“The Silent Language of Rage”
Ukrainian Poetry at War
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Literature, especially contemporary poetry, has developed into an important medium for processing the war in Ukraine intellectually. Since 2014, the violence to which the country and its citizens have been subjected has been the subject of numerous poems. With the February 2022 invasion, the field of literature has shifted significantly yet again. The war has become an inescapable reality that poets must confront. Documentation comes to the fore, a “high poetic tone” seems to have become impossible, likewise the classical form of narration. Language is no longer merely a tool of description, but itself part of what is happening and the subject of poetic reflection.
(Osteuropa 6-8/2022, pp. 53–68)