The Romantic Space of the Steppe in Juliusz Slowackis Beniowski

Juliusz Slowacki was another great Romantic poet who created a unique vision of the Ukrainian steppe. However, in Beniowski (1841) we can find two types of steppe landscape, one associated with the west bank of the Dnieper, the other extending over its east bank. This distinction has inspired the interpretation presented in this article.The steppe of Podolia has been tamed and coexists with the civilized landscape of cornfields, gardens and orchards. The East Ukrainian steppe is a vast plane dotted with innumerable prehistoric barrows, symbols of transience and death, and, at the same time, a wilderness teeming with life. It is a place where one is free to commune with history and with God. The steppe pantheism is expressed in Beniowski with the sharpness of a flash of lightning. This is indeed like experiencing the presence of God.