Alois Woldan
Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, Volume 8, Issue 4, 2013, s. 171-183
https://doi.org/10.4467/20843933ST.13.012.2012A Farewell to Austria – the Poetry of Western Ukraine during World War I
This article tries to sketch the notions concerning World War I present in Ukrainian literature of the time of that conflict. It analyses the poetry of famous authors from an elder generation (B. Lepkyj, P. Karmans’kyj, O. Oles’) as well as the works of rather unknown or forgotten authors from a younger generation (V. Atamanjuk, O. Kobec’). There is a certain shift to be seen between loyalty to the Habsburg Empire, patriotic emphasis when fighting for one’s own homeland within the first years of WWI, and apocalyptic visions as well as pacifistic accents towards the end of the war. Although we can find messianic motifs of suffering (Karmans’kyj) and resurrection (Oles’), no real political future after the war is seen in the works by the quoted authors.