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VOROSMARTY, MIHALY (1800-1855)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 213 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VOROSMARTY, MIHALY (1800-1855) , Hungarian poet, was See also:born at Puszta-Nyek on the 1st of See also:December 'Soo, of a See also:noble See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:family. His See also:father was a steward of the Nadasdys. Mihaly was educated at Szekesfejervar by the See also:Cistercians and at Pest by the See also:Piarists. The See also:death of the See also:elder Vorosmarty in 1811 See also:left his widow and numerous family extremely poor. As See also:tutor to the Perczel family, however, Vorosmarty contrived to pay his own way and go through his academical course at Pest. The doings of the See also:diet of 1825 first enkindled his patriotism and gave a new direction to his poetical See also:genius (he had already begun a See also:drama entitled Salamon), and he flung himself the more recklessly into public See also:life as he was consumed by a hopeless See also:passion for Etelka Perczel, who socially was far above him. To his unrequited love we owe a wholehost of exquisite lyrics, while his patriotism found expression in the heroic epos Zaldn futdsa (1824), gorgeous in colouring, exquisite in See also:style, one of the gems of Magyar literature. This new epic marked a transition from the classical to the romantic school. Henceforth Vorosmarty was hailed by See also:Kisfaludy and the Hungarian romanticists as one of themselves. All this See also:time he was living from See also:hand to mouth. He had forsaken the See also:law for literature, but his contributions to See also:newspapers and reviews were miserably paid. Between 1823 and 1831 he composed four dramas and eight smaller epics, partly See also:historical, partly fanciful.

Of these epics he always regarded Cserhalom (1825) as the best, but See also:

modern See also:criticism has given the preference to Ka szomsed vdr (1831), a terrible See also:story of hatred and revenge. When the Hungarian See also:Academy was finally established (See also:November 17, 1830) he was elected a member of the philological See also:section, and ultimately succeeded Kar61y Kisfaludy as director with an See also:annual See also:pension of 500 florins. He was one of the founders of the Kisfaludy Society, and in 1837 started the See also:Athenaeum and the Figyelmezo, the first the See also:chief bellettristic, the second the best See also:critical periodical of See also:Hungary. From 183o to 1843 he devoted himself mainly to the drama, the best of his plays, perhaps, being Verndsz (1833), which won the Academy's too-gulden See also:prize. He also published several volumes of See also:poetry, containing some of his best See also:work. Szozat (1836), which became a See also:national hymn, Az elhagyott anya (1837) and Az See also:uri holgyhoz (1841) are all inspired by a burning patriotism. His See also:marriage in 1843 to Laura Csajaghy inspired him to compose a new See also:cycle of erotics. In 1848, in See also:conjunction with See also:Arany and See also:Petofi, he set on See also:foot an excellent See also:translation of See also:Shakespeare's See also:works. He himself was responsible for See also:Julius See also:Caesar and See also:King See also:Lear. He represented Jankovics at the diet of 1848, and in 1849 was made one of the See also:judges of the high See also:court.. The national See also:catastrophe profoundly affected him. For a See also:short time he was an See also:exile, and when he returned to Hungary in 185o he was already an old See also:man.

A profound See also:

melancholy crippled him for the See also:rest of his life. In 18J4 he wrote his last See also:great poem, the touching A via eighty. He died at Pest in 1855 in the same See also:house where Kar6ly Kisfaludy had died twenty-five years before. His funeral, on the 21st of November, was a See also:day of national See also:mourning. His penniless See also:children were provided for by a national subscription collected by Ferencz See also:Deal, who acted as their See also:guardian. The best edition of Vorosmarty's collected works is by See also:Pal Gyulai (See also:Budapest, 1884). Some of them have been translated into See also:German, e.g. Gedichte (Pest, 1857) ; See also:Ban See also:Marot, by Mihaly See also:Ring (Pest, 1879) ; Ausgewahlte Dichte, by See also:Paul See also:Hoffmann (See also:Leipzig, 1895). See Pal Gyulai, The Life of Vorosmarty (Hung.) (3rd ed., Budapest, 189o), one of the noblest See also:biographies in the See also:language; Brajjer, Vorosmarty, sein Leben and See also:seine Werke (Nagy-Becskerek, 1882). (R. N.

End of Article: VOROSMARTY, MIHALY (1800-1855)

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