Evaluation of Belarusian Protest Poems

Abstract

This article is dedicated to Belarusian poetry which was created in 2020 on the wave of public resistance. The analysis of the public and political sounding poems is presented against the background of a wide panorama of the cultural life of Belarus with its special feature as the creation of the such projects as: cultprotest and #evalution. Both Belarusian-language and Russian-language poems written by Belarusian authors served as material for this study. Among the writers who responded with poetic words to current events, there are representatives of the older generation (Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, Antanina Khatenka), the middle generation (Dzmitry Strotsau, Syargei Prylutsky, Aksana Sprynchan, Tatsiana Svetashova, Volga Gronskaya), as well as very young new names in Belarusian literature (Katsyaryna Glukhouskaya (Ioffe), Artur Komorouski). The texts of the poems considered in the article come first of all from Internet resources, as well as from a few publications in the independent Belarusian press. The article focuses primarily on the motives and images that are most often used by poets in their works. Among other things, a prominent place is occupied by national colours and symbols. A feature of the protest lyrics of 2020 is also the high frequency of various “dialogues” with the classics of Belarusian literature. The white-red-white flag, the chase, anthems, quotes from Yanka Kupala’s works create a common figurative and artistic world of Belarusian protest poetry which is characteristic not only of Belarusian but also Russian-language works. Interesting stylistic poetic findings such as the reporting form or the creation of the author’s neologisms are singled out.