Pavlo Tychyna
Encyclopedia
Pavlo Tychyna was a major Ukrainian
poet, interpreter, publicist, public activist, academician, and statesman.
in 1891, he was baptized on January 27 that mistakenly was considered his birth date until recently. His father, Hryhoriy Timofiyovych Tychyna, was a village deacon
and a teacher in the local grammar school
. His mother, Maria Vasylivna Tychyna (Savytska), was eleven years younger of Pavlo's father. Pavlo had nine more siblings: five sisters and four brothers. At first young Tychyna stadied at the district's elementary school that was recently opened in Pisky in 1897. His first teacher was Serafima Morachevska who later recommended him to try his talent in chorus
. In 1900 he became a member of an archiary chorus in the Trinity (Troitsky) monastery near Chernihiv
. Simultaneously young Tychyna studied in the Chernihiv theological school. In 1906 Pavlo's father has died. In 1907 Pavlo finished his school.
In 1907-1913 Tychyna continued his education in the Chernihiv Theological Seminary. There he became friends with the future poet, Vasyl Ellan-Blakytnyi. He also met Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
who influenced greatly his early works. In 1912-1913 Tychyna's works get published in the various local publications. In 1913-1917 he was studying at the Economics department of the Kiev Commercial Institute which he did not finish. At the same time, he worked on the editorial boards of the Kiev newspaper Rada and the magazine Svitlo (1913–14). In summers he worked for the Chernihiv
statistical bureau. Later he worked as the assistant to chorus-meister in the Mykola Sadovsky theater.
When the World War I
has broken out the institute transferred to Saratov
. Tychyna while on the road to the institute's new location became ill and was forced to stay and recover from his sickness. He found his sanctuary at the house of another poet, Volodymyr Samiylenko, in Dobrianka. During the war he worked in different Ukrainian publications. In 1920 Pavlo became the member of Pluh. After an immediate success with his poetry, in 1923 he moved to Kharkiv
(Kharkov), entering the vibrant world of early post-Revolution Ukrainian literary organizations. In 1923 he joined the organization Hart after moving to Kharkiv and in 1927 the famed VAPLITE
. In 1920s Tychyna was a member of Kharkiv city council as an independent. Controversies about the ideological tendencies of VAPLITE and the content of several of Tychnya's poems led to him being criticized for ideological reasons. As a response, Tychyna stopped to write and everybody assumed that it was the end to his writings. Later he became the member of Chervonyi Shliakh, started to study Armenian
, Georgian
, and Turkic languages, became the activist of the Association of Eastern Studies in Kiev.
. His first works exploded onto the avant-garde
Ukrainian scene with their colorful imagery and dynamic rhythms. However, as the Communist approach to artistic expression hardened and the role of a state-supported artist became more defined and restricted, Tychyna's poetry shifted rather dramatically, using clear pro-Communist political language, including a famous ode to Joseph Stalin
, and the lyrics of the state anthem
of the Ukrainian SSR
. In 1933 the newspaper Pravda published his poem "The Party leads" in the Ukrainian language
. Tychyna was often criticized by Ukrainian exiles
for the praising of Communism in his work and co-option by the regime, but recent scholarship has stressed his subtle distancing and mocking of Communist excesses and brutality through over-the-top suffusive praise.
. The true merit of his later poetry has been difficult to judge in such a bitter environment, which is only now relaxing. It also becomes difficult to determine Tychyna's true intent and emotions in such a repressive environment.
Memorial plaques
Monuments
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
poet, interpreter, publicist, public activist, academician, and statesman.
Life
Born in PiskyPisky
Pisky is a village in Ukraine.The name in Ukrainian can be interpreted literally as "the Sands". The village is famous for being the location where one of the most influential Ukrainian poets of the 1920s, Pavlo Tychyna, was born.-External links:...
in 1891, he was baptized on January 27 that mistakenly was considered his birth date until recently. His father, Hryhoriy Timofiyovych Tychyna, was a village deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
and a teacher in the local grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
. His mother, Maria Vasylivna Tychyna (Savytska), was eleven years younger of Pavlo's father. Pavlo had nine more siblings: five sisters and four brothers. At first young Tychyna stadied at the district's elementary school that was recently opened in Pisky in 1897. His first teacher was Serafima Morachevska who later recommended him to try his talent in chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. In 1900 he became a member of an archiary chorus in the Trinity (Troitsky) monastery near Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
. Simultaneously young Tychyna studied in the Chernihiv theological school. In 1906 Pavlo's father has died. In 1907 Pavlo finished his school.
In 1907-1913 Tychyna continued his education in the Chernihiv Theological Seminary. There he became friends with the future poet, Vasyl Ellan-Blakytnyi. He also met Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky , was a Ukrainian author whose writings described typical Ukrainian life at the start of the 20th century...
who influenced greatly his early works. In 1912-1913 Tychyna's works get published in the various local publications. In 1913-1917 he was studying at the Economics department of the Kiev Commercial Institute which he did not finish. At the same time, he worked on the editorial boards of the Kiev newspaper Rada and the magazine Svitlo (1913–14). In summers he worked for the Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
statistical bureau. Later he worked as the assistant to chorus-meister in the Mykola Sadovsky theater.
When the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
has broken out the institute transferred to Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
. Tychyna while on the road to the institute's new location became ill and was forced to stay and recover from his sickness. He found his sanctuary at the house of another poet, Volodymyr Samiylenko, in Dobrianka. During the war he worked in different Ukrainian publications. In 1920 Pavlo became the member of Pluh. After an immediate success with his poetry, in 1923 he moved to Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
(Kharkov), entering the vibrant world of early post-Revolution Ukrainian literary organizations. In 1923 he joined the organization Hart after moving to Kharkiv and in 1927 the famed VAPLITE
VAPLITE
Vilna Akademia Proletarskoi LITEratury was a literary union in Ukraine. It was established in Kharkiv and existed from January, 1926 to January 28, 1928....
. In 1920s Tychyna was a member of Kharkiv city council as an independent. Controversies about the ideological tendencies of VAPLITE and the content of several of Tychnya's poems led to him being criticized for ideological reasons. As a response, Tychyna stopped to write and everybody assumed that it was the end to his writings. Later he became the member of Chervonyi Shliakh, started to study Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, and Turkic languages, became the activist of the Association of Eastern Studies in Kiev.
Work
His initial work had strong connections to the symbolist literary movement, but his style transformed a number of times during his long career and frequently aped the acceptable socialist realismSocialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
. His first works exploded onto the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
Ukrainian scene with their colorful imagery and dynamic rhythms. However, as the Communist approach to artistic expression hardened and the role of a state-supported artist became more defined and restricted, Tychyna's poetry shifted rather dramatically, using clear pro-Communist political language, including a famous ode to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, and the lyrics of the state anthem
Anthem of Ukrainian SSR
The State Anthem of the Ukrainian SSR was the national anthem of the Ukrainian SSR when it was one of the republics of the Soviet Union.-Background:...
of the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
. In 1933 the newspaper Pravda published his poem "The Party leads" in the Ukrainian language
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. Tychyna was often criticized by Ukrainian exiles
Ukrainian diaspora
The Ukrainian diaspora is the global community of ethnic Ukrainians, especially those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Ukrainian national identity within their own local community.-1608 To 1880:After the loss...
for the praising of Communism in his work and co-option by the regime, but recent scholarship has stressed his subtle distancing and mocking of Communist excesses and brutality through over-the-top suffusive praise.
Controversy
Tychyna represents a complicated figure in both a political and academic sense. Many Ukrainian exile intellectuals and scholars involved in the analysis of Ukrainian literary history could not accept Tychnya's submission to political authority and apparent abandonment of many of his literary companions to the horrors of StalinismStalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
. The true merit of his later poetry has been difficult to judge in such a bitter environment, which is only now relaxing. It also becomes difficult to determine Tychyna's true intent and emotions in such a repressive environment.
Major works
- Clarinets of the Sun, (1918)
- The Plow, (1919)
- Instead of Sonnets and Octaves, (1920)
- The Party is our Guide (1934)
- Feelings of One Unified Family, (1938)
- Song of Youth, (1938)
- Steel and Tenderness, (1941)
- We Are Going into Battle, (1941)
- Patriotism in works of Majit Ghafuri, (1942)
- Funeral of a Friend, (1942)
- The Day Will Come, (1943)
- To Grow and Act (1949)
Awards
- Stalin Prize 1941 for collection of poetry "A feeling of the family united" (“Чувство семьи единой”)
- Shevchenko National PrizeShevchenko National PrizeShevchenko National Prize , the highest award given for works of art and literature in Ukraine. It is named after the Spiritual leader of Ukrainian national revival Taras Shevchenko.-History:...
1962 (along with Oleksandr Honchar and Platon Mayboroda) for selected works in three volumes (1957) - Hero of Socialist LaborHero of Socialist LaborHero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...
February 23, 1967 for literary and civic activity - Order Red Banner of Labour (twice)
- Order of LeninOrder of LeninThe Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
(five times) - Gold medal "SickleSickleA sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...
and MalletMalletA mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of rubber,or sometimes wood smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...
"
Legacy
Street names- Kiev
- Chernihiv
- Ivano-Frankivsk
Memorial plaques
- Kiev (at 5 Tereshchenko Street, also opened a museum-apartment of Tychyna)
- Kharkiv
- Ufa (at 79 Pushkin Street)
- Chernihiv (on building of the former Theological Seminary)
Monuments
- Pisky village (bust)
External links
- Biography at the Communist Party of Ukraine website
- Tychyna, Pavlo in Encyclopedia of Ukraine