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Kobzar (1840): read in Ukrainian (C2)

Read Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar in Ukrainian as printed in 1840: eight poems in the original spelling, Kateryna among them. Level C2, with word translation.

Кобзар 1840 року (Тарас Шевченко)

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About this article

Level C2 Reading focus

What you'll learn

Rhymed folk-song verse with inversions, the 1840 Russian-based spelling (ы for modern и, и for modern і, final ъ, іо for ьо and йо, -тця for -ться), old long adjective forms (каріи, чорніи), diminutives and vocatives of folk poetry, vocabulary of village life and the Cossack past, the cultural background of Ukrainian Romanticism and Shevchenko’s first book

This article contains the complete first edition of Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar (Saint Petersburg, 1840): eight poems, from the opening address to his own poems and the blind minstrel Perebendia to Kateryna, the story of a village girl abandoned by a Russian officer, The Poplar, Dumka, To Osnovianenko, Ivan Pidkova and Taras’s Night, with the lines cut by the censor marked by rows of dots. Level C2 suits readers who want to read Ukrainian at an earlier stage of its written history, in the Russian-based spelling of 1840. You will learn to read old spellings such as ы for и, и for і, the final ъ and -тця for -ться, together with the language of folk song and the Cossack past.

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