Ukrainka, Lesia

Related Category: Russian and Eastern European Literature: Biographies

(lās´yə krīn´kə), 1871–1913, Ukrainian poet and dramatist, whose original name was Larysa Kvitka-Kosach. Ukrainka spent most of her life abroad fighting to recuperate from tuberculosis. Her early collections of lyric poetry, On the Wings of Song (1892), Thoughts and Dreams (1899), and Responses (1902), reflect the liberal and revolutionary ideals of Heinrich Heine and Taras Shevchenko. Her principal plays, using themes from Western and classical literature, include Cassandra (1908) and In the Desert (1909). The Forest Song (1912) is her dramatic poem based on Slavic mythology.