Taras Shevchenko

Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko, also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar, was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, as well as folklorist and ethnographer. His literary heritage is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language, though the language of his poems was different from the modern Ukrainian language. All his diaries, letters, non-poetic literature, such as a novel, plays, some poems were in Russian. Shevchenko is also known for many masterpieces as a painter and an illustrator.