This File Last Updated: 2002/06/18


Ryhor Siemaškievič

(Poet & Author; also, "Rygor Siemashkievich")

(Рыгор Міхайлавіч Семашкевіч)

(September 12, 1945 -- June 11, 1982)



[ Photo: Poet Ryhor Siemashkievich ]


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Ryhor Siemaškievič was born in the Mensk region in 1945. Shirin Akiner (in the article noted below), writes,

Ryhor Siemaškievič stands in a class by himself. He is a poet of maturity and an objectivity that set him apart from his fellows. Like them, he writes about his native land. Unlike them, he uses it as a liberating force. For many, the act of writing about their country is an end in itself: having described it, having written of their love for it, there is little more to say.

The total effect of their work, consequently, is monotonous, even though individual poems are often very good. Siemaškievič instinctively understands that his country is an inalienable part of his being. It made him what he is, shaped his thoughts and given him a language in which to build a congenial and coherent imagery through which to express his feelings, his beliefs, his comments on human nature.

He writes about his country in a natural, unconstrained manner, seeing it less as his country than as his experience of the world. As a result, his poetry has a universality that is lacking in that of his contemporaries.




  • Both the preceding text and both versions of the poems -- Belarusian (Lacinka) original and the English translation (the latter by Vera Rich); ©1976; 2000 Vera Rich, & appear in the Journal of Byelorussian Studies, Vol. III, No. 4, Year XII, & The Anglo-Belarusian Society, ©1976; pages 354 and 359. From an appendix to the article, "Contemporary Young Byelorussian Poets (1967-1975)," by Shirin Akiner (pp. 342-363).

    Note: Complete sets of the Journal of Byelorussian Studies can be ordered from The Anglo-Belarusian Society.


  • Рыгор Семашкевіч

    Рыгор Міхайлавіч Семашкевіч нарадзіўся 12.9. 1945 г. у вёсцы Дамашы Маладзечанскага раёна Мінскай вобласці ў сялянскай сям'і.

    У 1966 г. скончыў філалагічны факультэт Беларускага дзяржаўнага універсітэта імя У. I. Леніна. Працаваў дырэктарам Малінаўскай васьмігадовай школы Смаргонскага раёна. У 1967—1969 гг.— аспірант кафедры беларускай літаратуры БДУ імя У. I. Леніна. 3 1970 г. выкладаў беларускую літаратуру ў гэтым жа універсітэце. Кандыдат філалагічных навук, дацэнт. Член СП СССР з 1969 г.

    Памёр 11.6.1982 г.

    У друку пачаў выступаць з вершамі ў 1960 г. Аўтар зборнікаў вершаў «Леснічоўка» (1968), «Субота» (1973), аповесці «Бацька ў калаўроце» (1976), кнігі «Лічыла дні зязюля» (вершы, аповесці, эсэ, 1987).

    Напісаў літаратуразнаўчыя працы «Браніслаў Эпімах-Шыпіла» (1968) і «Беларускі літаратурна-грамадскі рух у Пецярбурзе» (1971), кнігу «Выпрабаванне любоўю» (эсэ, артыкулы, 1982).

    Belarusian Language Bio & Photo Credit:
    Беларускія пісменнікі (1917—1990):
    Даведнік
    , (1994; pp. 489-90).



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