Shchoholiv, Yakiv

Shchoholiv, Yakiv [Щоголів, Яків; Ščoholiv, Jakiv; Щоголев; Shchoholev], b 6 November 1823 in Okhtyrka, Kharkiv gubernia, d 8 June 1898 in Kharkiv. Romantic poet. He studied at Kharkiv University until 1848 and worked in clerical-bureaucratic positions in various institutions. He began to publish in 1840 in Literaturnaia gazeta, Otechestvennye zapiski, and the almanac Molodyk. In 1883 he published the poetry collection Vorsklo, and in 1898, Slobozhanshchyna (Slobidska Ukraine). His main poetic inspiration was the poetry of Taras Shevchenko and the Ukrainian folklore. Shchoholiv was associated with the Kharkiv Romantic School, and a great deal of his poetry is a Romantic representation of Ukrainian history, in particular of the Cossack period and the Zaporozhian Cossacks. His Cossackophile romanticism expresses a longing for the past and for the ‘lost Zaporozhian Sich.’ Quite a number of his poems depict images of Ukrainian nature; others deal with social concerns. Many of his poems have been set to music and have become part of the popular repertoire; they include ‘Priakha’ (The Spinner), ‘Cherevychky’ (Shoes), and ‘Zymovyi vechir’ (A Winter’s Evening). Shchoholiv’s works have also been published posthumously: Tvory: Povnyi zbirnyk (Works: The Complete Collection, 1919), Poeziï (Poems, 1926), Tvory (Works, 2 vols, 1930), Poeziï (Poems, 1958), and Tvory (Works, 1961).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kaspruk, A. Iakiv Shchoholiv: Narys zhyttia i tvorchosty (Kyiv 1958)

Ivan Koshelivets

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]