Maksim Adamavich Bahdanovich (, ; ; 9 December 1891 – 25 May 1917) was a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian poet, journalist,

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and historian of literature. He is considered one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literature.Maksim Bahdanovich: life and works (Максім Багдановіч: асоба і творчасць)
Archives of Belarus.

Life

Bahdanovich was born in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

in the family of

Adam Bahdanovič Adam Bahdanovič (; ; March 25, 1862, Chalopieničy – April 16, 1940, Yaroslavl) was a Belarusians, Belarusian ethnographer and collector of folklore. Born in a peasant family, he graduated from a pedagogical college in Nyasvizh in 1882 and wor ...

, an important Belarusian ethnographer, who through most of his career worked as a

bank clerk A bank teller (often abbreviated to simply teller) is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. T ...

. Maksim was born in a family apartment at Karakazov House located at Trinity Hill next to the First Parish School. His father was of unlanded peasantry family, while his mother (née Myakota) was of old Belarusian noble family of Kurcz coat of arms that was not adopted in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Grandfather on his mother side, Apanas Janovich Myakota, was a Russian veteran of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

who for his military service received a lifelong nobility. Both of Maksim parents graduated pedagogical schools. Later father of Maksim, Adam, was involved with members of the revolutionary anti-tsarist

Narodnaya Volya Narodnaya Volya () was a late 19th-century revolutionary socialist political organization operating in the Russian Empire, which conducted assassinations of government officials in an attempt to overthrow the autocratic Tsarist system. The org ...

organization. In 1892, the family moved to

Hrodna Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, from Minsk, about from the border with Poland, and from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the ad ...

where Maksim's father received a job at local bank. Soon after the move the future poet's mother, Maria, died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1896. In 1896, Adam Bahdanovich moved with his children to

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. At that time Maksim wrote his first poems in the

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

. In 1902 Bahdanovich attended a gymnasium. During the

Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

he was an active participant of the strikes organised by his commilitodes. In 1907,

Nasha Niva ''Nasha Niva'' (, lit. "Our field") is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers, founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991. ''Nasha Niva'' became a cultural symbol, due to the newspaper's importance as a publisher of Belarusian literature ...

came out with Bahdanovich's first published work — the novel ''Muzyka''. In June 1908, the poet's family moved to Yaroslavl'. After finishing school in 1911 Bahdanovich went to

to meet important figures of the Belarusian Renaissance: Vaclau Lastouski, Ivan Luckievič and Anton Luckievich. In the same year he began studying of law at a Yaroslavl' lyceum. During his studies Bahdanovich worked at a newspaper, wrote numerous works of literature and was actively published in both

and

. In the beginning of 1914, his only book of poems, ''Vianok'' (''A Wreath''), was published in Vilna (today

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

). In the summer of 1916, after absolvation of the lyceum, Maksim Bahdanovich moved to

and worked there at the local guberniya administration. In February 1917, Bahdanovich went to

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

to be treated for

. The treatment was unsuccessful, and that year he died in

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

. The poet's papers were kept at his father's house, but the collection was heavily damaged during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

in 1918.

Belarusian literature

In 1991–1995 a full collection of Bahdanovich's poetry was published in

. Nowadays there are museums of the poet open in

( Maksim Bahdanovich Literary Museum),

and Yaroslavl'. Several streets in major cities of Belarus and Russia are named after him. The

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s Zorka Venera (by Jury Siemianiaka and Ales' Bachyla), and

Maksim Maxim (more accurately spelled Maksim assuming that "X" is not a consonant, but the conjunction of "K" and "S" sounds; “Maksym”, or "Maxym") is an epicene (or gender-neutral) first name of Roman origin mainly given to males. It is adopted in ...

(by Ihar Palivoda). Bahdanovich created many examples of social, artistic and philosophical lyrics. He was the first poet to introduce several new lyrical forms to Belarusian literature. Maksim Bahdanovich was a translator of

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

and other poets into Belarusian and of

Janka Kupala Ivan Daminikavich Lutsevich (; – 28 June 1942), better known by his pen name Yanka Kupala (Янка Купала), was a Belarusian poet and writer. Biography Early life Kupala was born on July 7, 1882, in Maladzyechna Raion, Viazynka, a f ...

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

, Ivan Franko into

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Literary work

In 1916, Maksim Bahdanovich wrote a poem “Pahonia”. The music was written by a Belarusian composer and immigrant activist Mikalay Shchahlou-Kulikovich. The song was originally meant to be sung

a capella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

. Mikola Ravienski, and

Vladimir Mulyavin Vladimir Georgievich Mulyavin (; (Uladzimer Heorhijevič Muliavin); 12 January 1941 – 26 January 2003) was a Belarus, Belarusian and Russian rock musician and the founder of the folk-rock band Pesniary. Biography Vladimir Mulyavin was born i ...

also wrote their own musical arrangements. In the early 1990s, Shchahlou-Kulikovich’s version was considered as one of the options for the national

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

of the Republic of Belarus. In 2020, under the patronage of Anton Mezhy a choral performance of the anthem was recorded with an orchestra accompaniment. In 2020, the "Pahonia" anthem and the poem resurged in popularity as one of the symbols of the 2020 Belarusian protests against the Lukashenko regime, along with the white-red-white flag. The anthem was spontaneously performed in several public places: near the Belarusian State Philharmonic, in malls, in the Minsk subway, at the Minsk , and at the

Minsk railway station Minsk-Pasažyrski (, ) is the main passenger railway station in Minsk, Belarus. It is located in the centre of Minsk. It is sometimes called ''Minsk Ploshchad Lenina'' due to the Ploshchad Lenina (Minsk Metro), metro station serving the terminal, ...

References

External links

*
Works of Maksim Bahdanovich at the Belaruskaia Palichka

Maksim Bahdanovich Literary Museum

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahdanovich, Maksim 1891 births 1917 deaths People from Minsky Uyezd Writers from Minsk 20th-century Belarusian poets Translators from Ukrainian Translators from French Translators to Belarusian Translators from Russian Translators of Alexander Pushkin Symbolist poets Belarusian-language writers Belarusian male poets 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century Belarusian translators Tuberculosis deaths in Ukraine