Literary References
There are references to to pysanky in Ukrainian literature, and the pysanka is a metaphor for what is beautiful. The best known is by Shevchenko, in his poem «Княжа» (Princess), where he compares an idyllic Ukrainian village ("selo") to a pysanka:
Село! І серце одпочине:
Село на нашій Україні —
Неначе писанка, село.
Зеленим гаєм поросло.
Цвітуть сади, біліють хати,
А на горі стоять палати,
Неначе диво. А кругом
Широколистії тополі,
А там і ліс, і ліс, і поле,
І сині гори за Дніпром.
Сам Бог витає над селом.
A village! And my heart can rest:
A village in our Ukraine––
A village like a pysanka.
Overgrown with a grove of trees.
The orchards in blossom, the houses white
On the hill there stand palaces
like wonders/marvels. And all around
Wide-leafed poplars
and there forest, forest, and a field.
Blue hills across the Dnipro
God himself wanders about the village.
(1847)
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A postcard from the early XIX century; village of Monastyrs’ke
Literary References
