Biography
Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko (March 9, 1814- March 10, 1861) was a Ukrainian poet and artist. He was born in a small village near Kiev, Ukraine, (part of the Russian Empire at that time). His parents were slaveholders of a landowner. In 1823 his mother died and in 1825 his father. Taras was used for livestock work, at the same time through the Church he learned to write, read and illustrate. In 1838 the feudal lord let him free and he was allowed to take the exams for going to school. With his talent in design he succeeded at the Higher School of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg. From a young age he wrote poems and in 1840 his first poetry collection was published. In 1844 he finished school and returned to Ukraine. He worked as a painting teacher while at the same time he became known for his poems.In 1847 he was arrested by the Russian authorities and sentenced to prison and exile for writing poems against the tsar. He was strictly forbidden to write. With the help of friends and admirers, he was released from prison in 1857. He then wrote the cycle of poems "In the Cell" with experiences from prison, several short stories and poems in Russian. He returns to Ukraine where he develops political action in favor of the liberation of Ukraine from the Russian yoke, a fact that causes him problems with the Russian authorities. He was forced to leave Ukraine and live under surveillance in St. Petersburg, where he died in 1861. Shevchenko is hailed by Ukrainians as their national poet and as a fighter for the liberation of the country from the Russians.