Dramatic Poem

The dramatic poem is a synthetic genre on the border of drama and the lyric-epic: a short dramatic work in verse with a sharp ideational conflict and philosophical and psychological depth, in which the action is concentrated not so much on external events as on the clash of ideas, convictions, and spiritual positions. The dramatic poem combines the dramatic form (dialogues, monologues, conflict) with lyric charge and intellectual tension. This genre reached a world level in the work of Lesia Ukrainka, who became its unsurpassed master: The Possessed, In the Wilderness, The Boyar's Wife, The Orgy, and In the Catacombs raise the eternal problems of freedom and bondage, betrayal and fidelity, the role of the artist, and the individual's right to his own choice. Drawing on world and biblical subjects, Lesia Ukrainka filled them with a sharp national and universal content. The dramatic poem is one of the highest achievements of Ukrainian literature, evidence of its intellectual and philosophical maturity.