Taras Shevchenko rodilsya 9 marta 1814 goda v sele Kirilovke Zvenigorodskogo uezda Kievskoj gubernii v imenii pomeschika Engel"gardta v sem"e krepostnogo krest"yanina. Na vos"mom godu, lishivshis" ottsa i materi, malen"kij Taras priyutilsya u d"yachka v shkole. V 1838, posle togo kak byl vykuplen u pomeschika, postupil v Peterburgskuyu AH. V 1847 za uchastie v Kirillo-Mefodievskom Taras Shevchenko arestovan i opredelen ryadovym v otdel"nyj Orenburgskij korpus. V 1858 vernulsya v Peterburg. Sbornik stihov "Kobzar" (1840; bolee polnoe izdanie - 1860); poemy "Katerina" (1839), "Gajdamaki" (1841), "Son" (1844), "Najmichka" (1845), "Neofity" (1857), "Mariya" (1859), p"esa "Nazar Stodolya" (1843). Poeziyu Tarasa Shevchenko, proniknutuyu lyubov"yu k Ukraine, sostradaniem k tyazheloj dole naroda, protestom protiv vseh form ego sotsial"nogo i natsional"nogo ugneteniya, otlichayut blizost" k narodnomu tvorchestvu, glubokij lirizm, "prostota i poeticheskaya gratsiya vyrazheniya" (I. Franko). Zhivopis" Tarasa Shevchenko polozhila nachalo realisticheskomu napravleniyu v ukrainskom iskusstve (kartina "Katerina", 1842; seriya risunkov "Pritcha o bludnom syne", 1856-57). Akvarel"nye pejzazhi, psihologicheskie portrety, oforty (seriya "Zhivopisnaya Ukraina", 1844). This book was created using print-on-demand technology.