In 1842 he began the publication of his famous poem, "The Haidamak" (A Warrior of Ancient Ukraina).

In 1843 he was arrested and sent back to Little Russia, where he lived until 1847, and during this period his talent bore its fairest blossoms, and his best works appeared: "The Banquet of the Dead," "The Hired Woman," "The Dream," "The Prisoner," "Ivan Gus" (the goose), "The Cold Hillside," and so forth.

His literary fame reached its zenith, and brought with it the friendship of the best intellectual forces of southern Russia, and with the aid of Princess Ryepnin (cousin to the minister of public education) and Count Uvaroff, he obtained the post of drawing-master in Kieff University.

But in 1847 some one overheard and distorted a conversation in which Shevtchenko and several friends had taken part, the result being that all were arrested, while Shevtchenko, after being taken to St.Petersburg, was sent to the Orenburg government in the far southeast, to serve as a common soldier in the ranks, and was forbidden to paint or to write.

There he remained for ten years, when he returned to the capital, and settled down at the Academy of Arts, where he was granted a studio, in accordance with his right as an academician.