The Poetry of Hamza Abdullin During World War II

Abstract

The article examines the creative personality of Hamza Abdullin. It reveals the thematic and ideological core of civil, intimate, and landscape lyrics, written in the harshest conditions of military captivity and behind the walls of the GULAG. The artistic and aesthetic originality of the poems “Dostarym” (“Friends”), “Tutkyn Zhyry” (“Prisoner’s Song”), “Zarly ana turaly zhyr” (“Song of the Grieving Mother”), “Bostandyk” (“Freedom”), “Zhalgyzdyk” (“Loneliness”), “Men Zhylaimyn” (“I’m Crying”), “Altai” (“Altai”), “Esil” (“Yesil”), “Mazhannyn zhieni Bibizaypka” (“To the nephew of Magzhan Bibizayp”), and of the ballad “Zhauyryn,” is analyzed. The article interprets poetry distinguished by its realistic and artistic power of depicting the merciless Stalinist system that cruelly suppressed national and individual freedom, national values, and human equality, and universal humanism. It analyzes the thematic and ideological core and relevance of the poems in the context of exposing the tyranny inherent in the Soviet regime and fascism that brought suffering and pain to all of humanity. It is concluded that the poet, whose spirit was high, was able to withstand all the difficulties of the pressure of the totalitarian system and make a great contribution to Kazakh literature with his creative searches and artistic translations.