Interpretation of the war in Ukraine: ukrainian, polish, bulgarian, and lithuanian poetry (based on the anthology «Armed spring»)

Abstract

The study analyzed the anthology «Vesna ozbroiena (Armed Spring)», initiated for publication by The National Writers’ Union of Ukraine. The book was published during the unfolding of a full-scale war in Ukraine, in the spring of 2022. The anthology is based on several principles — the coverage of regions with different levels of authorship is particularly noticeable, the principle of generational experiences is sporadically manifested, on the other hand — in the organization of anthology shows the consideration of the tendency to cover the phenomenon, especially how exactly the topic of war is highlighted in Western European poetry. The experimental nature of the anthology «Vesna ozbroiena (Armed Spring)» is that the editor, the author of the foreword, Mykhailo Sydorzhevsky, qualified it as an anthology of military lyrics and under one cover collected small selections (up to six works) of Ukrainian, Polish, Bulgarian and Baltic poets about the acute feeling-reflection of two stages Russia-Ukraine war (1st stage — 2014‑2022, 2nd stage — ongoing since 24.02.2022). The authors of the «Vesna ozbroiena (Armed Spring)» anthology belong not only to different artistic circles and generations, they are more or less known to the readership, but the fact is that their style palette is very diverse, from masterful maturity to imitative manners that are easy to follow by those who have already established themselves in the literature. Predominant in the anthology is the understanding of the helplessness of a peaceful person amid the tragic events of war. At the same time, the depth and knowledge of events and details differ — this is volunteer experience, and the experience of refugees, emigrants, the experience of mothers waiting for their sons and daughters from the front, the experience of soldiers and descendants of soldiers, the experience of orphans and those who covered these events in the media and in research, which provides sufficient discourse throughout the war and keeps the phenomenon visible, because it is the same age as the relayed disaster.