Analysis about poems related to Taras Shevchenko's poem, "The Great Grave"

Analysis about poems related to Taras Shevchenko's poem, "The Great Grave"

Taras Shevchenko, throughout his poetry, wrote about the loss of past glory under the subjugation under tsarist Russia. The choices of many to go along was especially galling to him.
 
As I did throughout my reading of the book, The Poet of Ukraine, about the life and poetry of the Bard of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko, I wrote a series of poems about “The Great Grave”, starting with Shevchenko’s poem and then looking at the current time.
 
“The Great Grave” of Shevchenko is the grave of the hetman, but much more so, it is the grave of the treasure of Ukraina's ancient glory. But the people in the story of the poem were not able to discover the treasure, because they had collaborated with Muscovy. They only found the naked bones of the hetman… The true Grave where Ukrainian glory remained guarded and protected because they are not worthy.
 
It is an evolution of poems about Shevchenko poem in the 1840's going from his indictment of the appeasers and collaborators to my poems about the current fight against the same enemy, from "The Great Grave being opened" to, The Great Grave has been opened", to “The spell has been broken”. To get to that last version of the story, I had to include what Shevchenko was saying in his other poems, “To Marko Vovchok”, about Maria Markovich, and “Hosea, Chapter XIV”, which talk about judgment on the people and the fidelity of the people to the history and cause of Ukraine.

My poems argue that the treasure is being opened by the bravery of the Ukrainian people in this moment of crisis. Their choice to struggle for true freedom, not giving land for false peace, not acquiescing or collaborating. The great loss in the original is buoyed by the redemptive nature of the moment we are in, using the “Hosea XIV” and “To Mark Vovchok” as the connective tissue uniting “The Great Grave” to this current moment. Hope and renewal are at an awful cost, but Ukraine and Ukrainians step up every day, giving up their lives for the cause of freedom of their people and their country. Even the spark was enough, as we see in “To Marko Vovchok”, to give Shevchenko peace.
 
Shevchenko’s hope within his own despair is so important too in understanding all of his hopes and the cultural underpinning of the whole country. The same enemy is striving to take so much. The same compromises are on the table before them, the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, the rape and torture, the barbarity of the Tsar and the Russian people are all the same. The active choice to reject subjugation and subordination today answers the judgement of Shevchenko, wholly consistent with the arc of his poems. Today’s Ukraine and Ukrainians, every son and black-haired maiden, are a living testament to his words and his own love and faith in his homeland, Ukraina…
 
My poems assert that that fidelity to Ukraine and the choice of this generation to fight for Ukraine and not compromise land for peace make them worthy to open the great grave.
Now the grave has been opened and glory is upon the soldiers and the #Ukrainian people of today, based on their resilience and fidelity to the nation.
 
Lastly, I assert in my poems that it is Taras Shevchenko's own grave that is the great grave. It is his own fidelity to Ukraine that made the difference, even if he himself didn’t see it. His grace is the repository of the treasure of Ukraine’s past glory.
 
Poems in this thread.
 
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edited and posted October 18, 2024
The spell has been broken – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-spell-has-been-broken-v2_27.html
&
Written and posted October 17, 2024
The spell has been broken
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-spell-has-been-broken_26.html
after poem, “The spell has been broken”,
based on the poems, “The Great Grave”,
““To Marko Vovchok”,
about Maria Markovich,
and “Hosea, Chapter XIV”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
taking his poem into the Ukraine / Russia War
and the bravery of the people of Ukraine now
&
Edited October 19, 2024
The Great Grave has been opened – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-great-grave-has-been-opened-v2_27.html
&
Edited October 17, 2024
peace in his spirit – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/peace-in-his-spirit-v2_26.html
after poem, “peace in his spirit”,
based on the poem, “To Marko Vovchok”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
about Maria Markovich,
written 1/24/1859
&
New/edited and posted October 16, 2024
The Great Grave has been opened
typed October 16, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-great-grave-has-been-opened.html
after poem, “The Great Grave has been opened”,
based on the poem, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
taking his poem into the Ukraine / Russia War
and the bravery of the people of Ukraine now
&
New/edited and posted October 16, 2024
The Great Grave being opened
typed October 16, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-great-grave-being-opened_24.html
after poem, “The Great Grave being opened”,
based on the poem, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
taking his poem into the Ukraine / Russia War
&
Written and posted October 8, 2024
Three bards
typed October 16, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/three-bards_24.html
after poem, “Three bards”,
based on the poem, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
&
edited and posted October 16, 2024
Like the friends of Job – v2
typed October 16, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/like-friends-of-job-v2.html
Written and posted October 8, 2024
Like the friends of Job
typed October 16, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/like-friends-of-job_24.html
after poem, “Like the friends of Job”,
based on the poem, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
Psalm 44:13-14
Psalm 43:14-15
Book of Job
&
Written and posted October 8, 2024
Three souls
typed October 16, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/three-souls_24.html
after poem, “Three souls”,
based on the poem, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
&
Written and posted October 7, 2024
A Faustian Tragedy
typed October 15, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/a-faustian-tragedy-cautionary-tale.html
after poem, “A Faustian Tragedy”,
based on the poems, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko,
called, “A Comedy”,
see Goethe
&
Written and posted October 7, 2024
Are the people blind
typed October 15, 2024
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/10/are-people-blind-fallen-from-heights.html
after poem, “Are the people blind”,
based on the poems, “The Great Grave”,
by Taras Shevchenko
 
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