Hungarian literature
The growth of Hungarian literature was influenced by the need to establish the Hungarian language in a written form, by national history, and by foreign literary trends. Latinizing of the culture after Hungary's conversion to Christianity delayed the rise of an indigenous literature, and the Hungarian language was first used to translate religious matter, the earliest known text originating around 1200.
Petőfi Sándor
Hungarian lyric poet b. Jan. 1, 1823, enriched the artistry and extended the range of his nation's poetry beyond any predecessor and created a new synthesis of poetic techniques and realistic subjects. His epics were powerful blends of folk topics, attitudes, and verse forms, and his lyric poems stood out as aesthetic expressions of genuinely felt human experiences. They celebrated nature, the joys and sorrows of common folk, married love, family life, and patriotism. His language, images, folklore, and characters were rooted in the Hungarian Great Plains. He participated in Hungary's War of Independence (1848-49) and disappeared on July 31, 1849, in a battle against Russian forces. He was probably buried in a mass grave. One of his greatest poem: Nemzeti Dal or Rise up Magyar!
Read his poems in English:
End Of September (Szeptember végén)
Ady Endre
b. Nov. 22, 1877, d. Jan. 27, 1919, is generally considered the greatest Hungarian
poet of the 20th century. His innovative poems, influenced by French symbolism,
countered the earlier poetic tradition of Janos Arany and Sandor Petofi.
Ady left the study of law to become a journalist. After he met Adele Brull,
called "Leda" in many of his poems, he followed her to Paris, where
he came in contact with new literary fashions. When he returned to Hungary,
his unconventional beliefs and attacks on the Hungarian aristocracy made him
a controversial figure. His break with poetic and social traditions came with
Uj versek (New Poems, 1906) and continued in nine subsequent volumes. Beginning
about 1909 he contributed poetry and prose to Nyugat (West), a leading literary
and social journal. Ady's lyrical and religious verse draws on colloquial and
biblical sources and explores suffering and death in a world that has lost God.
Read his poems in English:
The Outcast Stone (A föl-földobott kő)
József Attila
b. Budapest, Apr. 11, 1905, d. Dec. 3, 1937, was Hungary's first truly proletarian poet and one of the greatest Hungarian poets of the 20th century. The son of a simple soapmaker who deserted his family, Jozsef was brought up in harsh poverty by his mother, a washerwoman. He had an almost schizophrenic drive to alter the existing order of things, and his seven volumes of poetry reflect a profound sympathy for the exploited Hungarian working classes. Jozsef committed suicide, having been troubled by mental illness throughout his life.
Read his poems in English: