National Bard of Ukraine (9й клас)

TARAS SHEVCHENKO ( 1814-1861 )

         National Bard of Ukraine, noted artist Taras Shevchenko was born on March 9, 1814 in the family of serf peasants in the village of Moryntsi ( today in Cherkassy Region ).

         In his childhood he liked to draw pictures, and his first teacher was the artist who lived in that village.

         When Taras was 14 years old his teacher took him as a houseboy to Vilno (Vilnius). There, for the first time of his life, he heard foreign speech.

         Then his teacher took Taras to Petersburg where Karl Bryullow, a Russian artist, noticed Shevchenko’s talent and bought him out of serfdom.

         From 1838 to 1845 Shevchenko was a student at the Academy of Arts. He drew many beautiful pictures there but his second and main calling was poetry. 

         Taras Shevchenko wrote his poems in Ukrainian and his prose in Ukrainian and in Russian. In 1840 he published his first book “Kobzar” and a year later “Haidamaki”, a historical poem about the heroic struggle of the Ukrainian peasants against the Polish lords in 1768.

         In 1844 the poet wrote his satirical poem “A Dream” for which Nicolas I exiled him to the Kazakh steppes as a private in the army.

         His friends helped Shevchenko to return from exile in 1857. He resumed work in the Academy and continued to write, but ten years of exile had ruined the poet’s health, and on March 10, 1861 he died.

         The poet’s grave, as he willed, is on a high Dnieper bank in Kaniv not far from the village where he was born.

While-Listening Activities

When?	Main Life Events
March 9, 1814	He was born
At the age of 14	His teacher took him as a houseboy to Vilno (Vilnius)
From 1838 to 1845	He was a student at the Academy of Arts and drew many pictures
In 1840	He published his first book “Kobzar”
In 1841	He published a historical poem “Haidamaki”
In 1844	He wrote his satirical poem “A Dream” and was exiled to the Kazakh steppes to serve in the army
In 1857	He returned from exile, resumed work in the Academy and continued to write
March 10, 1861	He died