The Image of Nature in the Works of Taras Shevchenko

Abstract

The article aims to focus on the analysis of the image of Ukrainian nature in the works of Taras Shevchenko. This is just one aspect of his versatile work. T. Shevchenko always turned to the images of his native nature because he was a real patriot and loved his country above all. T. Shevchenko considered poetry to be a kind of remedy for his homesickness. The motive of homesickness is characteristic of T. Shevchenko’s poetry in which he attempts at communicating with the nature as a single being that is capable of understanding his suffering. Shevchenko’s vision of the nature presupposes its vivification, or even anthropomorphization. The poet often depicts nature as an equal interlocutor. In addition to that, the images of nature frequently become metaphors of the poet’s feelings. The nature in T. Shevchenko’s poems is depicted in a way that is typical of folk songs. Its separate details, namely a star, a poplar tree, a viburnum, a sycamore maple tree, willow tree, and a cherry orchard very often become symbols of whole Ukraine. In his poems the poet mentions his native village and contrasts Ukraine’s beautiful nature with the hard life of its people. Such contrastive episodes can be found in many works by T. Shevchenko. Being a real patriot, a martyr and a person in exile T. Shevchenko has been still dreaming of returning to his beloved Ukraine, looking at its green fields and relieving his negative emotions. T. Shevchenko has depicted Ukrainian nature in a skillful, poetic and sentimental way, with deep love and regrets that such a harmony that one can see in the nature can hardly be possible in the society of his time.