Aeneid

Aeneid is a Ukrainian burlesque and travesty poem written by Ivan Kotliarevsky, based on the plot of the classical poem of the same name by the Roman poet Virgil. Unlike Virgil’s twelve-book version, Kotliarevsky’s adaptation consists of six parts and is written in iambic tetrameter.

Composed during the rise of Romanticism and nationalism in Europe, the poem reflects a nostalgic longing among segments of the Ukrainian elite for the Cossack state, which had been dismantled by the Russian Empire between 1775 and 1786. Aeneid stands as the first major literary work written in the living Ukrainian vernacular. It marked the beginning of modern Ukrainian literature and remains a cultural milestone that vividly captures the ethos and identity of a nation.