Taras Shevchenko and Scottish Literature: The Legacy of Edwin Morgan

Abstract

Background. This article analyzes the translation of Taras Shevchenko's poem, 'Testament' (Zapovit), made by the distinguished Scottish poet Edwin Morgan, whose work remains largely unknown to both Ukrainian scholars and the general readership. E. Morgan, a recognized classic of Scottish poetry and an esteemed polyglot translator, belongs to the figures of the Scottish Literary Renaissance who regarded the preservation of national culture, spirituality, and identity as their mission in the face of Britain's imperial colonial pressure. In Shevchenko's 'Testament', he identified themes and motifs, shared by both literatures and nations that, over centuries, resisted imperial domination. These motifs have retained their relevance and poetic appeal. The topicality of this study is reinforced by the contemporary historical and political context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, in which Shevchenko's word resonates as a call to preserve spiritual identity in resistance to the aggressors.
Methods. The study employs textual, postcolonial, biographical, comparative, and structural-semantic methods.
Results. Among the poets of the second wave of the Scottish Literary Renaissance, E. Morgan is regarded as the most eclectic and experimental. He was consistently drawn to other national literatures, and intercultural dialogue emerged both as a mode and as an embodiment of his poetic essence. His visit to Kyiv in 1955 and interaction with Professor A. Biletskyi stimulated Morgan's interest in
Ukrainian national poetry, personified by Taras Shevchenko. Through his translation of 'Testament', Morgan secured an honorable place within Scottish Shevchenko studies. Both texts testify to the translator's preservation of the central motifs of Shevchenko's poem. It also confirms the uniqueness of the poetic voice of both the Kobzar and his interpreter, while also revealing its significance within Ukrainian–Scottish intercultural dialogue. The context of the current war contributed to the publication in 2023 of a previously unknown translation. James Rann of the University of Glasgow succeeded in finding the manuscript in Morgan's archives. In his assessment, Morgan's translation of the 1950s, demonstrates a subtle sensitivity and empathy toward the tragic period in Ukrainian history, emphasizing the combination of public valour and private resilience – qualities we are witnessing today. Morgan's translation of 'Testament' is published in Ukraine for the first time.
Conclusions. In translating Shevchenko's 'Testament', E. Morgan adapts it to the English poetic tradition while preserving its key images, striving to make the Ukrainian text comprehensible to an English-speaking audience. It has been established that, for the Scottish poet Morgan, Shevchenko's 'Testament' became a space for the realization of Dichtung (H. Arendt), since for him, as for the Kobzar, literature constitutes a means of interpreting the world and human experience. The poetic word is capable of resisting oblivion and the totalitarian erasure of identity; thus, Dichtung represents a form of resistance – a space in which an individual may preserve freedom and dignity. This is convincingly demonstrated by Morgan's translation of Shevchenko's 'Testament' in the mid-twentieth century, a fact that became known to the world seventy years later and one year after the outbreak of the full-scale war