SÁNDOR PETÖFI

Editor James O’Fee writes – A few days ago I mentioned the Hungarian National Poet, Sándor Petöfi. Here is some more information on Petöfi, taken from the Internet, together with probably his most famous poem.

Petöfi, 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!. [From http://www.zoltech.net/h/poets.html#07 ]

On March 15 Petöfi recited his ‘National Song’ [Nemzeti Dal] in Pest, notably in front of the national museum, to start the Hungarian National Revolution, liberal, national and anti-Habsburg. This developed into the Hungarian War of Independence in which the Hungarian half of the Hapsburg Empire successfully defended its independence in arms against the Habsburg-controlled half. Only when the young Emperor Francis Joseph called in the Russian armies as his allies, did the Hungarians yield.

Petöfi served in the Transylvanian forces and fell at Segesvár (Sigisoara) in one of the last battles.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1ndor_Pet%C5%91fi