Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (Ukrainian: Тарас Григорович Шевченко; Russian: Тарас Григорьевич Шевченко, romanized: Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He wrote poetry in Ukrainian and prose (nine novellas, a diary, and his autobiography) in Russian.
Born to a poor family of serfs during the period of Russian rule over Ukraine, in his youth Shevchenko demonstrated a talent for art and become a fellow of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg. After his return to Ukraine, he joined the emerging national movement. Exiled to Central Asia due to his association with the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Shevchenko continued to create art and poetry despite prohibitions, and his figure attained fame among the liberal-minded circles of the Russian Empire. Freed from exile after the onset of liberal reforms of Alexander II, Shevchenko was barred from settling in Ukraine and died in Saint Petersburg.
His literary heritage, in particular the poetry collection Kobzar, is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and to some degree also of the modern Ukrainian language. The significance of Shevchenko's creative genius for the Ukrainian and wider Slavic culture has led some to compare his figure to that of Robert Burns.
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