The peculiarities of creating epic images of Taras Shevchenko as a key figure in Ukrainian Soviet culture and Soviet patriotism. The authors analyze the role of the creative heritage and way of the great Ukrainian poet in mobilizing spiritual forces of Ukrainian and other peoples of the USSR to repel the aggressors in the Great Patriotic War. We consider the activation of the scientific study of the life and works of T. Shevchenko, their use in print and radio propaganda, and the process of registration of the canonical image of the poet in the official Soviet ideology and propaganda.