Poetry
Скит Манявський
Not translated into English
Antin Mohylnytsky · 1852
Synopsis
The poet meets an old man who describes to him the hermitage of Maniava, hidden in the forests of the Carpathians. From this conversation comes an evocation of ancient Halych in its grandeur, of the beauty of the mountains and of the Slavic gods from before the baptism, which the poem sets against the Halych of today. Everything rests on tales that were passed on by word of mouth in the region, and the text breaks off along the way.
Context
The poem, drawn from oral accounts of the Carpathians, appeared in parts from 1849, then in a separate edition in 1852; the author meant to continue it but published only a fragment of the second part, in the review Slovo in 1864. It was popular, like the ballad about the Ruthenian recruits of the Austrian army that the author gave in the same year, 1849. The reaction that followed 1848 halted his plans, including a review he wanted to launch in Stanislaviv. The hermitage after which the poem is named had been closed by order of the Austrian government in September 1785.
Who it is for
A long unfinished poem, preceded by a preface by the author, in the literary language of Galicia in the middle of the century.
Prizes and reception
The poem that made its author's reputation, regarded as the first epic of Western Ukraine.
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