NEOROMANTIC IMAGERY IN POEMS ABOUT THE HOLODOMOR

Abstract

The article examines the neoromantic mode of being of the heroes of lyrical-epic poems about the Holodomor through formal and content-based stylistic markers. The research relies on the principle of recurrence in artistic processes, where romanticism, the core of neoromanticism, functions as a timeless component of a meta-imagistic construct. It stands in contrast to the realist's analytical outlook and generally aligns with the value paradigm of the Ukrainian mentality. Thus, the focus falls on cordocentric, voluntaristic, and individualistic, yet altruistically oriented, impulses of characters, lyrical subjects, and narrators. Their actions arise from intense emotional upheavals stirred by the 1932–1933 catastrophe across multiple dimensions. Primarily, the analysis highlights rebellious, sacrificial, heroic, and stoic acts performed by the protagonists. Despite the pressure of famine and political repression, when the psyche collapses under primal fears and basic instincts, they transcend the mundane through service to higher ideals: God, nation, freedom, family, homeland, and inner purity. As a result, their daily existence acquires the features of a sacred feat, reaching beyond the boundaries of rational life and aspiring toward metaphysical heights.To intensify this, the texts employ a traditional neoromantic device: contrast. Hence, the antagonists appear as demonic officials who clamp the people in the system’s grip and destroy the sprouts of freedom in the Ukrainian soul. Opposing them stand martyr-like heroes – less often in physical confrontation, but more often on the spiritual level, where the conflict of meanings rages especially fiercely. This clash reveals the central neoromantic conflict, around which revolves another layer of experiencing the Holodomor: the inner intentions of the lyrical heroes. They observe the crime of genocide with pain in their hearts, bow before the resilience of their compatriots, carefully preserve the moments of their martyred lives, and seek to rally others against national amnesia. At the intersection of these dimensions emerges a distinctive atmosphere of locations imbued with spiritual essence. Thus, the neoromantic facet of the poetic world of Holodomor-themed works takes shape.