true, otherwise the star is good,

Hoarse through the mine of gold.

Lesya Ukrainka literally won the last five years of her life from death. During this period, monumental compositions of dramatic poems “Rufin and Priscilla”, “Lawyer Martian”, “Forest Song”, “Stone Master”, “Orgy” were created, which L. Kostenko called “a phenomenal phenomenon in Ukrainian literature.” She wrote: “In terms of the scale of artistic thinking, this phenomenon is rare even in the context of the highest achievements of world culture. In its ancient and Christian subjects it is not difficult to trace burning analogies, the entire Gordian knot of national history and all the severity of burning problems at all times. There was practically no dramatic poem in Ukrainian literature before Lesya Ukrainka. She was the first to introduce such a definition of the genre - “dramatic poem”. Only original talent could create one thing after another, so different in material, tone, style and at the same time so complementary to each other. Her dramatic works combine tragic, lyrical and sublime principles. For the first time in literature, with “Khokhlatsky audacity,” a woman set out to comprehend the legendary image of Don Juan and gave the world one of the best readings of this plot.

The pinnacle of Lesya Ukrainka’s poetic genius was the drama extravaganza “Forest Song”. In recent years, the poetess lived far from her native places, needing a warm climate. On the advice of doctors, she spent the winter in Italy or Egypt, and the summer in Georgia. “Apparently, it was destined for me to be such a princesse lointaine (distant princess), I lived in Asia, I’ll live in Africa, and there... That’s how I’ll move further and further - and I’ll disappear, turn into a legend... Isn’t it good?” Lesya yearned for her native Volyn, whose picturesque places she often remembered. In one of these sad periods, in 10–12 days, according to her, she created a marvelous poetic work, where the beauty of untouched nature, the wonderful world of naive folk mythology are opposed to human rudeness, wretchedness and winglessness. It is difficult to name another play in which the ever-regenerating nature would be given such a significant role. The strength of the “Forest Song” is that it combines the gentle melody of the poetic word and the hope that kindness, sincerity, and self-sacrifice can become salvation for the regenerating human spirit. And the last monologue of the daughter of the forest - Mavka - sounds like a testament of the poetess herself.

Oh, don’t blame yourself for your body!

There shone with a clear fire,

We clean, we burn, like good wine,

It flew up into the mountains like wild sparks.

Light, fluffy popelets

Lyezhe, having returned to the native land,

Together with the water, willows will grow there, -

Become a cob this is my end.

On August 1, 1913, Lesya Ukrainka died in the Georgian city of Surami. She was buried at the Baikovo cemetery in Kyiv. Her bright and courageous soul left her body, tormented by illnesses, but remained forever among people, disturbing hearts with immortal lines...

Lesya Ukrainka(Ukrainian Lesya Ukrainka, real name - Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka, Larisa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka)
Lesya Ukrainka is the pseudonym of the poetess. Real name: Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka. Born on February 13, 1871 in the family of a landowner. Her mother Olga Petrovna Kosach was a writer known under the pseudonym Elena Pchilka. The whole family was educated and talented. My father was interested in art and literature. Larisa’s uncle, Mikhail Drahomanov, was a folklorist who had a great influence on the girl’s future work. The Kosach house was often crowded with various cultural figures, so the child was brought up in the spirit of art, poetry, prose and music.
The parents paid great attention to their daughter's education. From a young age, Larisa studied a number of foreign languages. From the age of 5 she wrote her own pieces on the piano. At the age of 8, her first poem came out from under her hand. The girl loved playing the piano and poetry.
But in 1881, when the child was only 10 years old, she began to be bothered by terrible pain in her leg. The doctors initially made the wrong diagnosis and the prescribed treatment did not help at all. Then the pain spread to my arms. The doctors made a final verdict - bone tuberculosis. This was followed by a very complex operation, but it did not produce any results. But the hand was left badly damaged. And so the little girl was doomed to live with this for the rest of her life.
Lesya could not continue to play the piano, since she led an almost recumbent lifestyle. This is where her productive literary activity begins. The Ukrainian translates and writes her own works. Her famous translation into Ukrainian is “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” by Gogol, which she made together with her brother. Her works began to be published.
Lesya Ukrainka traveled a lot due to her illness, but no resorts helped her. The disease only got worse. Larisa’s life was cut short on August 1, 1913 in the city of Surami, in Georgia. The writer was buried in Kyiv at the Baikovo cemetery.
The name of Lesya Ukrainka is revered not only on the territory of Ukraine. She is known in many countries. What has earned you such recognition in the hearts of millions? Yes, with her resilient character, her ability to stay afloat even in the most terrible storm, to meet all failures and misfortunes with a smile, and, undoubtedly, her enormous talent as a musician and writer. Streets in many cities are named in honor of the Ukrainian; her portrait is depicted on the 200-hryvnia banknote. Adults and children know her name, her poems, her life, her attitude towards misfortunes serve as support for many in difficult times.

Lesya Ukrainka is a writer who worked in various genres, be it journalistic translations, poetry, elegies or plays. During her short life, Lesya composed a number of works and published collections of poetry, which after time became immortal.

Larisa Petrovna Kosach (the real name of the writer) was born on February 13 (25), 1871 in the city of Novograd-Volynsky, located in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine. The future poetess grew up in a noble family of noble origin, her parents came from Left Bank Ukraine, descendants of a Little Russian Cossack elder who professed the Orthodox religion.

Lesya's father, Kosach Petro Antonovich, was an educated landowner originally from the Chernigov nobility, and during his university years he was interested in literature, mathematics and law. After graduating from Kyiv University, he entered the Kyiv Chamber of Criminal Court as a candidate for judicial investigator. The writer's father began his career with the rank of collegiate secretary and for excellent service was transferred to full state councilor.

Petro Antonovich loved literature, music and was fond of painting. Friends with similar interests often gathered in his house, enjoying songs, works of classics, and also admiring paintings.

Petro Antonovich's wife, Olga Petrovna, the sister of the famous publicist Mikhail Petrovich Drahomanov, was fond of writing. According to rumors, Larisa was not a desired child for Olga Petrovna. The woman could not recover from her first child, Mikhail, moreover, the pregnancy was difficult, and after the birth of the girl, the milk completely disappeared.

Olga Petrovna was an erudite woman who knew many languages: European, Slavic, ancient Greek and Latin. The mother gave an excellent education to the children at home; for example, as a 19-year-old girl, Lesya compiled a textbook for her sisters called “Ancient History of Eastern Peoples.” It is also known that the homemaker purchased Ukrainian books for the club library, translated several stories by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol into Ukrainian and published her own collection of poems.

Lesya Ukrainka was raised with her younger sister Olga (1877) and older brother Mikhail (1869). Mikhail Petrovich was also not far from creativity; from his pen came a number of remarkable stories and short stories published in periodicals. He translated Gogol, Vladimir Korolenko, Henryk Sienkiewicz, and Francis Bret Harte into his native language.

Brother and sister were inseparable, for which they received the common nickname Michelosie from their parents. The boy and girl were educated at home and studied with private teachers. The future writer learned to read early - as a four-year-old child, Lesya was already reading folk tales with might and main. And at the age of five, Lesa composed short musical plays.

In 1882, there was an addition to the Kosach family - a daughter, Oksana, was born, and then Mikola (1884) and Isidora (1888) were born. The girl’s childhood was not cloudless: when Lesya was 10 years old, she caught a cold. The disease was severe; Petro Antonovich’s daughter experienced acute pain in her leg and arm. Initially, doctors believed that the Ukrainian woman had acute rheumatism, and the girl was treated with warm baths and healing ointments. But all attempts were in vain.

In 1883, Lesya was diagnosed with bone tuberculosis, as a result of which the girl’s hand was operated on and she was left crippled. Therefore, there was no talk about the musical career of Lesya, who was excellent at playing the piano.

Among other things, the future writer tried to learn painting and even enrolled in a specialized school, where she learned to draw under the supervision of Nikolai Ivanovich Murashko. True, the girl did not work out with brushes and paints: Lesya did not want to make the profession of an artist her vocation. It is noteworthy that only one painting by the poetess remains from that period.

Literature

Lesya Ukrainka composed her first poem out of emotional distress. The fact is that in the spring of 1879, Aunt Elena Antonovna Kosach was arrested and sent to Siberia for a period of five years for allegedly attempting to assassinate Adjutant General Alexander Romanovich Drenteln. It is worth saying that Lesya and Aunt Elya, Petro Antonovich’s sister, had a warm relationship.

The woman often came to look after the children, and her friendship with the future writer left a noticeable mark on the later life and work of the poetess. Upon learning of the arrest, the eight-year-old girl writes her debut dramatic poem entitled "Hope" (1879–1880).

When Larisa Kosach was 12 years old, she began to write and publish in the magazine “Zorya”, and also translated “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”. Around the same time, the girl acquired a creative pseudonym. In 1883, the first collection of poems by the young poetess, “On the Wings of Songs,” was published.

It is worth saying that Lesya’s literary activity took place in the era of imperialism, the first Russian revolution, and clearly defined directions were defined in the Ukrainian creativity of those times. The Ukrainian did not adhere to any movement: the girl did not consider herself either a decadent or a naturalist, but she was imbued with revolutionary ideas. Her works contain echoes of romanticism rather than realism.

After Lesya got married, she began to work at an accelerated pace. On May 5, 1907, the Ukrainian completed the popular poem “Aisha and Mohammed”, and also completed the work “Cassandra”, which began in 1893. In the same 1907, Lesya worked on the works “Beyond the Mountain of Lightning,” “In the Pushcha” and “Rufin and Priscilla.”

Personal life

Lesya's first chosen one was public figure Sergei Merezhinsky, whom the writer met in 1898. True, this love brought Larisa Petrovna not wings of happiness, but great grief: Sergei Konstantinovich died of tuberculosis. Shortly before the death of her beloved, Lesya came to see the sick Sergei, and on one of the cold winter evenings the writer’s creative biography was supplemented by the drama “Obsessed” (1901).

In 1907, the poetess moved to Crimea with her new boyfriend, Kliment Vasilyevich Kvitka, who was considered one of the founders of Soviet musical ethnography. It is noteworthy that the young people met back in 1898, when Larisa Petrovna recited her story “Over the Sea” in the literary and artistic circle of Kyiv University.

Kliment Vasilyevich was also sick with tuberculosis, and it can be said that a hasty move to Crimea saved his life, because the mild climate and active treatment made the deadly disease recede. The lovers legalized their relationship on August 7, 1907; there were no children in the couple.

Death

A serious illness forced the writer to undergo treatment at resorts since childhood. Thus, in the last years of her life, Larisa Petrovna Kosach stayed in hot countries - Egypt and Georgia. However, all Lesya’s efforts to overcome bone tuberculosis were in vain: it seemed that the disease was not receding, but, on the contrary, was inexorably progressing. In addition, kidney disease was added to all Larisa Petrovna’s ailments.

But, despite her physical disability, Lesya found the strength to engage in creativity. In the last years of her life, she presented lyrical works to the public: the extravaganza drama “Forest Song”, the poem “Orgy”, the epic triptych “What will give us strength?”, “Orpheus’ miracle”, “About a giant”.

The great Ukrainian writer died on July 19 (August 1), 1913 at the age of 42. The poetess's grave is located at the Baikovo cemetery in Kyiv. Many streets were named in memory of the talented poetess, a museum and the National Academic Theater of Russian Drama were opened. It is noteworthy that in 2001, Lesya’s portrait was placed on a Ukrainian 200 hryvnia banknote.

Bibliography

• 1893 – “On the Wings of Songs”
• 1899 – “Thoughts and Dreams”
• 1902 – “Responses”
• 1911 – “Forest Song”

For all of us who do not remember history and are new to cultural heritage.

Lesya Ukrainian is not Lesya at all, and not Ukrainian at all (she is not Ukrainian at all).

Real name is Larisa Petrovna Kosach. Lesya's (Larissa's) parents, Pyotr Kosach and Olga Dragomanova, were Russians, or rather Rusyns. The family of Olga, Lesya-Larissa’s mother, came from Greek roots.

However, Lesya’s mother also dabbled in poetry and published under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka. In principle, Ukrainian was not the native language of either “Lesya” or “Olena”, but there was an order for Ukrainization, and customers from Austria paid well for the work. A family friend was Ivan Yakovlevich Franko (also a Rusyn?), in fact, he was also in this business. As they say, “nothing personal” And only Lesya’s (Larissa Petrovna’s) dad Pyotr Antonovich Kosach was an ardent defender of the Russian language and the unity of all Russians (Great Russians, Little Russians, Belarusians...). Who remembers this now? After all, even in the Soviet period, it was considered indecent to remember this...

Some details (you can double-check this version if interested): http://alternatio.org/articles/item/2073-victim-mother-little-known-Lesya-Ukrainian

And this is Lesya-Larissa’s mother. “Noble maiden” of the Russian Empire and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, daughter of a landowner and niece of the Decembrist Yakov Yakimovich Drahomanov... http://podgift.ru/mans3_5r.htm

And here is Lesya’s (Larissa’s) great-uncle. Yakov Akimovich (Yakimovich) Drahomanov. Decembrist, i.e. Freemason, member of the Society of United Slavs. Although he opposed the Russian state system, he was a true internationalist. And, as the name of the society suggests, he advocated the unity of the Slavs (in any case, such a goal was declared). By the way, he was a very worthy, honest and brave man and officer. Although on the day of the Senate uprising he was in the hospital and was not threatened with hard labor, he honestly admitted his revolutionary beliefs and did not deny his participation in the conspiracy... http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_d/dragomanov_jakov.php

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%F0%E0%E3%EE%EC%E0%ED%EE%E2,_%DF%EA%EE%E2_%DF%EA%E8%EC %EE%E2%E8%F7

Continuing to dig a little deeper around the “apple tree”, next to which Dragoman’s “apples” fell, we find this. The Society of United Slavs, as it turns out, advocated federalization. Those. for the unification of all Slavs in a single large state: “Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary with Transylvania, Serbia, Moldavia, Wallachia, Dalmatia and Croatia. Members of society considered Hungarians to be Slavs.” As you can see, Ukraine is not on this list (i.e. it is part of Russia). At the same time, within the framework of a federal state, the “Slavs” proposed to clearly define the borders of each of the states included in the federation (it was not proposed to divide Russia into Great, Small, New, Red, White, etc. parts of Rus'). The Society of the United Slavs was perhaps the most peace-loving (though some consider it the most warlike) of all the Decembrist communities. Although it joined the general plan of regicide (some members of this society took an oath accordingly), the “Slavs” categorically opposed the armed uprising, because. military revolutions (!) “are not the cradle, but the coffin of freedom, in the name of which they are committed.” However, for the freedom of the people they were ready to shed their own blood...

http://www.hrono.ru/libris/lib_n/nechk15.php

This is not about the origins of the poets, but about the origins of the idea of ​​dividing Russia and Ukraine (and the resulting bloodshed). And about the origin of the most modern Ukrainian language, tailored to order... And what’s interesting: neither the customers nor the performers were Ukrainians in the ethnic sense. However, Pushkin also had a hand in the creation of the modern Russian language. But he did not do this by order of the interventionists, and the idea of ​​a new Russian (“Moskal”, i.e. Pushkin!) language does not even contain a shred of thought about the need to divide the large Russian Slavic community.

I recommend reading this text, written by Panteleimon Kulish, one of the inventors of modern Ukrainian (its first version, which bears little resemblance to the chimera used by modern Ukrainian politicians).

Lesya Ukrainka (02/25/1871 - 08/1/1913)

Poetess, translator, playwright, who wrote in two languages ​​- Russian and Ukrainian. Author of the drama “The Stone Master”, the play “Blue Rose”, numerous poems and poems. She translated works by Goethe, Schiller, and Heine into Ukrainian. Founder of the Ukrainian society of young poets “Pleiad”.

...In many of her poems, two words are often repeated: “wings” and “song.” Perhaps because her strongest dream has always been to take off, overcoming the shackles of a weak body, and the lines of her poems are filled with soft and sad melodies of her native land, no matter where she is: under the hot sun of Egypt, the gray and rainy sky of Germany or shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Greece...

Lesya Ukrainka was born on February 25, 1871 in the city of Novograd-Volynsky, in that part of Ukraine that was part of the Russian Empire, into a family not alien to high spiritual interests: her mother was a writer who wrote under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka (her poetry and stories in her native language for children, they knew it well in Ukraine), his father was a highly educated landowner who was very fond of literature and painting. Writers, artists and musicians often gathered in the Kosachs’ house, and evenings and home concerts were held. Uncle Lesya - that was her name in the family and this home name became her literary pseudonym - Mikhail Drahomanov, who later took friendly care of his niece and helped her in every way - was a famous scientist, public figure, lived for a long time abroad in France and Bulgaria. He made acquaintance with Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, Victor Hugo, was aware of all the latest literary and political events and often replenished his niece’s library with parcels from abroad.

Beloved by everyone, Lesya initially grew up healthy and cheerful. She did not receive a systematic education. Her only and rather strict home teacher was her mother, Olga Petrovna. She developed her own training program, which was distinguished by its breadth and thoroughness, but it did not have a system, and the poetess herself subsequently greatly regretted this shortcoming. Father tried to insist on inviting teachers from the gymnasium to Lesya, but was it possible to argue with the imperious, proud Olga Petrovna, who was accustomed to the fact that only her decisions should be the main thing in Lesya’s life?!!

Extraordinarily talented, receptive, vulnerable, with a deep, true musical talent (she began playing and composing small musical pieces at the age of five!), who wrote her first poem at the age of eight, Lesya unexpectedly fell seriously ill in 1881. She was tormented by unbearable pain in her right leg. At first they decided that she had acute rheumatism, they treated her with baths, ointments, and herbs, but everything was useless. The pain went into my hands.

Doctors finally determined it was bone tuberculosis. Lesya's musical career was put to an end. After the first, complex, but extremely unsuccessful operation, my hand was left crippled! It was then that sadness first appeared in the eyes of the fragile girl. In the future, like a light blanket, it will envelop all her work. From now on, for many months of the year the girl must lie in bed, not make sudden movements, and experience excruciating pain all the time...

The parents didn't give up. They took the girl to the sea, for mud baths and swimming, turned to the best doctors, traditional medicine, foreign professors in Germany, but everything was in vain. Even if the disease subsided, it did not last long. Lesya now only had to remember her mysterious night walks through the estate park in Kolodyazhny (the Kosachy estate in Volyn), when she listened, and it seemed to her that she heard the sleepy breathing of foliage and grass, saw the mermaid Mavka bathing in the pond, weaving yellow hair into her hair. white water lily, caught the moon rays with her hands...

Later, when her mother told Lesya that the creation of her beautiful drama, the extravaganza “Forest Song” (1911), was influenced only by images of classical literature, the poetess boldly denied this: “I don’t remember the dashing Volyn forests. Remembering them, I wrote a “drama extravaganza” in their honor and it brought me a lot of joy!” (L. Ukrainka - A.E. Krymsky * October 14, 1911) (*A.E. Krymsky - scientist, philologist and historian - orientalist, great friend of L. Kosach, who helped her in processing and recording folk legends and songs - author .)

She always tried to find joy in everything. She had an indomitable spirit. Selflessly, at night, she studied languages: Bulgarian, Spanish, Latin, ancient Greek, Italian, Polish, German, not to mention English and French, geography, the history of the East and oriental cultures, the history of art and religions, and for her younger sisters at the age of 19 aged (!) wrote a textbook: “Ancient history of the eastern peoples.” Mikhailo Pavlyk, a Ukrainian writer and public figure, recalled one of his meetings with the poetess in Lviv in 1891: “Lesya simply stunned me with her education and subtle mind. I thought that she lives only by poetry, but this is far from the case. For her age, she is a brilliant woman. We talked with her for a very long time, and in every word I saw her intelligence and deep understanding of poetry, science and life!”

In 1893, in Lvov (Western Ukraine), a thin book of her poems, “On the Wings of Song,” was published, warmly received by critics and the public. Ivan Franko wrote with admiration about the “miracle of life affirmation” - the poems of the young poetess, which seemed to have grown out of Ukrainian songs and fairy tales.

“Reading the soft and relaxed or coldly resonant works of Ukrainian men and comparing them with these vigorous, strong and courageous, and at the same time, such sincere words of Lesya Ukrainka, you involuntarily think that this sick, weak girl is perhaps the only man in all over Ukraine!” - he concluded with bitter humor.

Already in early lyric poetry, readers were delighted by the excellent mastery of words, the vivid imagery of language, the wealth of rhymes and comparisons and, most importantly, hidden power and deep spirituality. Behind the sadness and slight melancholy sometimes hidden such wisdom and thirst for life that those few who knew about the poetess’s personal drama only shook their heads in admiration. It must be said that many of the poems in the thin collection almost immediately became folk songs.

In the work of Lesya Ukrainka, the theme of the homeland - free Ukraine - is too noticeable to be ignored. Her uncle, a supporter of the national independence of Ukraine from the Russian Empire, was forced to emigrate abroad, her paternal aunt, Elena Antonovna Kosach, was repeatedly arrested and exiled for her participation in the revolutionary movement. Even the poetess’s lover, Sergei Merzhinsky (they met in Crimea in 1897), being terminally ill, himself participated in the revolutionary movement, distributing proclamations and leaflets. And who knows, maybe it was precisely because the loving, but domineering Olga Petrovna Kosach was so opposed to the rapprochement and then the romance of her daughter with Sergei Merzhinsky, that this dangerous activity frightened her too much, she knew too well what the passion of thirst could lead to heroism and sacrifice, how can it break and wound the heart and soul!

Mixed in with this was the usual selfish maternal jealousy, the fear of losing control and power over the fragile, helpless creature that her daughter always seemed to be.

But when in 1901 Sergei Konstantinovich Merzhinsky died from pulmonary tuberculosis, Olga Petrovna unquestioningly obeyed her daughter’s strong-willed decision to be near her beloved and let her go to Minsk, to him. Merzhinsky will die in the arms of Lesya - Larochka, as he called her - and she, in order to get out of the “apogee of sorrow”, will write the lyrical drama “Obsessed” in one night, using an ancient biblical story. Later she will say about this work of hers: “I confess that I wrote on such a night, after which I will probably live for a long time, if I was still alive then.”

A cycle of her best lyric poems from 1898-1900. dedicated to Sergei Merzhinsky. It was published only after the death of the poetess and to this day amazes with the depth and sincerity of pain and the height of a beautiful love feeling:

“The lips repeat: He left without returning,

No, I didn’t leave, my heart believes sacredly.

Can you hear the string ringing and crying?

It rings and trembles with a hot tear.

Here in the depths it trembles in harmony with me:

And in songs do I want to escape the torment,

Or will someone gently squeeze my hand,

Or an intimate conversation is taking place,

Or who touches my lips with their lips -

The string rings like an echo above me:

“I’m here, I’m here always, always with you!”

(“Mouths repeat.” Translation by A. Ostrovsky.)

Lesya Ukrainka, who is very modest by nature, selected her lyrical poems for publication extremely carefully. Much of what was written during his lifetime never saw the light of day, and academic publications from the 60s of the twentieth century have long been forgotten. Only in her magnificent dramas and poems do we see the brightest reflections - echoes of a passionate, poetic nature, capable of deep, selfless feeling:

When I die, the world will burn

Words warmed by my fire.

And the flame hidden in them will shine

Lighted at night, it will burn during the day...

(“When I die.” Translation by N. Brown.)

One of her best creations, the drama extravaganza “Forest Song,” is also engulfed in an inner flame of feeling. The image of the mermaid - Mavka, in love with a simple village guy, for whom she left the lake, forest world and came to live with people, is inspired by fairy tales, legends and beliefs heard in childhood in the Volyn region. The poetess wrote it in ten days, almost immediately, completely blank, as if she was throwing out the accumulated stream of words and images. There is also a clear echo here with Andersen’s magical world, with his “The Little Mermaid”. And with those memories into which Lesya plunged, writing down the next lines of the drama, which she defined by the German word marchendrama - fairy-tale. “Do you know that I love fairy tales and can invent millions of them, although I have not written a single one yet?” - she admitted in a letter to A.E. Krymsky dated October 14, 1911.

“The Forest Song,” a story about the tragic love of a little mermaid who died in the cruel and cynical world of people, was enthusiastically received by readers, but the stage production of the drama was carried out by the Kyiv Drama Theater named after Lesya Ukrainka only in the mid-twentieth century, during Soviet times. Since then, it has not left theater posters, just like the poetess’s other famous play, “The Stone Master,” based on the legend of the famous Don Juan, sung by many classics of world literature long before the weak woman who wrote in Ukrainian.

This is what Larisa Petrovna herself said about the creation and conception of the drama “The Stone Master, or Don Juan” in a letter to A.E. Krymsky dated May 24, 1912: “I wrote Don Juan! Here is the same one, “worldwide and world-wide”, without even giving him any pseudonym. True, the drama (again drama!) is called “The Stone Master”, since its idea is the victory of the stone, conservative principle, embodied in the Commander, over the divided soul of a proud and selfish woman (Donna Anna), and through her over Don Juan, "Knight of Freedom" I don’t know, of course, what happened to me, good or bad, but I will tell you that there is something devilish, mysterious in this topic, it’s not for nothing that it has been tormenting people for three hundred years. I say “tormenting,” because a lot has been written about it, but little good has been written, which is why the “enemy of the human race” invented it, so that true inspiration and the deepest thoughts would be broken about it. One way or another, but now in our literature there is a Don Juan, its own, original in that it was written by a woman, which has not existed until now, it seems ... "

The writer’s innovation was not only in the fact that she was the first (and only!) woman to write one “of the masterpieces about the masterpiece,” but also in the fact that for the first time Don Juan was shown as a vain and selfish person, for the sake of his momentary whims and desires, ready to commit any crime. He matches the proud, sarcastic and mocking Donna Anna, who recognizes power over people as a gift for the chosen few, which is valued above wealth and love! But, having despised love, both Don Juan and Donna Anna freeze in the stony stupor of Death. The finale of the drama was so bright and unusual that many of the spectators screamed in horror when they saw in the mirror on the stage the image of the Stone Master - the Commander, into whom Don Juan turned, wearing his cloak!

The drama was first staged in 1914 by M.K. Sadovsky on the stage of the Kyiv Drama Theater and was sold out.

Meanwhile, for the poetess, life was playing out the last acts of her own drama.

Thirty-six years old, she fell in love again. A man who responded to her feelings with no less sincere and deep affection - Clement Kvitka, scientist, musicologist-folklorist, collector of folk legends and songs. Lesya’s mother was again vehemently against any relationship between her daughter “with some beggar,” as she contemptuously called Clement - a soft, reserved, shy man who experienced a deep personal drama in childhood - he grew up with adoptive parents. But Kvitka became so passionately attached to a thin, sick woman with big sad eyes, who understood him perfectly, that he flatly refused to leave her! And, despite all the anger, Olga Petrovna was forced to agree to her daughter’s marriage, however, she continued to poison her life with letters in which she defamed Clement in every possible way, calling him “a dishonest man who married the money of the Kosach-Dragomanovs.” Here it was already difficult to justify and understand. Maternal jealousy, like love, is a deep pool!

The young people refused the help of their parents. Clement earned all the money needed for the treatment of his seriously ill wife himself. They sold everything that could be sold: things, simple belongings, kitchen utensils. They only valued the library.

Lesya received treatment in Egypt and Greece, Germany and Austria. Everything was useless. Incurable kidney disease was added to the aggravated process of bone tuberculosis.

She died in Surami (Georgia) on August 1, 1913. She flew away “on the wings of song.” Her old dream came true: she always wanted to touch the clouds with her hands...

When does nicotiana bloom?

Song based on the verses of Lesya Ukrainka (Music by P. Weissburg Performed by Ada Rogovtseva)

Poetry of Lesya Ukrainka

HOPE

Life gave me neither share nor will,

Only one, one hope is dear to me:

See my Ukraine again

And everything that I love about my native land,

Look at the blue Dnieper again,

And there it’s all the same - let me die even now,

Take another look at the mounds in the steppes,

Take a final breath about your ardent dreams.

Neither share nor will is given by fate,

I am destined to live on hope alone.

Translation by V. Zvyagintseva

I am sending you a green leaf today,

This reminds me from afar

The groves of our quiet land,

A corner of our dear Volyn.

Answer me quickly, my friend,

I haven't heard your words since the summer,

And my soul yearns for greetings,

Like a rain tree, turning green...

And do me a favor too,

I send this request to your muse:

Let the forest cuckoo cuckoo,

She will revive her sad friend!

Yes, I’m sad now, dear,

For a harsh, sad fate,

That dreams have been imprisoned,

Killing all my hopes.

The best thoughts and dreams wither,

Like flowers that sometimes in autumn

They bloom for just a moment,

To look at the sun before it freezes.

But the winter blizzard will subside too!

I send this request to your muse:

Let the forest cuckoo cuckoo,

She will revive her sad friend!

Translation by V. Zvyagintseva

BAKCHISARAI

Bakhchisarai stands enchanted.

The month shines with golden light,

The walls turn white in this wondrous splendor.

The whole city fell asleep, like a magical land.

Silver trees, minorets,

Like sentries, a sleepy paradise is entrusted;

Among the bushes with a mysterious greeting

A fountain splashes in the darkness by chance.

Nature breathes sweet peace.

Above the sleepy silence a light-winged swarm

Ancient dreams and dreams are in the air.

And the poplars, nodding their tops,

They whisper slowly, remembering

The gray ones were of ancient times...

Translation by P. Karaban

FROM THE “MELODIES” CYCLE

The night was both quiet and dark.

I stood, oh my friend, with you,

I looked at you with longing.

The night was quiet and dark...

The wind died down sadly in the garden.

You sang a song, I sat silently,

The song rang quietly in my heart.

The wind froze sadly in the garden...

Lightning flashed in the distance.

Something trembled in my heart!

It was like being pierced by a sharp knife.

Lightning flashed in the distance...

Translation by V. Zvyagintseva

FROM THE “MOMENTS” CYCLE

Handkerchiefs of melted snow are scattered...

A little rain and the sky is leaden,

In the timid grass, primroses are barely visible -

This is spring, this is the crown of happiness!

The sky is deep, the sun is radiant,

The purple and gold of the withered branches.

Late roses, all in dew, fragrant -

Autumn messengers... Maybe mine?

Well, I'm not afraid of the coming of autumn,

The end of the stuffy summer makes me happy -

If only they wouldn’t remind you of the spring hour

Rare rain and the sky is leaden.

Translation by V. Zvyagintseva

BREATH OF THE DESERT

The desert is breathing. Smooth breathing.

The sand lies calm and golden.

But every ridge and every hill -

Everything about khamsin is remembered here.

Fellah the hardworking builds a building, -

There's a swarm of fleeting foreigners here

He will find a hotel and a dense garden.

Fellah is mighty: everything is his creation.

One problem - oases in the desert

Not for him... So he writes patterns

Under the very roof... The fabric on it sways,

The hot wind glides across the canvas,

It flies... again, again... The desert is breathing.

Translation by N. Ushakov

CONTRA SPEM SPERO!*

Away, gray autumn thoughts!

Now is the time of golden spring,

Are we really young?

Will they pass in a hopeless line?

No, I won’t get tired of singing and crying,

I will smile even on a stormy night.

I will hope without hope,

I want to live! Away, sad ones, away!

I will sow flowers in the cold,

In a sad field, in a wretched land

I burn those flowers with my own

And I’ll sprinkle you with hot tears.

And there will be no cold snow,

The ice armor will melt,

And the flowers will bloom, and it will come

It’s a day of spring for – sad – me.

Climbing up the mountain with stones,

I will endure terrible torment,

But even in this difficult time

I will sing a cheerful song.

I'll wash myself all through the foggy night,

I will look ahead of me into the darkness,

Waiting for the queen of the nights -

Guiding star blue.

Yes! And in grief I will not forget to sing,

I will smile even on a stormy night.

I will hope without hope,

I will live! Away, sad ones, away!

Translation by N. Ushakov