Free Essay. Poetic Review of a Ukrainian Literature (Antonych Zibrani)

The Ukraine literature has been developed in foreign domination in the Ukraine territories. The literature is mainly written in Ukraine. Although after the Mongol invasion, the nation's literature declined, it revived in the 16th century, and by the 19th century, the vernacular of Ukraine was considered as the major literary expression vehicle. It was during this time that the prolific writing era commenced. One of the greatest poets is Antonych Bogdan-Igor in his poem, “Elegy about the keys to love.” The poet used different devices in coming up with its structure, including having a hidden meaning, narrative form, assonance, irony, dramatic structure, first-person point of view, and apostrophe in expressing a young youth's journey of falling in love despite despair.

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Formal Aspects of the Text

One of the major aspects of the poem is the emotion or idea it portrays. While reading the poem, the poet tries to portray the issue of being in love. The poem talks about the friends he grew up with, the girls they were passionate about love. They had a happy youth filled with treasures and gifts. Regarding the poem structure, it has two major parts, and every part has five stanzas, while the second part has six stanzas. The hidden meaning of the poem is about a man in love, but then he experiences both despair and love but succeeds in the end. Alliteration is also used in the poem; for instance, in the line ‘springs, springs are singing’ in expressing the happenings of the specific scene (Antonycz et al. 58).

Form of the Poem

This poem can be considered as a narrative form of poetry. The reason is that it tells a story about a young boy who is in love. Furthermore, it can be considered a romance type of narrative poetry. It explains the way of dealing with love and the experiences a young man went through in finding love. The experiences of the young man made him come to understand two essential things, including somber art and pure love. In love, one can go through despair, but in the end, joy will come even though it might be late.

Composition of the Poem

Just like stories, poems also have a specific structure in which they are written. The composition of this poem can be considered through the stressed and unstressed syllables it presented. The lines have been divided randomly. Furthermore, it has both end-stopped lines and enjambed or runs on lines in bringing out the meaning of the poem. It is like the poem was written in free verse composition. The poem has used repetition in its composition in different instances. For example, in the first stanza in the fourth, fifth, and sixth lines repeat the word again. “…again, gets you drunk as it once used to. To burn again and get freeze again, to love again and get high again!” (Antonycz et al. 56).

Dramatic Structure

The poem has some dramatic structure instances like the scene where the poet claims that the wind stole kisses. It is funny since the wind cannot steal kisses from a girl. Another dramatic scene is when one betrays love but does not betray a song since she has been faithful to it from the past as she walked in the dark in search of words of the song in the poem.

Voice of the Poem

Just the way fiction usually has a narrator is the same way a poem has a speaker who is a poem’s voice. The point of view of this poem is the first person, and it is evident when he says in the second stanza, "Shouldn’t I mention my friends here?” (Antonycz et al. 56). The first point of view used in the poem draws a reader into the poem. It even makes it easier for one to imagine that he was in a specific scene and doing the things that the narrator expresses. Therefore, although the second point of view is good and is mostly used by poets, in this context, it helps in expressing the narrator's love journey.

Rhetorical devices

There are different rhetorical devices used in the poem. These devices played an essential role in its composition. The devices include an apostrophe,

Apostrophe

This poetic device entails a writer addressing something or a person that is not present using an exclamation mark. In the poem, the exclamation is used when the narrator addresses the springs. He said, “Hey, Spring! I weave songs on a spindle about youth that is passing.” (Antonycz et al. 58). The poet shows his point of view regarding a passing youth as a young man who is bound to fall in love and encounter different experiences.

Assonance

It is the repetition of diphthongs or vowel sounds in one or even more words that are close to together. An example of such a stanza in the poem is the second last stanza, where the poet expresses the emotions of youth and the way carpenters sang.

White carpenters sang in the morning,

the laughter of the weavers on spindles.

A boy traced scorching strophes,

twelve rings of spring.

A letter carrier was carrying green leaves,

the leaves rustled. Hey, spring!

I weave songs on a spindle

about youth that is passing.

In the above stanza, words such as ing and es at the end of every line are used in relying on the poet's intentions and love journey.

Irony

In some instances, the poem has used exaggeration or a tone in conveying a certain meaning that is opposite to what the narrator meant. For instance, when the author says the wind stole kisses from the girls while in the real sense, it is people who kissed the girls. Also, a fire of laughter which is filled with tears means extreme laughter made by an individual (Antonycz et al. 57). Another irony is when the narrator claims that a girl betrays their love but failed to betray her song as it has been faithful to it, and she walked in the dark in search of words in the forest. Ordinarily, it is like the girl decided to choose another person who she has always been faithful to or decided to love another thing.

In conclusion, Ukraine literature has faced different challenges over the past years. Ukrainians have used their language in most cases in expressing their emotions and even narrating a story like a case of “Elegy about the keys to love” poem. The poem uses different literary devices in expressing the emotions of a young man who is in love and finds out that the major things in love are somber art and pure love. Some of the devices include assonance, irony, apostrophe, dramatic structure, and first-person voice.

Work Cited

Antonycz, Bohdan I, Michael M. Naydan, and Lidia Stefanowska. The Essential Poetry of Bohdan Ihor Antonych: Ecstasies and Elegies. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2010. Print.