Maksym Tadeyovych Rylsky ( uk, Максим Тадейович Рильський; russian: Максим Фадеевич Рыльский; in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

– 24 July 1964 ''id.'') was a Ukrainian poet, translator, academician, Doctor of Philological Sciences.

Biography

Rylsky was born in Kyiv in 1895 in a family of public activist, ethnographer, publicist, member of the "Kyiv Stara Hromada" (Old Community), Tadei Rozeslavovych Rylsky. His early education, young Rylsky received at home. In 1908 he entered the 3rd grade of the Kyiv Private Gymnasium of Volodymyr Naumenko. During his gymnasium period Rylsky befriended with families of

Mykola Lysenko Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko ( uk, Мико́ла Віта́лійович Ли́сенко; 22 March 1842 – 6 November 1912) was a List of Ukrainian composers, Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic mus ...

and Oleksandr Rusov. In 1915-17 he studied at medical faculty of

Kyiv University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

, with creation of Ukrainian People's University in October 1917, Rylsky transferred to its history and philology faculty. Due to the

Ukrainian–Soviet War The Ukrainian–Soviet War ( uk, радянсько-українська війна, translit=radiansko-ukrainska viina) was an armed conflict from 1917 to 1921 between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks (Soviet Ukraine and S ...

, Rylsky left Kyiv in late 1917 and with his brother Ivan worked at food administration in the city of

Skvyra Skvyra ( uk, Скви́ра, ; Yiddish: skver, סקווער) is a city in Bila Tserkva Raion, Kyiv Oblast (region) of central Ukraine. Skvyra has an area of . It hosts the administration of Skvyra urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It ...

, later worked as a rural teacher in villages nearby. In 1918 Bolshevik sympathizers in Romanivka drove Rylsky from his family house, robbed it, destroyed invaluable archive and library of his father.Tsion, V.
A son of szlachcic and peasant (Син шляхтича і селянки)
Zbruch. 19 March 2015 Rylsky returned to Kyiv only in 1923 where at first he earned a living as a teacher.

Works

He began writing poems early. His first poem was published in 1907 in a newspaper "Rada", his first collection "At white isles" ( uk, На білих островах) saw the world in 1910. Already in 1918 his poems "Tsarevna", "On the edge of the forest", collection "Beneath autumn stars" showed that period of internship and "voice sampling" has passed, and his 1922 collection "Blue distance" confirmed it for sure. The 1920s were marked by the poet's creative flourishing: his collections "Through storm and snow" (1925), "The 13th spring" (1926), "Where roads meet", "Hum and rumbling" (both 1929). In the last of those collections Rylsky arose also as a gifted translator of world poetry i.e. works of

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...

Valery Bryusov Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov ( rus, Вале́рий Я́ковлевич Брю́сов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈjakəvlʲɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbrʲusəf, a=Valyeriy Yakovlyevich Bryusov.ru.vorb.oga; – 9 October 1924) was a Russian poet, prose writer, drama ...

, Stéphane Mallarmé,

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

, and others. The event of cultural and artistic life became a translation of " Pan Tadeusz" of

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

. As a representative of the "pure art" doctrine, during the years when the Stalinists adopted the official doctrine of "socialist realism". In 1937 he was involved in rewriting the libretto of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

Taras Bulba ''Taras Bulba'' (russian: «Тарас Бульба»; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons And ...

,'' returning later to neo-classical forms. Maksym Rylsky is one of the most outstanding Ukrainian poets of the 20th century and master of the genres of the modern sonnet and the long narrative poem. He was closely associated with the Neoclassicist group of Ukrainian poets, who employed traditional poetic forms with rhyme and meter, wrote in a clear and accessible contemporary idiom, and often referenced Ancient Greek and Roman mythology as well as numerous other authors from world literature in their poetry. During the wartime period he wrote two masterful long poems that deviated from socialist realism—"Thirst" (1942) and "Journey to Youth" (1941-4), for which he was again publicly chastised. In 1942 he became Director of the Institute of Fine Arts, Folklore and Ethnography in Kyiv, a post that he held until his death in 1964. The Institute now bears his name. He published some 30 collections of original poetry during his lifetime as well as numerous translations and scholarly works. By 1974 almost five million copies of his works in the original or in translation had appeared in the USSR. Rylsky joined the Communist Party in 1943 and was a member of the

Supreme Soviet of the USSR The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...

in 1946.

Language skills and translation

Rylsky was a prolific translator. He had excellent knowledge of 13 languages and all in all could translate from 30 languages of the world. Above all, however, he focused on translating from French, Polish and Russian.

Awards

Prizes

* Lenin Prize, 1960 – for his collections of poems "Daleki neboskhyly" (1959) and "Troyandy j vynohrad" (1957) *

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

, 1943 – for his collections of poems "Slovo pro ridnu matir", "Svitova zorya", "Svitla zbroya", "Mandrivka v molodist" *

, 1950 – translation into Ukrainian of the poem " Pan Tadeusz" by

References

External links

Rylsky's works in Ukrainian
*Koshelivets, I.

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was creat ...

*Solovei, E.
Maksym Rylsky (РИЛЬСЬКИЙ МАКСИМ ТАДЕЙОВИЧ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. *Hlibchuk, V.
His secret Rylsky took to the grave as he could not last to Ukraine (Свою таємницю Рильський забрав у могилу, бо так і не дочекався України)
'. Halychyna. 21 January 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rylsky, Maksym 1895 births 1964 deaths Poets from Kyiv Ukrainian people of Polish descent Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Second convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Third convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Fourth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Fifth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Sixth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Soviet poets Soviet male poets 20th-century male writers Translators of William Shakespeare Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Stalin Prize winners Lenin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Burials at Baikove Cemetery Ukrainian male poets 20th-century Ukrainian poets