Happy Birthday, Taras Shevchenko

On the 9th of March in 1814, Taras Shevchenko was born in Moryntsi but his family moved back to the ancestral village of Kyrylivka (now village of Shevchenkove, Zvenigorodsky region, Ukraine). His ancestors were Cossacks involved in the uprisings of the 17th and 18th centuries. He was an accomplished artist and an even greater writer. His Kobzar collection of poetry is the most famous book in Ukrainian. My tattered childhood copy remains with me in my library in Ireland today. In honour of Taras, I will read a poem today. RIP.

Taras and pals. Taras in the hat. 1859.

Ancestral home drawn by Taras Shevchenko. 

Тарас Шевченко. Повне зібрання творів в десяти томах. — К., 1961. — Т. 7: Живопис, графіка 1830-1847. — Кн. 1-2., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8549252

"Gypsy Fortune-Teller", by Taras Shevchenko, a watercolor composition of 1841 was awarded a silver medal by the Council of the Academy of Arts.
Т. Шевченко. Цыганка-ворожея. 1841. Национальный музей Т. Шевченко