THE IMAGE OF HRYHORII SKOVORODA IN POETIC INTERPRETATIONS BY PAVLO TYCHYNA AND VASYL STUS

Abstract

The comparison of works by P. Tychyna and V. Stus allows us not only to see the common and different in the interpretation of Hryhorii Skovoroda (comparative aspect) but also to notice the reasons for one or another interpretation (historical aspect). In P. Tychyna's works H. Skovoroda is inscribed in the character's historical time (Koliivshchyna) in the same way as the author of the poem is inscribed in his historical reality (Sovietism), while in V. Stus’s poems both the character and the author are outside their time (Koliivshchyna and Sovietism respectively). For both poets — H. Skovoroda and V. Stus — the external appeared as transient, and ‘the inner man’ had the status of eternal one. Tychyna and V. Stus use the image of Н. Skovoroda as their alter-ego. The former author describes Н. Skovoroda as a revolutionary who stands on the principles of class ideology. Tychyna had been writing his poem-symphony “Skovoroda” in the period from the formation of Soviet power to the time of Stalinism as its most brutal version. This poem-symphony is a tribute to the time, which helped him phisically survive. In V. Stus’s version, Н. Skovoroda is thinking about moral self-improvement. He is a philosopher who cares for the fate and future of the Ukrainian people. V. Stus, living under the Soviet system, did not accept it and put up a strong resistance to it as a representative of the sixtiers. Stus’s poetry considered in this article may be regarded as a polemic with the poem-symphony “Skovoroda” by P. Tychyna. Moreover, the poem “Introduction to the poem “Skovoroda” by V. Stus shows that this polemic was planned in the format of the same genre — the poem, although it never unfolded, remaining only in fragments. Tychyna’s work also has a fragmentary nature due to both the long time of writing and the two-layered image of H. Skovoroda. The poet tried to show Skovoroda as a philosopher and a revolutionary (with the dominance of the latter).