The motif of alienation and the problem of the national identity of Belarusians in the Yanka Kupala’s poetry

The process of formation of Belarusian identity in the XIX and early XX century was connected with multiple complications being a result of foreign influences. In a situation of uncertain identity, the "familiarity" could be determinate by knowing and understanding strangeness. The motif of "foreign/strange" and "alienation/ strangeness" very often appears in the poetry of the prominent Belarusian poet Yanka Kupala who uses this motif to create the image of the suffering Belarusians over the centuries. Kupala condemns efforts – both on the part of Moscow (East) and Warsaw (West) – to eradicate the Belarusian culture. Also he disapproves attempts to appropriate Belarus and its people. Kupala calls for the need to stop yielding to foreign influences because it is definitely destructive in terms of formation of the national identity, and also is a symbol of national and political enslavement of Belarusians.