A retrospection in the poem “Doroshenko” by I. Kalynets

Abstract

In the poem “Doroshenko”, Iryna Kalynets actualises both the issue of the struggle for territorial unity and the disclosure of the problems of social inequality as one of the sources of disagreement between people. The  article considers the  historical events of  Ruina and the  image of  Petro Doroshenko as  interpreted by  the  Ukrainian poetess Iryna Kalynets. The  analysis of  the  author’s interpretation of  the  historical personality from  the  historical and family points of  view was carried out. Ity could be argued that the historical events of the 17th century resonate with events of our time. The purpose of  the  study is  to analyse the  author’s ways of  displaying retrospective elements in  the  poem “Doroshenko” by  Iryna Kalynets. The  structure of  the  retrospective category and its  organisation in the poem are analysed. To achieve the goal of the research, the following methods of literary analysis were applied: biographical, contextual, historical and ethnographic. An attempt was made to single out the variations in the meaning of the term-concept “retrospection”. It is indicated that when using retrospection, a  purposeful and weighted selection of  historical episodes takes place. Retrospective episodes receive an additional semantic and emotional load, they are presented artistically processed by  the  imagination of  the  poetess. Retrospection in  the  poem “Doroshenko” by  Iryna Kalynets can be  characterized as  suggestive, as  it  is based on  associations, additional semantic and intonation shades, hints, vagueness. The article notes one of the stages of the poem’s existence. The poem was presented to  Vasyl Stus for  his birthday. In  response, the  author received “feedback”  — comments on a separate section. It is noted that a characteristic feature of the presentation of the image of Hetman Doroshenko is  the  absence of  portrait details. Instead, emotions, actions, toponymy, and historical background are important. I. Kalynets is worried about the problem of betrayal (at the household and state levels). The poet is interested in the issue of social inequality. The article emphasizes the methods of  modeling the  image of  a  Cossack elder. Research attention is  also focused on  the  lack of  clarity in the presentation of Cossacks. The functioning of lexemes denoting the concept of “denunciation” is analyzed. An attempt is made to interpret Christmas attributes.