# Jakub Kolas Imprisoned (1908–1911)

URL: https://allhistories.com/belarus/timeline/1908-jakub-kolas-imprisoned
Location: Minsk; Mikalaeŭščyna, Minsk Region
Themes: Key Events

Jakub Kolas, the pen name of Kanstancin Mickievič, was born in 1882 at Akinčycy, near Stoŭbcy, into the family of a forester. He trained at the Niasviž teachers' seminary and worked as a village teacher in Polesia and central Belarus, where he saw the poverty of the peasants at first hand. In 1906 Nasha Dolia printed his first poem in Belarusian. In July 1906 Kolas took part in organising an illegal congress of teachers at the village of Mikalaeŭščyna, near his family home, which discussed political demands and Belarusian-language teaching. He was dismissed from teaching, and in 1908 was sentenced to three years in prison, which he served in the Minsk jail until 1911. In prison he wrote much of his first poetry collection, Pesni žalby (Songs of Sorrow, 1910), and began work on his epic poem Novaja ziamlia (The New Land), completed in 1923, a portrait of a forester's family dreaming of owning land. Kolas became, with Kupala, one of the two classic poets of modern Belarusian literature. His later works included the trilogy Na rostaniach and the poem Symon-muzyka, and he became a leading figure of Soviet Belarusian culture and science.

## Why it matters
Kolas's prison years produced works that became foundations of Belarusian literature.

Ruler at the Time: [Nicholas II](https://allhistories.com/belarus/rulers/nicholas-ii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Yakub Kolas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakub_Kolas)
- [RFE/RL — Belarus Service](https://www.rferl.org/)
- [Wikipedia — Russian Empire (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belarus#Russian_Empire)