Petr Fedorovich Glebka

Born June 23 (July 6), 1905, in the village of Velikaia Ussa, present-day Uzdensk Raion, Minsk Oblast; died Dec. 18, 1969, in Minsk. Soviet Byelorussian poet and dramatist; academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR (1957). Member of the CPSU from 1942.

Glebka was first published in 1925. He is the author of the narrative poems Courage (1934), devoted to the memory of V. I. Lenin, and In Those Days (1937; new edition, 1957), depicting the heroic events of the October Revolution. The dramatic poem Above the Bereza River (1939) reflects the events of the Civil War in Byelorussia and presents portraits of communists. Glebka’s poetic skill reached its full maturity during the Great Patriotic War (1941—45). His poetry and ballads (for example, The Parcel, The Partisans, Native Bread, and Under the Skies of the Motherland) are imbued with Soviet patriotism and a deeply lyrical feeling. Glebka’s dramatic poem Light From the East (1946-47; new edition, 1945) describes the days of the October Revolution in Byelorussia. His poetry is markedly civic-spirited and has a romantic, exalted style. To a certain extent Glebka was influenced by the creative work of V. V. Mayakovsky. He translated works by A. S. Pushkin, T. G. Shevchenko, and M. Gor’ky, and his own works have been translated into many of the languages of the USSR. From 1957 to 1969 he was head of the Institute of Art Criticism, Ethnology, and Folklore of the Byelorussian SSR. Glebka was awarded the Order of Lenin, four other orders, and various medals.