Ivan Kotlyarevsky (1769–1838) was born and spent most of his life in Poltava. His 1798 poem Eneida — a burlesque retelling of Virgil's Aeneid set in the Ukrainian Cossack world — is considered the founding text of modern Ukrainian literature: the first major literary work written in vernacular Ukrainian rather than Church Slavonic or Russian. The memorial museum occupies the house where he lived, furnished as it was during his time. A separate section covers his work as a playwright and director of the Poltava Theatre.