The concept of HOMO VIATOR: sources and artistic modifications in contemporary Ukrainian poetry

Бровко, Олена Олександрівна and Віннікова, Наталія Миколаївна and Луцюк, Микола Володимирович (2025) The concept of HOMO VIATOR: sources and artistic modifications in contemporary Ukrainian poetry Вчені записки ТНУ імені В. І. Вернадського. Серія: Філологія. Журналістика, 36(75) (6. Ч.1). pp. 290-296. ISSN 2710-4656

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Abstract

The article investigates the sources, semantic transformations, and artistic modifications of the concept of Homo viator (“the traveling human”, “the human on the road”) in contemporary Ukrainian poetry and identifies the specific features of its functioning as a model of existential, spiritual, and national experience. The subject of the study encompasses the origins, symbolism, and poetic interpretations of the Homo viator concept in modern Ukrainian lyric poetry. The research outlines the leading role of this concept within Christian anthropology and the European cultural tradition, as the corresponding motif – from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden to the wanderings of Abraham and the parable of the Prodigal Son – forms a universal metaphor of human existence, centered on the road as spiritual experience, mode of being in the world, and source of the image of the nation in exile. An analysis of the works by Viktoriia Amelina, Iia Kiva, Liubov Yakymchuk, Maksym Kryvtsov, and Valerii Puzik demonstrates that the Homo viator concept acquires new semantic dimensions shaped by the актуалізація of the displacement discourse, encompassing experiences of migration, exile, loss of home, and rupture with native space. It is revealed that the interpretation of this concept is intertwined with multiple narratives of memory, which function as existential and historical constants of Ukrainian existence. Such writing transcends the boundary between the private and the collective, transforming individual loss into a component of shared cultural experience. The analysis reveals the formation of specific semantic features within the Homo viator concept, combining biblical symbolism with the national experience of exile, the search for home, and the preservation of identity. It is established that contemporary Ukrainian poetry not only represents the trauma of loss but also constructs a new map of identity, within which images of the city and the destroyed home function as elements of a common cultural body capable of memory, emotional experience, and resistance.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Homo Viator; concept; biblical symbolism; Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry; comparative-typological analysis; existential experience
Subjects:	Статті у періодичних виданнях > Фахові (входять до переліку фахових, затверджений МОН)
Divisions:	Факультет східних мов > Кафедра східної культури і літератури Факультет української філології, культури і мистецтва > Кафедра української літератури, компаративістики і грінченкознавства
Depositing User:	професор Олена Бровко
Date Deposited:	03 Mar 2026 16:18
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2026 16:18
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/56520

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