Taras Shevchenko

Shevchenko, Taras (1814–61), Ukrainian patriot and poet. He was also a realist painter and a publisher of Ukrainian ballads in Russian. He opposed serfdom and was active in the Ukrainian independence movement. As punishment, the Russian government sentenced him to military service in the Ural Mountains (1847–57). His nationalistic poems include Katerina (1840), Haydamaki (1841), and The Dream (1844). He was born in Kiev.