Have you been to Poltava
Where the step is wide,
Where groves of snowball and poplar
Are filled with nightingales pipe?
Where the wind heaves the waves
of green, and blue and gold,
Which get worked up and run,
To the river of Vorskla so bold!
It’s the place of erected oil towers,
Like lighthouses far in the seas,
Your blue sky is crossed ever and after
By the silver jets above the trees.
By the Vorskla in nearby valleys
Those great gardens and country roads seen
What a beauty you are, my Poltava!
Ever-young place upon I’m so keen!
M.Коstenko
Poltava gave birth to a great bunch of extremely talented writers to Ukrainian literature, which sowed the literary field with the variety of styles, deepened the grasp of aesthetics of literary work of art, discovered the incomparable beauty of the native near and dear word. And most importantly, they incredibly and surprisingly opposed the offensive of the state machine against the human soul, trumpeting and honoring it.
It may have been for this very reason, that due to the phenomenon of Poltava type of writing, the original and atmosphere of the city has been formed. With good reason Poltava is proud to be called “A spiritual capital of Ukraine”. The streets of our city, which we are walking, were walked by Hryhoriy Savych Skovoroda, Mykola Hohol, Taras Shevchenko. They saw the same stars, the same Vorskla river and the same hills.
Ivan Petrovych Kotlyarevskyi, the writer, Mykola Oleksandrovych Yaroshenko, the artist were born here. Panas Myrnyi, Volodymyr Korolenko, Hryhoriy Myasoyedov lived here for quite a long time. The beauty of Poltava was poetized by Leonid Hlibov, Oles Honchar, Arkhyp Teslenko, Ostap Vyshnya, Hryhir Tyutyunyk, Vasyl Symonenko; famous artists depictured this beautiful city, such as: Bashkirtseva, Vasylkivskyi, Borovykovskyi, Pozen and others.
The blessed land inspired the creativity of prominent Ukrainian composers, musicologists, and educators, such as: Mykola Lysenko, Aloiz Yedlichko, Hladky (the author of the music for the song with lyrics of Taras Shevchenko "Testament"), Verkhovynts, Popadych, Isaac Dunaievskyi, brothers Mayboroda, Bilash, Virmenych.