Ivan Daminikavich Lutsevich, known in Belarusian as Іван Дамінікавіч Луцэвіч and in Polish as Iwan Daminikawicz Łucewicz, was born on July 7 (Old Style June 25) in 1882. He is best known by his pen name, Yanka Kupala (Янка Купала). He was a Belarusian poet and writer who died on June 28, 1942.

Biography

Yanka Kupala was born on July 7, 1882, in Viazynka, a type of estate near Maladzyechna. His family had been well-known since the early 17th century and came from the nobility, but they became poor over time. Both of his parents had to work as tenant farmers on the estate. His grandfather rented land from the Radziwiłł family, but they later forced him to leave his home. This story later inspired Kupala’s drama titled The Ravaged Nest. As a child, Ivan helped his father support the family. After his father died in 1902, Ivan became the only one who could provide for his family. He worked many different short-term jobs, such as a tutor, a shop assistant, and a record keeper. Later, he worked as a laborer at a local distillery. Despite his hard work, he found time to study on his own. He copied almost all the books from his father’s library, graduated from the local folk school, and became a qualified teacher.

Kupala participated in the 1905 Russian Revolution. Between 1908 and 1909, Ivan lived in Vilnius and worked at the Nasha Niva newspaper. During this time, he wrote his most famous poem, Who Goes There?, which later became a song loved by Belarusians.

From 1909 to 1913, he studied at Cherniaev’s courses in St. Petersburg. In 1915, he spent a year at Schanjawski Moscow Public University. His studies were interrupted by World War I. In 1916, Ivan was called to serve in the military and worked on road-building projects in Minsk, Polotsk, and Smolensk.

Two women are remembered in Kupala’s personal life: his wife, Vladislava Stankevich (Lutsevich), and his muse, Paulina Myadzyolka. Myadzyolka met Kupala in 1909 at her friend Stankevich’s home in Vilnius. In her memoir Paths of Life, she wrote:
"Kupala made jokes, asking if there were many beautiful girls in Vilnius. I frowned and stayed quiet, unhappy with the playful tone of the conversation."

This meeting had a lasting effect on Kupala. Four years later, he named a new play Paulinka and invited Myadzyolka to act in it. She accepted and continued to communicate with him.

Kupala married Vladislava Stankevich in 1916 at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Moscow. Paulina Myadzyolka learned about the marriage a year after it happened.

Kupala and Vladislava Lutsevich were married for more than 25 years. When Kupala died in 1942, his wife was deeply saddened. She dedicated her life to remembering him. Vladislava Lutsevich created and became the director of the Museum of Yanka Kupala in Minsk.

Literature career

Kupala’s first serious literary work was a Polish-language poem called Ziarno, which he finished around 1903–1904 using the name "K-a." His first poem in Belarusian, Моя доля, was written on July 15, 1904. His first published poem, Мужык ("Peasant"), appeared in Belarusian in the newspaper Severo-Zapadnyi Krai (Northwestern Krai) on May 11, 1905. Later poems by Kupala were published in the Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva between 1906 and 1907.

In 1908, Kupala moved to Vilnius, where he continued writing poetry. That same year, his first published collection of poems, Жалейка ("The Little Flute"), caused anger among the Russian government, which ordered the book taken away because it was seen as against the government. The order to arrest Kupala was canceled in 1909, but a second printing of the book was taken by local authorities in Vilnius. To protect the newspaper Nasha Niva, Kupala stopped working for it.

In 1909, Kupala moved to Saint Petersburg. The next year, he published several works, including the poem Адвечная песьня ("Eternal Song"), which appeared as a book in Saint Petersburg in July 1910. Another poem, Сон на кургане ("Dream on a Barrow"), written in August 1910, showed the difficult situation of Kupala’s Belarusian homeland. During the 1910s, Kupala was influenced by the writer Maxim Gorky. In 1913, he returned to Vilnius and began working for Nasha Niva again.

After the October Revolution of 1917, Kupala’s writing became more hopeful. He translated works into Belarusian, including the internationalist-Marxist song The Internationale and the ancient poem The Tale of Igor’s Campaign (translated in 1921). He worked in the People’s Commissariat of Education of the BSSR, managed a library in the "Belarusian hattsy," and edited magazines Run (1920) and Volny stsyag (1920–1922).

However, Kupala stayed connected to anti-Soviet nationalist groups from the Belarusian People’s Republic, who asked him to join them in exile in Czechoslovakia during a trip abroad in 1927. In Belarus, the new government distrusted him, and some newspapers criticized him for being too focused on nationalism. He was questioned by the State Political Directorate and faced pressure so strong that he tried to take his own life. This difficult period ended when he publicly wrote a "letter of repentance" in the 1930s.

In 1941, Kupala was awarded the Order of Lenin for his poetry collection Ад сэрца ("From the Heart"). When Nazi Germany invaded Belarus in 1941, he moved to Moscow and then to Tatarstan. Even from there, he wrote poems supporting Belarusian partisans fighting the Nazis. Kupala died in Moscow on June 28, 1942, at age 59, after falling down a stairwell in the Hotel Moskva. The height of the railings and the location of the fall led to questions about whether his death was accidental.

Legacy

Yanka Kupala became known as a symbol of Belarusian culture during the Soviet era. In 1945, a museum was set up in Minsk with the help of his wife. This museum is the most important literary museum in Belarus. Hrodna State University is named after Yanka Kupala. In Minsk, there is also a park with a monument to the poet, a theatre, and a metro station called Kupalaŭskaja named after him.

A special area of study in Belarusian literature, focused on Kupala's work, is called "Kupalaznaustva."

In Monroe, New York, at Arrow Park, there is a monument to Yanka Kupala created by Belarusian sculptor Anatoly Anikeichik and architect Sergey Botkovsky. This monument has been on display since 1973. A monument to Kupala is also located on a square in Ashdod, Israel. A sculpture of Yanka Kupala stands in Magtymguly Park in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

A movie called Kupala, made by BelarusFilm in 2020, tells the story of his life.