Neo-Romantic Visions of Lesia Ukrainka’s Landscape and Intimate Lyrics

Abstract

Abstract. Lesia Ukrainka’s oeuvre has played an important role in the development of national and world culture. The poetess brought to Ukrainian literature the rich spiritual world of her heroes: people with an inquisitive mind and a passionate heart. Powerful talent, dedicated to serving people, deep penetration into the most important issues of the day, high professional culture – all these factors put Lesia Ukrainka in the ranks of the world’s greatest poets.

All of Lesia Ukrainka’s works are filled with a powerful vital force – a neo-romantic aesthetic ideal, according to which the leading motives are struggle, will, service to a lofty goal. The lyrical hero of her poetic works is a courageous personality who tries to find solutions to current social and philosophical problems. The feeling of spiritual exhaustion which is characteristic of European neo-romanticism is not characteristic of Lesia Ukrainka’s orogonative manner.

All of Lesia Ukrainka’s creative practice varies and unfolds issues not of an objective historical nature, but discursive issues, issues related to the nature, content, form, subtext and context of human existence and communication. The poetess associated the modernization of Ukrainian literature with the requirements of a perfect, elaborate form, with the discipline of spirit and stylistic exigence. She considered neo-romanticism to be the leading style of her time.

Lesia Ukrainka’s poetry is characterized by a combination of neo-romanticism and neo-classicism, and later becomes empowered by a powerful vital force – a neo-romantic aesthetic ideal, according to which the leading motives are struggle, will, and service to a lofty goal. The question of new, modern art is reflected in most of her works. Her neo-romantic rebel characters are distinguished primarily by the urge of freedom, determination and stoic readiness to fight and resist social forces. These neo-romantic orientations are combined in art with trends that can be described as neo-classic.

The lifting of restrictions on the comprehension of the spiritual figure of Lesia Ukrainka raises the need for appropriate methodology and tools that will allow to know the nature of her thinking, to give the concept of personality in a surprisingly harmonious fusion of wisdom, tenderness and strength. Speaking of Lesia Ukrainka’s lyrics, one cannot ignore the question of the image of the landscape in her lyrical poetry, because in her poetic works, she paid great attention to the depiction of nature, landscape, and at the same time the widest range of human feelings against the background of the diversity of pictures of the surrounding world. Managing the magic of painting (the poetess was not only widely acquainted with the history and theory of painting, but also painted herself), Lesia Ukrainka with fine taste and excellent ability reproduced Ukrainian nature and landscapes of other lands in her lyrical poetry. The poetess greatly appreciated the landscape in works.

Lesia Ukrainka’s intimate lyrics are dominated by sad motives, longing for lost love and unattainable happiness. However, the soul of the poetess, hardened by trials, responded to both physical and mental pain with the pearls of poetic creativity. All these poems are brought together by an optimistic, life-affirming beginning, whatever they are about. They testify to her unsurpassed talent as a poetess-lyricist. All genre formations, without exception, both large and small poetic forms were subject, were within her control. The poetess proved to be a true master in the field of socio-political, philosophical and meditative, intimate-personal, and landscape-marine lyrics. Art is not so much interested in the world as in its own essence. This is the time of particularly active self-reflection of the artist. All this makes her lyrics relevant both then and now.

 The exceptionally great significance of Lesia Ukrainka’s oeuvre in the history of Ukrainian literature lies in the fact that it has inspired Ukrainian poetry with new themes and motives, enriched the lyric lines, rhythms and metrics of Ukrainian poetry. Her neo-romantic, symbolist poetry and drama emphasized attention to new values, new philosophical, existential problems at the turn of the century.