Amvrosy Metlinsky (Russian: Амвросий Метлинский, Ukrainian: Амвросій Метлинський, romanized: Amvrosii Metlynskyi; 1814 in Sary, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire – 29 July 1870 in Yalta, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire) was a Ukrainian[1] poet, ethnographer, folklorist and panslavist. Professor at the Imperial University of Kharkov.
Amvrosii Metlynsky | |
|---|---|
 Амвросій Метлинський | |
| Born | 1814 Sary Poltava region |
| Died | 29 July 1870 Yalta |
| Pen name | Amvrosii Mohyla |
| Occupation | poet, ethnographer, publisher, professor |
| Citizenship | Russian Empire |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
Metlinsky was a professor of Russian Literature at Kharkov University from 1843–49, and again from 1854–58. From 1849–54 he was a professor at Kiev University. During the 1830s, the city of Kharkov became the center of Ukrainian Romanticism.[2] Metlinsky and other authors such as Izmail Sreznevsky and Nikolay Kostomarov published ethnographic materials, native interpretations of Ukrainian history, and collections of folk legends and Cossack chronicles.[1] In 1839, he published a collection of poetry called Dumky i pisni ta shche deshcho (Thoughts and Songs and Some Other Things) under his pseudonym Amvrosii Mohyla.[3] In 1848, he published an anthology of works by other Kharkiv poets called Iuzhnyi russkii sbornik (Southern Russian Anthology).
Metlinsky's poetry contains his nostalgia for the glories of the Ukrainian Cossack past, which he believed were destined never to return.[3] He described his poetry as "the work of the last bandurist who passes on the song of the past in a dying language".[4] He did not believe in the possibility of a renaissance of the Ukrainian people, which led him to embrace Pan-Slavic unity and to place hope in Russia.[3][5] His nostalgia prompted him to collect Ukrainian folk songs which he published in 1854. The most part of this collection was previously unpublished.[3]
In his autobiography, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi mentions collections of Ukrainian folk songs published by Metlinsky as works that influenced him.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b Ukrainian literature. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 8 July 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:[1]
- ^ Kravtsiv, Bohdan, Danylo Husar Struk. Romanticism. Encyclopedia of Ukraine. vol. 4, 1993.
- ^ a b c d Metlynsky, Amvrosii. Encyclopedia of Ukraine. vol. 3, 1993.
- ^ Subtelny, Orest (2000). Ukraine: A History. University of Toronto Press. p. 281. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0.
- ^ Petrenko, Pavlo. Kharkiv Romantic School Encyclopedia of Ukraine. vol. 2, 1989.
- ^ Plokhy, Serhii. Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2005. pg 26