Тема 1.3. Лексичний мінімум основ міжкультурної свідомості з визначенням

взаємостосунків, взаємовідносин, регіональних та соціальних відмінностей

між Україною та країною, мова якої вивчається

Самостійна робота 3

Тема: Визначні особи України

Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko, artist, poet, writer and national bard of Ukraine, was born on the 9^th of March, 1814 in the village of Moryntsi, Kyiv huberniya, into the family of a serf Hryhoriy Shevchenko. In 1815 the family moved to Kyrylivka where Taras spent his joyless childhood. Exhausted by hard work the poet's mother died. His father was left with five children. The youngest was about eighteen months old. It was difficult for a widower with such a family so he married a woman. She didn't like Taras, so he was sent away to another master. That's why the boy grew up in poverty and misery. 2 years later after his mother's death, Taras's father died, too. Taras was left an orphan. He was greatly interested in reading, writing and painting. The boy was taught to read by the village precentor and was often beaten for "wasting time" on drawing, for which he had an innate talent. At the age of 14 he was taken by his owner Engelhardt to Vilno to serve as a houseboy, where Shevchenko learned Russian and Polish and traveled very much with him, first to Vilnus and then to St. Petersburg. He was a slave without any rights. Engelhardt noticed Shevchenko's artistic talent and sent him to the painter Shyryaev for 4 years and then his master took him to St. Petersburg. During this period he met his compatriots Soshenko, Hrebinka, Venitsianov. Through them he met the Russian painter Karl Bryullov. The outstanding painter was so impressed by Shevchenko's pictures that he decided to help the young artist. K. Bryullov painted a portrait of the well-known Russian poet V. Zhukovsky and sold it in a lottery. The money was used to buy Shevchenko out from serfdom in 1838. Thus he was given an opportunity to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where he studied painting and engraving. Studying at the Academy Shevchenko found his second and main calling, his true passion -poetry. There, in St. Petersburg, Taras did not forget his Motherland and her sufferings under the serfdom. He wrote poems in Ukrainian and in 1840 he published his first collection of poems "Kobzar". It was followed by the poem "Haidamaky" (1841). In 1840 Shevchenko visited Ukraine three times. In 1846 Shevchenko came to Kyiv and joined the secret Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. In 1847 Shevchenko was arrested and sent as a private to the Orenburg special corps and he spent there 10 years and 4 months. Tsar Nickolas I himself initiated the sentencing order preventing the prisoner from writing and painting. But Shevchenko managed to continue doing both. Here he wrote many wonderful poems and drew fine pictures. Among his poems of that period was his masterpiece "Beside the Hut the Cherries are in Bloom".

Shevchenko was released in 1857 but he was not allowed to live in Ukraine. Exile and military service rained the poet's health and greatly cut short his life. He returned to St. Petersburg and started to work at the Academy of Arts. He also continued writing. In 1859 Shevchenko was allowed to visit Ukraine and it turned out to be his last visit to his Motherland. After Shevchenko's death on the 10^th of March 1861 the poet was buried in St. Petersburg but two months afterward in May 1861 his friends fulfilled the poet's "Testament" and Shevchenko was reburied on Chernecha Hill near Kaniv, in Ukraine.

Shevchenko has a uniquely important place in Ukrainian history. He created the conditions that allowed the transformation of Ukrainian literature into a modern literature. His influence on the

Ukrainian political thought and his role as an inspirer of a modern democratic ideal of renewed Ukrainian statehood are without parallel.

Although Shevchenko is seen mainly as a poet, he was also a great artist. He created over 1000 works, 270 of them have been lost. Shevchenko painted over 150 portraits, 43 of them self-portraits. He also painted numerous landscapes which recorded the architectural monuments of Ukraine.

Розділ 2. Ділові зустрічі та контакти