It is an example of a historical romantic poem: the action takes place in the XIV century, the local flavor is carefully written out, the hero is faced with a difficult choice of two value systems. The story of the Grand Master of the Crusader Order, who discovers his Lithuanian origin and, driven by patriotic feelings, leads the order to defeat, betraying his honor and chivalric code, was perceived as a metaphor for the moral conflict that participants in patriotic conspiracies were experiencing at that time.