"The foremost poet and playwright of Belarus, sometimes called the National Prophet, one of the central figures of the Rebirth Movement, and editor of Nasha Niva from 1914 to 1915. His real name was Ivan Lucevich, and he came from a lesser gentry background. The pen name Kupala refers to the ancient summer solstice ritual, Kupalle (also called Ivan Kupala). It has been generally recognized that Kupala's poetry had a powerful impact on the development of the Belarusan National Idea."
"Together with Jakub Kolas, Kupała laid the ground for modern Belarusan literature. Kupała idealized and extolled Belarus's past (especially of the Polacak period, which he took as the matrix for the future) and exerted an influence on the political movement for independence. Kupała was the first to receive the honorific title of People's Poet (1925). Largely self-educated, he was elected to the Belarusan Academy of Sciences (1928) and that of Ukraine (1929) for his literary achievements."
The first staging of his play, "Paulinka," took place in Vilnius on November 15, 1912.
Note: A CD-ROM of a staging of this play was produced by the Yanka Kupała Belarusian National Theatre (Minsk) in 2005 for Windows compatible computers (Windows 2000 and newer). This CD-ROM can sometimes be found in Minsk in souvenir shops, for example, the one next to the Minsk Concert Hall (not far from Dynamo Stadium). A DVD version was also produced but may be even more difficult to locate.
"Some of Kupała's literary works were banned during most of the Soviet period because of their ardent patriotism and denunciation of tsarist and Polish imperialisms. Along with other members of the intelligentsia, Kupała suffered from political repression."
"After he attempted suicide (1930), the quality of his literary works declined. Some of them were written to order from above, praising Stalin and life on the collective farms. Kupała died during World War II in Moscow in unexplained circumstances that do not exclude murder."
"In 1966, the Kupała Literary Award was established for works of poetry and drama. Many of Kupała's works from the pre-revolutionary period and the 1920s, because of their content, were banned after 1930 until the end of the Soviet regime."
Notes:
In the preceding excerpt, terms in bold refer to other entries in the Historical Dictionary of Belarus. The Historical Dictionary of Belarus is an important summary of the history of Belarus.
Belarusian language version (Windows 1251) used by permission from the Bielaruskaja palicka Web site in Austria maintained by Andrus' Zhvir: This poem is from a section of poems by Janka Kupała in Belarusian and Russian.
Belarusian Version(Windows 1251) at site in Austria; last poem on the page: "КУРГАН".
Note: There are other poems in both Belarusian and Russian by Kupała on this page. However, "The Gravemound" is there only in a Belarusian language version.
![[ Writer Yanka Kupala ]](ykupala2.jpg)