# Unknown — Poetry character guide > Unknown in Poetry by Taras Shevchenko. **Role:** major **Also known as:** me, thee, mine, myself **First appearance:** 0005-prologue ## Snapshot A restless first-person voice that drifts from lover to nun to iconoclast, demanding wind and sea answer for an absent beloved and a shackled homeland. ## Who they are This speaker is less a person than a pressure gauge for Ukraine's grief, slipping into the masks of a girl waiting for a drowned lover, a nun cursing her stolen youth, and a prophet tearing icons from church walls. The recurring ache is abandonment—by a lover, by God, by history—and the recurring answer is defiant tenderness, as when she vows to bloom as a red viburnum over a grave so strangers cannot trample it. These voices set the book's emotional register: intimate loss scaled up into national lament. ## In the story ### [Topolia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/topolia) The narrator who tells the story of Tchornobriva and her transformation. ### [Khustina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/khustina) The narrator describes the girl's stitching and the Tchumak's journey. ### [Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/prologue) The woman who laments her fate and abandons her child. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/i) The narrator describes the old couple's life and laments their childlessness. ### [Caucasus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/caucasus) The narrator speaks collectively for the oppressed, expressing defiance and hope. ### [To the Circassians](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-the-circassians) The speaker, possibly Shevchenko, addresses the Circassians directly with biting irony. ### [To the Rich and Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-the-rich-and-great) The unnamed speaker delivers a direct, accusatory address to the rich and great, condemning their hypocrisy and greed. ### [To the Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-the-master) The speaker who addresses Christ and critiques religious hypocrisy. ### [Again Addressing the Circassians](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/again-addressing-the-circassians) The speaker addresses the Circassians, offering a cynical version of enlightenment. ### [To Jacques de Balmont](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-jacques-de-balmont) The speaker who mourns a friend and sends songs to Ukraine. ### [To the Dead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-the-dead) The poet-narrator speaks throughout, lamenting Ukraine's woes and urging his countrymen to awaken. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/i) The speaker who weeps for his country's woes and calls for awakening. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/ii) The narrator speaks in first person, reflecting on the state of Ukraine and its people. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/iii) The narrator speaks as a voice of conscience, addressing the people of Ukraine and reflecting on the nation's suffering and hope. ### [Lyric: From Day to Day, from Night to Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/lyric-from-day-to-day-from-night-to-night) The speaker of the lyric, expressing personal despair and longing for fate or divine engagement. ### [A Poem of Exile](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/a-poem-of-exile) The speaker of the poem, an exile counting his days in prison and longing for Ukraine. ### [Memories of an Exile](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/memories-of-an-exile) The speaker who laments his exile and finds comfort only in memories of home. ### [Hymn of Exile](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/hymn-of-exile) The speaker who gazes at the sunset and longs for Ukraine. ### [On the Eleventh Psalm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/on-the-eleventh-psalm) The speaker who laments the lack of good folk and calls upon God to intervene. ### [Prayer: To Tsars and Kings](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/prayer-to-tsars-and-kings) The speaker who prays for love rather than material wealth. ### [Prayer: My Prayer for the Tsars](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/prayer-my-prayer-for-the-tsars) The speaker who prays for the Tsars, the peoples, the pure in heart, and for himself. ### [Prayer: For Those That Have Done Wrong to Me](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/prayer-for-those-that-have-done-wrong-to-me) The speaker of the prayer, addressing God on behalf of those who have wronged them and for all humanity. ### [Prayer: To Those of the Ever-Greedy Eyes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/prayer-to-those-of-the-ever-greedy-eyes) The speaker of the prayer, representing the voice of the oppressed toiling class. ### [Mighty Wind](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/mighty-wind) The speaker who laments her lost lover and appeals to the wind and sea. ### [Hymn of the Nuns](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/hymn-of-the-nuns) The collective voice of the nuns, expressing their sorrow and resentment. ### [To the Goddess of Fame](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-the-goddess-of-fame) The speaker who addresses the Goddess of Fame, inviting her to lodge with him. ### [Iconoclasm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/iconoclasm) The speaker addresses 'brother light' and urges rebellion against religious icons and clergy. ### [My Testament](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/my-testament) The speaker who delivers the testament, expressing a longing for Ukraine's liberation and his own death. ### [The Water Fairy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/the-water-fairy) The water fairy narrates her own origin and the fate of her mother. ### [Lyric: Only Friend, Clear Evening Twilight](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/lyric-only-friend-clear-evening-twilight) The speaker who addresses the twilight and expresses longing and sorrow for his homeland. ### [The Reaper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/the-reaper) The speaker who fears the reaper and describes being struck down and forgotten in the dark. ### [Lyric: I Care Not, Shall I See My Dear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/lyric-i-care-not-shall-i-see-my-dear) The speaker who laments his exile and the fate of Ukraine. ### [A Dream](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/a-dream) The dreamer who longs for Ukraine and reflects on its beauty and sorrow. ### [Kalina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/kalina) The mother who watches and mourns her daughter's nightly visits and eventual death. ### [Drowsy the Waves](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/drowsy-the-waves) The speaker who laments his imprisonment and isolation by the sea. ### [See Fires Ablaze](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/see-fires-ablaze) The speaker who observes the festivities and weeps alone, lamenting his lost youth. ### [To the Makers of Sentimental Idyls](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/to-the-makers-of-sentimental-idyls) The speaker who recounts his childhood suffering and critiques the makers of sentimental idyls. ### [The Bondwoman's Dream](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/the-bondwoman-s-dream) The bondwoman, a slave who reaps wheat and dreams of her son's freedom. ### [Winter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/winter) The narrator addresses the reader directly, using second-person 'thou' to convey a universal lament about aging and lost hope. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/characters/unknown_narrator - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_22_se/characters