Coin Ukraine 2017 #12 Mykhailo Petrenko

Description

Mykhailo Petrenko

This coin commemorates the romanticist poet Mykhailo Petrenko (1817 – 1862), who created most of his poems in the first half of the 19th century. Although many of his works are now lost, his surviving poem `I`m looking at High Skies` is well-known. Verses from his other works have come down to us in folk songs. These include `Waves are rising on the Oskol River` and `I Would Take a Bandura.

Obverse: in the Ukrainian steppe there are a kurgan and a baba (kurgan stela), on whose shoulder a falcon sits; above is the following semicircular composition: the coin face value 2 ГРИВНІ (2 hryvnias), Ukraine`s small coat of arms (below which is the coin issue year 2017), the legend УКРАЇНА (Ukraine), and the mint mark of the NBU Banknote Printing and Minting Works.

Reverse: against a smooth background are a flying falcon and the following legends: I`m looking at high skies/and it makes me wonder/Why aren`t I a falcon?/Why aren`t I a-flying/God why have you left me/with no wings to fly?/I`d take off the ground/and fly high above and МИХАЙЛО/ ПЕТРЕНКО (Mykhailo/Petrenko)/ 1817 ? 1862 (below).