A poet against the system: The spiritual world of Lina Kostenko’s poetry

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the analysis of selected poems by Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko in the context of the sphere of spirituality and numerous references to biblical themes. The conducted analysis allows us to conclude that the world of religion and human spirituality allowed the poet to show a clear contrast between humanistic values and the dehumanized and oppressive reality of the communist system. The writer, who remains a symbol of the Ukrainian generation of the 1960s, reminded us that more important than conformist submission to the apparatus of power is maintaining her own dignity and fidelity to the values she professes, even when it is necessary to pay a high price, which the ban on publishing her works must have been for her.