As a postscript to yesterday’s post, Pamela and Tatyana (by e mail) amplify by referring to Byron’s narrative poem, Mazeppa, which, as with Onegin, inspired Pushkin.
“Get thee to a nunnery” which is just what we did yesterday morning.
The church had masses of the most beautiful wood carving that stands up well to comparison with Grinling Gibbons – no photography allowed, so cannot show you. It is modern and will soon be gilded which L and I think will spoil it. The gardens were well tended and practical with plenty of fruit trees, and fruit and veg.
This is not a digression: I almost always order pierogi at the Polish Hearth Club in London. In Kiev I have been enjoying similar dumplings called vareniki. In Poltava they are so fond of vareniki they have a monument to this delicious dish.
Ivan Kotlyarevsky was born in Poltava in 1769. A writer, poet and playwright he is best known for his mock heroic poem, Eneyida. For once it is not inspired by Byron. He looked further back; it is a parody of Virgil’s Aeneid. It is considered to be the first work published In Ukrainian. There is a lot more to him than this but you can read it in your own time here. But of course Byron does get a mention. His influence on authors from other lands is rather amazing.
I really do love Poltava.
The circular open space with 18th century buildings is hard to capture on camera. It is often likened to a miniature St Petersburg. I will try to get a picture when I return on Monday but this is an easy photo opp.
Students hang out here in the summer, strumming guitars and singing, our language assistant told us authoritatively and she should know; she was at university here for five years. I cheekily joked that she must have kept failing her exams – of course not, she took a Masters. Please don’t tell her about my General Degree from Durham.