Ariel Rosé

Ariel Rosé is writing a book about Ukrainian poets and their attitude to language, mainly Russian and Ukrainian. As a poet, Rosé notices how Ukrainian poets are now struggling with language. The Russian language is the language of the aggressor and has been present for centuries in Ukraine. It is the language of the colonizer. Since it has been present for so long it has become a heritage too––a problematic heritage. What is a language? Is it only a tool? Is it guilty? What kind of heritage do we inherit together with the language? Rosé interviewed 30 poets of various generations and explored the subject of the particular languages present in Ukraine as well as the language of violence, war, and how poetry approaches them. The author’s book takes the form of an essay framing their travels, with references to various world poets and thinkers who struggled with language.