Many famous talented people gave the world Ukraine, including thinkers, statesmen, physicists, microbiologists, architects, athletes, actors, writers. February 25, 2016 marked the 145th anniversary of the birth of the greatest Ukrainian poetess Lesya Ukrainka, which completely changed Ukrainian poetry, enriched it with the perfection of forms, brought into it, like a sip fresh air, many poetic genres, a variety of new themes and motifs. Ivan Franko once called her the only man in Ukraine, emphasizing that among contemporary Ukrainian poets there is no equal to this beautiful, incredibly talented, strong spirit woman.
The real name of the world-famous poetess is Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka. Since childhood, the poetess knew Latin, Greek, translated German, English, French classics, but Ukrainian has always remained native. She chose her pseudonym as a girl, so that the word "Ukrainian" was written with capital letter. Lesya Kosach was born on 25.02. 1871 in the city of Novograd-Volynsky in an intelligentsia Ukrainian family. Her mother, Olga Kosach, wrote poems and stories under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka. 
Subsequently, her uncle Mikhail Drahomanov, a well-known folklorist, scientist, prominent public figure. He for a long time stayed abroad, where he was acquainted with V. Hugo, I.S. Turgenev. At the request of her mother, Lesya studied at home, as a result she received a comprehensive, albeit messy, education, which she later recalled with regret more than once. She turned out to be very talented child. At the age of four she already read, at five she played the piano beautifully, at eight she began to write poetry, which began to be published when she was 12 years old. knowledge of several foreign languages allowed Lesya to get acquainted in the original with outstanding works literature. And suddenly, in January 1881, a terrible illness bedridden a girl gifted by nature with numerous talents. She had to lie in bed for months with her arms and leg in a cast, and so began her incredibly long “thirty-year war” with bone tuberculosis, as Lesya herself once called her illness. Parents made every effort to alleviate her suffering. However, the disease did not recede for long. She had to undergo several operations abroad, go through many painful courses of treatment.
Lesya had to say goodbye to music forever, but because of her forced immobility, her poetic talent was strengthened. In 1885, her poem "Sappho" was published. Being familiar with the masterpieces of literature, Lesya decided to start translating these works into her native Ukrainian language and started with her beloved Heinrich Heine. 
Being fluent in several foreign languages, she became one of the best translators in the world. Ukrainian literature. To deal with translations, on her initiative, a creative Group under the name "Pleiades", from which prominent Ukrainian writers later emerged. Her first collection of poems, called On the Wings of Songs, was published in Lvov in 1893. Many researchers consider Maxim Slavinsky to be the first love of the young poetess, with whom she translated Heine. Then she was 15 years old, Slavinsky - 18. She dedicated such masterpieces as “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, “Burning My Heart” and others to him. But her true first love was the revolutionary Sergei Merzhinsky. Their acquaintance took place in 1897 in Yalta, where both arrived for treatment. Lesya Ukrainka was 26, he was 27. Probably they would have been happy, but Merzhinsky was ill with consumption and soon a fatal illness took her beloved from her. On the death of a loved one, she created in one night dramatic poem"Obsessed", which received great recognition and fame.
In August 1907, in Kyiv, Lesya Ukrainka married the musicologist and folklorist Kliment Kvitke, whom she had known for a long time thanks to mutual passion. folklore. The husband of Lesya Ukrainka tried with all his might to alleviate her illness, with the proceeds from everything previously acquired, he sent her for treatment abroad. She is treated by famous doctors from Austria, Greece, Italy, Germany and even Egypt, but the disease does not leave the great poetess and continues to progress. By the end of 1911, her condition had deteriorated significantly, in addition to bone tuberculosis, incurable disease kidneys. Traveling around the world, Lesya Ukrainka continues to write. The stronger and closer the disease, the more it works. It was then that such masterpieces as the extravaganza "Fox Song", the poems "Lawyer Martian" and "The Stone Master, or Don Juan" came out from under her pen. The greatest writer of Ukraine died in the Georgian town of Surami on August 1, 1913. She was buried at home, at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv.
everyone knows. But not everyone knows how amazing and interesting the biography of Lesya Ukrainka was.
Few people think about the tragedy of her fate. About the fact that Lesya Ukrainka spent almost her entire life with the realization that she was terminally and mortally ill. That she was limping because of tuberculosis of the bones. Her lover died of the same illness she herself suffered from. That the mother of the poetess Olena Pchilka ruled the texts of her daughter and did not approve of any of the applicants for her hand. Believe me, the fate of Lesya Ukrainka is no less tragic and amazing than the life of Frida Kahlo, the film about which so shocked many.
I want to talk about Lesya Ukrainka, not as a public figure and not even about her writing talent, but about her female destiny- not simple, filled with pain, but also with love, suffering, creative pursuits which are reflected in her incredibly talented works.
Illustration by L.M. Medvid - "Lesya Ukrainka"
Studying the biography of Lesya Ukrainka, you unconsciously understand that she was created for creativity. After all, her mother, the famous poetess and translator Olga Kosach, who worked under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka, worked before her eyes. Rumor has it that Panas Mirny called her this pseudonym, appreciating the incredible diligence: "hardworking, like a bee, and fertile like the earth."
Olga Kosach wrote poetry, was engaged in journalism, wrote feuilletons and other works, being the mother of six children. And at the same time, as researchers say, she knew at least five foreign languages, thanks to which she translated works into Ukrainian: Yuri Lermontov, Oscar Wilde, Adam Mickiewicz, Charles Dickens, Charles Perrault, Victor Hugo, Alexander Pushkin, Ovid, Goethe and many others writers and poets.
Lesya Ukrainka is second from the left, Olena Pchilka is to her right. 1906
In addition, Lesya Ukrainka's uncle was Mikhail Petrovich Dragomanov, her mother's brother. This is not only a well-known Ukrainian historian and folklorist, but also a prominent public figure, who is the father of Ukrainian socialism. As you can see, Lesya was born in a family of not only creative, but also active in social activities people, which ultimately affected her fate.
Do you know that... according to literary critics, Lesya Ukrainka loved to "cook". For example, in the summer they often boiled cherry, Strawberry jam. And once, from her next trip, she brought two dogwood bushes, which, according to eyewitnesses, are still growing and bearing fruit. Dogwood also made excellent jam - only now it is already being brewed by the museum staff in Kolodyazhny.
But lemon mazurkas, which Lesya baked with her own hands, deserve special attention.
In the name of the human spirit Looking at the fate of Lesya Ukrainka, it is even hard to believe that a woman is able to endure so many hardships and hardships, but at the same time remain unbroken in spirit and find inspiration to write magnificent works, many of which remain relevant today, teach goodness, carry faith in justice.
Already at the age of ten, a talented girl was struck by a dangerous disease. Although the doctors could not immediately make the correct diagnosis - severe, unbearable pain in right leg they rated it as an attack of acute rheumatism. The treatment was appropriate - simple ointments, baths, but time passed, and the disease did not let go and followed Lesya like a sad shadow through life. Later it was found that true reason pain is a dangerous and incurable disease called tuberculosis of the bones. Later, the poetess herself will joke sadly and call her struggle with the disease the "thirty years' war."
In the photo - Lesya Ukrainka in childhood. Left - with his brother Michael.
When the exact diagnosis was established, Lesya Ukrainka was forced to undergo the first operation, but it cannot be called successful - the disease did not recede, but the doctors cripple the girl's hand, as a result of which she was forced to give up music lessons, in which she found consolation.
The father and mother did everything possible for their daughter to recover: they invited the best doctors; studied the experience of folk healers; organized trips to the sea. But the disease only for a while let the girl out of its tenacious embrace and returned again, already with new force tormenting young body and sensual soul.
There were periods of several months, when the girl could not even get out of bed, but she did not lose her courage, plunging into creativity, developing her talent. And already in 1885, her poem was accepted for publication in the Zorya magazine. Remarkably, Lesya Ukrainka's work was published next to her mother's poems.
By the way ... literary critics say that the mother quite often "intervened" in the texts of Lesya, even when she had already grown up and became a famous poetess. The daughter sometimes took offense at such actions of her mother, although their relationship did not suffer from this, remaining all the same warm and tender.
After that, it seemed that nothing could interfere with the development creativity Lesia, because she could write, even overcoming pain. Meetings and love, separation and sadness ....
Relationships with men deserve not only a separate chapter, but a whole book. After all, all Lesia's relationships were bright, sincere and incredibly beautiful. But the love stories turned out to be quickly burning out, like a comet in the August night sky .... As well as the life of Lesya ....
Maxim Slavinsky
First real love overtook Lesya at the age of 15, when she was not yet a poetess - 18-year-old Maxim Slavinsky became her lover. This love is even reflected in her work, but, like all youthful hobbies, the relationship was short-lived. Yes, and other men left a more noticeable mark on the fate of Lesya and her biography, including her creative one.
Nestor Gambarashvili
Nestor Gambarashvili appeared in Lesia's life by chance, in 1895. He was looking for a place to rent a room, and this was provided by the family of a young, already well-known poetess. Lesya taught Georgian French, he taught her Georgian in return. She fell in love with him, but in 1897 Nestor marries another woman. The poetess falls into despair, sends Nestor an innumerable number of letters, unanswered.
And only in 1958, 45 years after the death of the poetess, Gambarashvili comes to her grave, mourning the love of his youth, carrying repentance in his heart, but it is no longer possible to change fate and life ....
Sergey Merzhinsky
It seemed that there would be no end to Lesia's suffering and torment - constant pain, turmoil in her personal life. How many more troubles, mental anguish is in store for her? But after the break with Nestor, fate had mercy on the young woman. During her next trip to the Black Sea, to Yalta, where she felt much better, Lesya meets Sergei Merzhinsky.
He is young, handsome, a revolutionary in character and occupation, but stricken with tuberculosis. The sea was advised to him by doctors - like many patients with tuberculosis. Although initially the relationship did not work out for them. The revolutionary complained to the poetess about boredom resort town and a lot of mosquitoes, but what are these minor troubles compared to the physical torments endured by Lesya - sometimes, from pain, she was forced to simply fall on the Yalta benches and sit still ....
She could not even believe that someone could have such petty problems - boredom, mosquitoes ....
But a little later they still manage to find mutual language. Moreover, they had a lot in common: young, beautiful, struggling with serious illnesses.
A little later, Merzhinsky leaves for his native Minsk, but their communication does not stop - now by correspondence. But all the same, Lesya could not fully reciprocate him - given her state of health, she was sincerely sure that she had no moral right to get married, because most likely due to illness she would not be able to give birth to children. Yes, and her illness will be a burden to the chosen one.
Moreover, after returning from Yalta, the poetess went to Berlin, where she underwent another operation, Lesya Ukrainka had part of her hip joint removed.
Sergei has already come to terms with the fact that he will remain a friend for Lesya and nothing more, but nevertheless, in 1900, he decides on her proposal to visit Yalta. Unfortunately, this time the sea air did not help Merzhinsky and he was forced to return to Minsk, where his own aunt was taking care of them. Seeing how literally every day Sergei was getting worse, Lesya Ukrainka could not fight her feelings for her beloved man.
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Despite her illness, she persistently tries to find money for his treatment and salvation.
Her condition also worsened, but Lesya still goes to Minsk, where she not only was next to Sergei, but also worked hard - all the works of that time are devoted exclusively to Merzhinsky. But they did not stay together for long - already in March 1901, fate strikes again. Sergei actually dies in Lesya's arms, and she, having become his wife, forever retains her love for him.
Kliment Kvitka
Only in 1907 did Lesya Ukrainka get married - Kliment Kvitka, a well-known musicologist and folklorist at that time, became her chosen one. They met on literary readings, after which Lesya offered Clement to help write down folk songs who knew a lot.
Although Sergei Merzhinsky also lived in her heart. Lesya lived with Clement for six years, and their marriage ended in the death of the poetess.
Lesya Ukrainka's mother was categorically against this marriage, she called Kliment "some kind of beggar." Although, it must be admitted that she treated Sergei Merzhinsky no better.
Kliment Kvitka was a shy and reticent person. As a child, he experienced a deep trauma that haunted him in adulthood. The fact is that he was brought up in a foster family, where he constantly came own mother threatening to take his son away.
It is not surprising that he chose Lesya as his wife, a sensitive girl with an incurable disease, from whom meanness and betrayal could hardly be expected.
The married couple lived in Kyiv, then in the Crimea, where the sea air eased the suffering of Lesya.
Clement tried to save his beloved, turned to the best doctors Europe, but all was in vain. Even numerous trips to German, Egyptian, Greek doctors could not stop the course of the aggravated illness, to which problems with the kidneys were added. August 1, 1913 Lesya Ukrainka dies ....
They say that Kliment Kvitka loved Lesya so much that after her death he could not forgive such an early departure of his wife, carrying in himself not only love, but also resentment for another forty years - exactly how much he had to live without his beloved.
The talented, bright, unforgettable biography of Lesya Ukrainka is a series of suffering, struggle with illness, spiritual disappointments and love losses, but at the same time, creative accomplishments and achievements. The poetess has firmly taken her place in the cohort of the best poets and writers in the history of Ukraine, but she will be remembered not only for her works, but also for her unbending will, desire to live and love.
Lesya Ukrainka (25.02. 1871 - 1.08. 1913)
Poetess, translator, playwright, who wrote in two languages - Russian and Ukrainian. Author of the drama "Stone Master", the play "Blue Rose", numerous poems and poems. She translated into Ukrainian the works of Goethe, Schiller, Heine. Founder of the Ukrainian society of young poets "Pleiades".
... In many of her poems, two words are often repeated: “wings” and “song”. Maybe because her strongest dream has always been to take off, overcoming the shackles of a weak body, and the lines of her poems are filled with soft and sad melodies. native land, wherever she is: under the hot sun of Egypt, the gray and rainy skies of Germany or off the coast mediterranean sea in Greece…
Lesya Ukrainka was born on February 25, 1871 in the city of Novograd-Volynsky, in that part of Ukraine that was part of the Russian Empire, in a family not alien to high spiritual interests: her mother was a writer who worked under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka (her poetry and stories in mother tongue for children, well known in Ukraine), the father is a highly educated landowner who was very fond of literature and painting. Writers, artists and musicians often gathered in the house of the Kosachs, evenings and home concerts were held. Uncle Lesia - that was her family name and this home name became her pseudonym- Mikhail Drahomanov, who later took care of his niece in a friendly manner and helped her in every possible way, was a famous scientist, public figure, lived for a long time abroad in France and Bulgaria. He made acquaintances with Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, Victor Hugo, was aware of all the latest literary and political events and often replenished his niece's library with parcels from abroad.
Beloved by all, Lesya at first grew up healthy and cheerful. She did not receive a formal education. Her only and rather strict home teacher was her mother, Olga Petrovna. She developed own program education, which was distinguished by breadth and thoroughness, but there was no system in it, and the poetess herself subsequently regretted this shortcoming very much. Father tried to insist on inviting teachers from the gymnasium to Lesya, but how could one argue with the imperious, proud Olga Petrovna, who was used to the fact that only her decisions should be the main ones in Lesya's life?!
Extraordinarily talented, receptive, vulnerable, with a deep, true, musical talent (she began to play and compose small musical pieces from the age of five!) At the age of eight, Lesya, who wrote her first poem, suddenly became seriously ill in 1881. She suffered from unbearable pain in her right leg. At first they decided that she had acute rheumatism, they treated her with baths, ointments, herbs, but everything was useless. The pain passed into my hands.
Doctors finally determined - tuberculosis of the bone. On musical career Lesya was given a cross. After the first, difficult, but extremely unsuccessful, operation, the arm remained crippled! It was then that sadness first appeared in the eyes of a fragile girl. In the future, like a light veil, she will envelop all her work. From now on, for many months of the year, a girl should lie in bed, not do sudden movements experiencing excruciating pain all the time...
The parents didn't give up. They took the girl to the sea, to mud baths and baths, turned to the best doctors, traditional medicine, foreign professors in Germany, but all was in vain. The disease, if it receded, did not last long. Lesya now only had to remember her mysterious night walks through the manor park in Kolodyazhny (the Kosachy estate in Volhynia), when she listened, and it seemed to her that she heard the sleepy breath of foliage and grass, saw the mermaid Mavka bathing in a pond, weaving yellow hair into her hair. a white water lily, catching the moonbeams with her hands ....
Later, when her mother told Lesya that the creation of her beautiful drama - the extravaganza "Forest Song" (1911) was influenced only by classical literature, the poetess boldly denied this: “I do not dashingly remember the Volyn forests. Remembering them, I wrote a “drama extravaganza” in their honor and it brought me a lot of joy!” (L. Ukrainka - A.E. Krymsky * October 14, 1911) (* A.E. Krymsky - scientist, philologist and historian - orientalist, big friend L. Kosach, who helped her in processing and recording folk legends and songs, is the author.)
She always tried to find joy in everything. She had an indomitable spirit. Selflessly, at night, I studied languages: Bulgarian, Spanish, Latin, ancient Greek, Italian, Polish, German, not to mention English and French, geography, the history of the East and oriental cultures, the history of art and religions, and for her younger sisters at the age of 19 (!) she wrote a textbook: “ Ancient history Eastern peoples". Michael Pavlik - Ukrainian writer and a public figure - recalled one of his meetings with the poetess in Lvov in 1891: “Lesya simply stunned me with her education and subtle mind. I thought that she lives only for poetry, but this is far from the case. For her age, this is a brilliant woman. We talked with her for a very long time, and in every word I saw the mind and a deep understanding of poetry, science and life!”
In 1893, in Lvov ( Western Ukraine), a thin booklet of her poems “On the Wings of a Song” was published, warmly received by critics and the public. Ivan Franko wrote with admiration about the "miracle of life-affirmation" - the poems of the young poetess, which seemed to have grown out of Ukrainian songs and fairy tales.
“Reading soft and relaxed or coldly resonant writings of Ukrainian men and comparing them with these peppy, strong and courageous, and at the same time, such sincere words Lesya Ukrainka, you involuntarily think that this sick, weak girl is almost the only man in all of Ukraine!” he concluded with bitter humor.
Already in early lyrics readers were delighted by the excellent command of the word, the vivid imagery of the language, the richness of rhymes and comparisons, and, most importantly, hidden power and deep spirituality. Behind sadness and slight sadness, sometimes such wisdom and thirst for life were hidden that those few who knew about the personal drama of the poetess only shook their heads in admiration. I must say that many of the poems of the thin collection almost immediately became folk songs.
In the work of Lesya Ukrainka, the theme of the homeland - free Ukraine - is too noticeable to be ignored. Her uncle, a supporter of the national independence of Ukraine from the Russian Empire, was forced to emigrate abroad, her paternal aunt, Elena Antonovna Kosach, for participating in revolutionary movement was repeatedly arrested and exiled. Even the beloved poetess, Sergei Merzhinsky (they met in the Crimea, in 1897), being mortally ill, he himself participated in the revolutionary movement, distributed leaflets and leaflets. And who knows, maybe it was precisely because of this that loving, but domineering, Olga Petrovna Kosach was so opposed to the rapprochement, and then the romance of her daughter with Sergei Merzhinsky, that this dangerous activity frightened her too much, she knew too well what the passion for thirst could lead to feat and sacrifice, how can she break and wound the heart and soul!
Added to this was the usual selfish maternal jealousy, the fear of losing control and power over the fragile, helpless creature that her daughter always seemed to her.
But when, in 1901, Sergei Konstantinovich Merzhinsky will die of pulmonary tuberculosis, Olga Petrovna will unquestioningly obey her daughter's willful decision to be near her beloved and let her go to Minsk, to him. Merzhinsky will die in the arms of Lesya - Larochka, as he called her - and she, in order to get out of the "apogee of sorrow", will write the lyric drama "Possessed" in one night, using the ancient biblical story. Later, she will say about this work of hers: “I confess that I wrote on such a night, after which, surely, I will live a long time, if I stayed alive then.”
The cycle of her best lyric poems 1898-1900. dedicated to Sergei Merzhinsky. It was published only after the death of the poetess and still amazes with the depth and sincerity of pain and the height of a wonderful love feeling:
"Mouths say: He left without return,
No, he didn’t leave, - the heart believes sacredly.
Do you hear the string ringing and crying?
She rings, trembles with a hot tear.
Here in the depths it trembles in tune with me:
And in songs do I want to get rid of flour,
Or someone will gently squeeze my hand,
Or a heart-to-heart conversation is being conducted,
Or who touches my lips with lips -
The string rings like an echo above me:
"I'm here, I'm here always, always with you!"
(“The mouth repeats.” Translation by A. Ostrovsky.)
Lesya Ukrainka, very modest by nature, selected her lyrical poems for publication very carefully. Much of what was written during his lifetime never saw the light of day, and the academic publications of the 60s of the twentieth century have long been forgotten. Only in her magnificent dramas and poems do we see the brightest reflections - echoes of a passionate, poetic nature, capable of a deep, selfless feeling:
When I die, they will blaze in the world
Words warmed by my fire.
And the flame hidden in them will shine
Lit at night, it will burn during the day ...
(“When I Die.” Translated by N. Brown.)
The inner flame of feeling embraces one of her best creations - the extravaganza drama "Forest Song". The image of a mermaid - Mavka, in love with a simple village guy, for whose sake she left the lake, forest world and came to live with people, is inspired by fairy tales, legends and beliefs heard in childhood in the Volyn region. The poetess wrote it in ten days, almost immediately whitewashed, as if splashing out the accumulated stream of words and images. Clearly here is the echo with magical world Andersen, with his "The Little Mermaid". And with those memories that Lesya plunged into, writing down the next lines of the drama, which she defined with the German word marchendrama - fabulous. “Do you know that I love fairy tales and can invent millions of them, although I have not written a single one yet?” - she admitted in a letter to A.E. Krymsky on October 14, 1911.
"Forest Song" - a story about tragic love the little mermaid, who died in the cruel and cynical world of people, was enthusiastically received by readers, but the stage production of the drama was carried out by the Kyiv Drama Theater named after Lesya Ukrainka only in the middle of the twentieth century, in Soviet time. Since then, she has not left theater posters, as well as another famous play by the poetess - "The Stone Master", created based on the legend of the famous Don Juan, sung by many classics of world literature long before weak woman who wrote in Ukrainian.
Here is what Larisa Petrovna herself said about the creation and design of the drama “The Stone Master, or Don Juan” in a letter to A. E. Krymsky dated May 24, 1912: “I wrote Don Juan! Here is the same one, “worldwide and worldly”, without even giving him any pseudonym. True, the drama (drama again!) is called “The Stone Master”, since its idea is the victory of the stone, conservative principle, embodied in the Commander, over the divided soul of a proud and selfish woman (Donna Anna), and through her over Don Juan, "Knight of Liberty" I don’t know, of course, what happened to me, good or bad, but I’ll tell you that there is something diabolical, mysterious in this topic, it’s not without reason that it has been tormenting people for three hundred years already. I say “tormenting”, because a lot has been written on it, but little has been written of good, that’s why the “enemy of the human race” invented it, so that genuine inspiration and the deepest thoughts break about it. One way or another, but now in our literature there is Don Juan, its own, original in that it was written by a woman, which has not happened before, it seems ... "
The novelty of the writer was not only that she turned out to be the first (and only!) Woman who wrote one "of the masterpieces about a masterpiece", but also that for the first time Don Juan was shown as a vain and selfish person, for the sake of his momentary whims and willing to go to any crime. He is a match for the proud, sarcastically mocking Donna Anna, who recognizes power over people - a gift for the elect, which is valued above wealth and love! But, having despised love, both Don Juan and Donna Anna freeze in the stone stupor of Death. The finale of the drama was so bright and unusual that many of the audience screamed in horror when they saw in the mirror on the stage the image of the Stone Master - the Commander, into which Don Juan turned, dressed in his cloak!
The drama was first staged in 1914 by M.K. Sadovsky on stage Kyiv theater drama and was sold out.
Meanwhile, for the poetess, life played out the last acts of her own drama.
Thirty-six years old, she fell in love again. The person who responded to her feelings with no less sincere and deep affection is Kliment Kvitka, a scientist, musicologist-folklorist, collector of folk legends and songs. Lesya's mother was again furiously against all kinds of relations between her daughter "with some kind of beggar", as she contemptuously called Clement - a soft, reserved, shy person who experienced a deep personal drama in childhood - he grew up with foster parents. But Kvitka became so passionately attached to a thin, sick woman with big sad eyes, who understood him perfectly, that he flatly refused to leave her! And, despite all the anger, Olga Petrovna was forced to agree to her daughter's marriage, however, she continued to poison her life with letters in which she denigrated Clement in every possible way, calling him "a dishonorable man who married the money of the Kosachey-Drahomanovs." Here it was already difficult to justify and understand. Maternal jealousy, like love, is a deep whirlpool!
Young people refused the help of their parents. All the money needed for the treatment of his seriously ill wife, Clement earned himself. They sold everything that could be sold: things, simple belongings, kitchen utensils. They valued only the library.
Lesya was treated in Egypt and Greece, in Germany and Austria. Everything was useless. Incurable kidney disease was added to the aggravated process of bone tuberculosis.
She died in Surami (Georgia) on August 1, 1913. She flew away "on the wings of a song." Her old dream came true: she always wanted to touch the clouds with her hands ...
When does nicotiana bloom?
Song on verses by Lesya Ukrainka (Music by P. Weissburg Performed by Ada Rogovtseva)
Poetry of Lesya Ukrainka
HOPE
Life gave me no share, no will,
Only one, one hope is dear to me:
To see my Ukraine again
And everything that I love in my native land,
Look at the blue Dnieper again,
And it's all the same - let me die even now,
Take another look at the mounds in the steppes,
Breathe in the end about ardent dreams.
Neither share nor will is given by fate,
I am destined to live by hope alone.
Translation by V. Zvyagintseva
I am sending you a green leaf now,
This reminds me from a distance
Groves of our quiet land,
A corner of our sweet Volhynia.
Respond, my friend, quickly -
I haven't heard your words since summer,
And my soul longs for greetings,
Like a rain tree, turning green ...
And do me a favor
I send this request to your muse:
Let, cuckoo forest cuckoo,
She will revive a sad friend!
Yes, I'm sad now, dear,
To a harsh net share,
That imprisoned dreams in captivity,
All my hopes are killing.
The best thoughts and dreams wither,
Like flowers, sometimes in autumn
Blossom for a moment
To look at the sun until frost.
But the winter blizzard will also subside!
I send this request to your muse:
Let the forest cuckoo cuckoo,
She will revive a sad friend!
Translation by V. Zvyagintseva
BAKHCHISARAY
How enchanted is Bakhchisarai.
The moon shines with golden light,
The walls turn white in this marvelous brilliance.
The whole city fell asleep, like a magical land.
Silver trees, minorets,
Like sentries, a sleepy paradise is entrusted;
Among the bushes with a mysterious hello
Splashing fountain in the darkness by chance.
Nature breathes sweet peace.
Above the sleepy silence with a light-winged swarm
Soaring ancient dreams and dreams.
And poplars, nodding their tops,
Slowly whisper, remembering
The gray ones were of old times...
Translation by P. Karaban
FROM THE CYCLE "MELODIES"
The night was both quiet and dark.
I stood, my friend, with you,
I looked at you with sadness.
The night was quiet and dark...
The wind died sadly in the garden.
You sang a song, I sat silently,
The song rang softly in my heart.
The wind stopped sadly in the garden ...
Lightning flashed in the distance.
Something trembled in my heart!
Like being pierced by a sharp knife.
Lightning flashed in the distance...
Translation by V. Zvyagintseva
FROM THE CYCLE "MOMENTS"
Handkerchiefs of melted snow are scattered ...
Rare rain and the sky is lead,
In the timid grass, primroses are slightly visible -
This is spring, this is the crown of happiness!
The sky is deep, the sun is radiant,
Purple and gold of withered branches.
Late roses, all in dew, fragrant -
Autumn messengers ... Maybe mine?
Well, I'm not afraid of the arrival of autumn,
Pleases the stuffy summer end -
If only they would not remind the hour of spring
Rare rain and the sky is lead.
Translation by V. Zvyagintseva
BREATH OF THE DESERT
The desert breathes. Smooth breathing.
The sand lies - calm, golden.
But every ridge and any hill -
Everything about khamsin is a memory here.
Fellah the industrious builds a building, -
Here fleeting foreigners swarm
He will find a hotel and a dense garden.
Fellah is mighty: everything is his creation.
One trouble - oases in the desert
Not for him ... Here he writes patterns
Under the very roof ... The fabric on it sways,
The hot wind glides across the canvas,
It flies... again, again... The desert breathes.
Translation by N. Ushakov
CONTRA SPEM SPERO!*
Away, gray-haired autumn thoughts!
This time of spring is golden,
Are the years young
Hopeless will pass in succession?
No, I will sing and I will not get tired in tears,
I will smile even on a rainy night.
I will hope without hope
I want to live! Away, sad ones, away!
I will sow flowers in the cold,
In a sad field, in a wretched land
Those flowers I am my fuel
And sprinkle with hot tears.
And there will be no cold snow
Ice melt armor
And the flowers will bloom, and it will come
Day of spring and for - mournful - me.
Climbing up the hill with stones
I will endure terrible pain
But even in this difficult time
I will sing a happy song.
I'll miss the whole foggy night,
I will look ahead in the dark,
Waiting for the queens of the night
The guiding star is blue.
Yes! And in grief I will not forget to sing,
I will smile even on a rainy night.
I will hope without hope
I will live! Away, sad ones, away!
Translation by N. Ushakov
Lesya Ukrainka(Ukrainian Lesya Ukrainka, real name - Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka, Larisa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka)
Lesya Ukrainka is the pseudonym of the poetess. Real name - Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka. She was born on February 13, 1871 in the family of a landowner. Her mother Olga Petrovna Kosach was a writer known under the pseudonym Elena Pchilka. The whole family was educated and talented. My father was fond of art and literature. Larisa's uncle, Mikhail Dragomanov, was a folklorist, he had a great influence on the girl's future work. The house of the Kosachs was often crowded with various cultural figures, so that the child was brought up in the spirit of art, poetry, prose and music.
Parents paid great attention to the education of their daughter. Since young age Larisa studied a number of foreign languages. From the age of 5 she wrote her own pieces on the piano. At the age of 8, her first poem came out from under her hand. The girl was very fond of playing the piano and poetry.
But in 1881, when the child was only 10 years old, she began to suffer from terrible pain in her leg. Doctors initially misdiagnosed and the prescribed treatment did not help at all. The pain then spread to my arms. Doctors issued a final verdict - tuberculosis of the bones. This was followed by a very complicated operation but it didn't give any results. But the hand was badly damaged. And so the little girl was doomed to live with it for the rest of her life.
Lesya could not continue to play the piano, because she led a practically recumbent lifestyle. Here begins its productive literary activity. Ukrainian is engaged in translations, writes own works. Her famous translation into Ukrainian is Gogol's "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", which she made together with her brother. Her works began to appear in print.
Lesya Ukrainka traveled a lot due to illness, but no resorts helped her. The illness only got worse. Larisa's life was cut short on August 1, 1913 in the city of Surami, in Georgia. The writer was buried in Kyiv at the Baikove cemetery.
The name of Lesya Ukrainka is revered not only on the territory of Ukraine. She is known in many countries. Why so deserved recognition in the hearts of millions? Yes, with his resilient character, the ability to stay afloat even in the most terrible storm, to meet all failures and misfortunes with a smile, and, undoubtedly, great talent musicians and writers. Streets in many cities are named after Ukrainka, her portrait is depicted on the 200-hryvnia banknote. Adults and children know her name, her poems, her life, her attitude to misfortunes serve as support for many in difficult times.
For all of us who do not remember history and are not familiar with cultural heritage.
Lesya Ukrainka is not Lesya at all, and not at all Ukrainian (that one is not Ukrainian at all).
Real name - Larisa Petrovna Kosach. Lesya's (Larisa's) parents, Pyotr Kosach and Olga Dragomanova, were Russians, more precisely, Rusyns. The family of Olga, the mother of Lesya-Larisa, came from Greek roots.
However, Lesya's mother also dabbled in poetry and published under the pseudonym Olena Pchіlka. In principle, the Ukrainian language was not native either for Lesya or Olena, but there was an order for Ukrainization, and customers from Austria paid well for the work. A friend of the family was Ivan Yakovlevich Franko (also a Rusyn?), in fact, he was also in this business. As they say, "nothing personal" And only Lesya's (Larisa Petrovna's) father, Pyotr Antonovich Kosach, was an ardent defender of the Russian language and the unity of all Russians (Great Russians, Little Russians, Belarusians ...). But who remembers this now? After all, in Soviet period remembering this was considered indecent ...
Some details (you can double-check this version if you're interested): http://alternatio.org/articles/item/2073-victim-mother-little-known-Lesya-Ukrainian
And this is Lesia-Larisa's mother. "Noble Maiden" Russian Empire and Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, the daughter of a landowner and the niece of the Decembrist Yakov Yakimovich Dragomanov ... http://podgift.ru/mans3_5r.htm
And here is the great-uncle of Lesya (Larisa). Yakov Akimovich (Yakimovich) Dragomanov. Decembrist, i.e. freemason, member of the Society of United Slavs. Although he opposed the Russian state system, he was a true internationalist. And, as follows from the name of the society, he advocated the unity of the Slavs (in any case, such a goal was declared). By the way, he was a very worthy, honest and courageous man and officer. Although on the day of the Senate uprising he was in the hospital, and he was not threatened with hard labor, he honestly confessed his revolutionary convictions and did not deny his participation in the conspiracy ... http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_d/dragomanov_jakov.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%F0%E0%E3%EE%EC%E0%ED%EE%E2,_%DF%EA%EE%E2_%DF%EA%E8%EC %EE%E2%E8%F7
Continuing to dig a little deeper around the "apple tree", next to which the dragomanov's "apples" fell, we find this. The Society of United Slavs, it turns out, favored federalization. Those. for the unification of all Slavs in a single large state: “Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary with Transylvania, Serbia, Moldova, Wallachia, Dalmatia and Croatia. Members of society considered Hungarians to be Slavs. As you can see, Ukraine this list no (i.e. it is part of Russia). At the same time, within the framework of a federal state, the “Slavs” proposed to clearly define the boundaries of each of the states included in the federation (it was not proposed to divide Russia into Great, Small, New, Red, White, etc. parts of Rus'). The Society of United Slavs was perhaps the most peaceful (although some consider it the most militant) of all the Decembrist communities. Although it joined general plan regicide (some members of this society took an oath), the "Slavs" categorically opposed the armed uprising, because. military revolutions (!) "are not the cradle, but the coffin of freedom, in the name of which they are carried out." However, they were ready to shed their own blood for the freedom of the people...
http://www.hrono.ru/libris/lib_n/nechk15.php
This is not about the origin of poets, but about the origin of the idea of the separation of Russia and Ukraine (and the ensuing bloodshed). And about the origin of the most modern Ukrainian language, tailored to order ... And what's interesting: neither the customers nor the performers were Ukrainians in the ethnic sense. However, Pushkin also had a hand in the creation of the modern Russian language. But he did not do this at the request of the interventionists, and the idea of a new Russian ("Moskal", i.e. Pushkin!) language does not contain even a fraction of the idea of the need to separate the large Russian Slavic community.
I recommend reading this text, written by Panteleimon Kulish, one of the inventors of modern Ukrainian (still its first version, which bears little resemblance to the chimera used by modern Ukrainian politicians).
