The poetic legacy of Asan Alban

Abstract

The article discusses the poetic heritage of Asan Barmanbekuly. The poet known in the history of literature as Alban Asan lived in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. Not
much of the poet’s legacy has come down to us. Moreover, for a long time the poet’s works
were blacklisted and not presented to the public. Only after independence was introduced
into the history of literature and a collection of poetry by Asan Barmanbekuly was published.
The first collection of poems of the poet was published at the beginning of the last century, the editor and
compiler of which was I. Zhansugurov. In most of his works, the poet criticized colonialism and some
legal systems of power.
The article presents poems devoted to the theme of the native land. In his works, he not only wrote
about love for his native land, the image of popular life, but also about the future of his country. In the
poetry of Asan Barmanbekuly, the totalitarian system was interpreted as religious opium. Also, the poet
openly expressed a negative attitude towards people competing for high positions, and he acutely raised
the problems of vicious power. He wrote about the difficult fate of the Kazakh people who simultaneously lost their own lands and territories through the fault of the new government.
The authors of the article comprehensively analyze the main themes and motives of poetry, artistic
reality, the reflection of reality. Many works of Asan Alban are devoted to the theme of social injustice.
The poet mercilessly denounces the arbitrariness of the authorities, the powerlessness of the people.
These and other issues are discussed by the authors in this article. The ideological and thematic originality of the poet’s creativity is revealed.