Later he wrote a poem which was unkindly received.

As the copies remained unsold, he gathered them all up at the various shops and burned them in his room.
His next effort, Evenings at the Farm of Dikanka (1831) was more successful.

It was a series of gay and colourful pictures of Ukraine, the land he knew and loved, and if he is occasionally a little over romantic here and there, he also achieves some beautifully lyrical passages.

Then came another even finer series called Mirgorod, which won the admiration of Pushkin.

Next he planned a "History of Little Russia" and a "History of the Middle Ages," this last work to be in eight or nine volumes.