Mihály Vörösmarty
Encyclopedia
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and dramatist.
He was born at Puszta-Nyék
Kápolnásnyék
- History :The excavations in the surroundings reveled bronzeage artefacts, proving that the area was already populated in ancient time.The name of the settlement originates from the name of the Nyék, tribe , the first residents belonged probably to a subgroup of the tribe. When István I...
(now Kápolnásnyék), of a noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
Roman Catholic family. His father was a steward of the Nádasdy
Nádasdy
The Nádasdy, also spelled Nadasdy in English, is a major Hungarian aristocratic family whose roots reach into the Middle Ages. Their motto is: "SI DEUS PRO NOBIS QUIS CONTRA NOS" . The Nadasdy family made a large contribution to the development of Hungarian printing...
s. Mihály was educated at Székesfehérvár
Székesfehérvár
Székesfehérvár is a city in central Hungary and is the 9th largest in the country. Located around southwest of Budapest. It is inhabited by 101,973 people , with 136,995 in the Székesfehérvár Subregion. The city is the centre of Fejér county and the regional centre of Central Transdanubia...
by the Cistercians and at Pest
Pest (city)
Pest is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two thirds of the city's territory. It is divided from Buda, the other part of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable parts are the Inner City, including the Hungarian Parliament, Heroes' Square and...
by the Piarists
Piarists
The Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools or, in short, Piarists , is the name of the oldest Catholic educational order also known as the Scolopi, Escolapios or Poor Clerics of the Mother of God...
. The death of the elder Vörösmarty in 1817 left his widow and numerous family extremely poor. As tutor to the Perczel family, however, Vörösmarty contrived to pay his own way and go through his academical course at Pest.
The activities of the diet of 1825 enkindled his patriotism and gave a new direction to his poetry. He had already begun a drama entitled Salomon. He flung himself ever more recklessly into public life until he fell in love with Etelka Perczel, who socially was far above him. Many of his lyrics concern this unrequited love. Meanwhile his patriotism found expression in the heroic epic Zalán futása ("The Flight of Zalán", 1824). This new epic marked a transition from the classical to the romantic school.
Henceforth Vörösmarty was hailed by Károly Kisfaludy
Károly Kisfaludy
Károly Kisfaludy was a Hungarian dramatist and artist, brother of Sándor Kisfaludy. He was the founder of the national drama....
and the Hungarian romanticists as one of their own. He had forsaken the law for literature, and his financial situation deteriorated. Between 1823 and 1831 he composed four dramas and eight smaller epics, partly historical, partly fanciful. Of these epics he always regarded Cserhalom (1825) as the best, but modern criticism has given the preference to A két szomszédvár ("Two Neighbouring Castles", 1831).
When the Hungarian Academy
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
was established on November 17, 1830 he was elected a member of the philological section, and ultimately succeeded Károly Kisfaludy as director with an annual pension of 500 florins. He was one of the founders of the Kisfaludy Society
Kisfaludy Society
The Kisfaludy Society was a literary society in Pest, founded in 1836 and named after Károly Kisfaludy, who had died in 1830. It held monthly meetings and was a major force in Hungarian literary life, giving prizes, funding the collection of folk songs, and sponsoring the publication of works like...
, and in 1837 started two periodicals: the Athenaeum and the Figyelmező. The first was the chief bellettristic periodical, and the second was the best critical periodical of Hungary.
From 1830 to 1843 he devoted himself mainly to the drama, including Csongor és Tünde ("Csongor and Tünde", 1830), a five-act play inspired by Albert Gergei's Prince Árgirus and by A Midsummer Night's Dream; and Vérnász ("Blood Wedding", 1833), which won the Academy's 200-gulden prize. Csongor és Tünde was described by György Lukács in 1911 as the best Hungarian play of the nineteenth century. He also published several volumes of poetry. His song Szózat
Szózat
The Szózat is considered as a second national anthem of Hungary, beside the Himnusz. Usually only its first two stanzas are sung at national celebrations...
("Appeal", 1836) was to become a second national anthem, and he wrote Az elhagyott anya ("The Abandoned Mother", 1837) and Az uri hölgyhöz ("To the Noble Lady", 1841). His marriage in 1843 to Laura Csajághy inspired him to compose a new cycle of love poems. In 1848, in conjunction with Arany
János Arany
János Arany , was a Hungarian journalist, writer, poet, and translator. He is often said to be the "Shakespeare of ballads" – he wrote more than 40 ballads which have been translated into over 50 languages, as well as the Toldi trilogy, to mention his most famous works.-Biography:He was born in...
and Petőfi
Sándor Petofi
Sándor Petőfi , was a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He is considered as Hungary's national poet and he was one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848...
, he contributed to a translation of Shakespeare's works.
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
and Imre Cseszneky
Imre Cseszneky
Count Imre Cseszneky de Milvány et Csesznek was a Hungarian agriculturist and patriot, born in 1804 to Mihály Cseszneky and Erzsébet Galgótzy. His father was a descendant of the impoverished Bácska branch of the Cseszneky family. In the 1830s he served as lieutenant...
he was elected to represent Jankovác
Jánoshalma
Jánoshalma is a town in Bács-Kiskun county in southern Hungary....
at the diet of 1848, and in 1849 was made one of the judges of the high court. The national catastrophe (the fall of the revolution of 1848-49
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many of the European Revolutions of 1848 and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas...
) profoundly affected him. For a short time he was an exile, and when he returned to Hungary in 1850 he was already in serious decline. In 1854 he wrote his last poem, A vén cigány ("The Old Gypsy"). He moved back to Pest
Pest (city)
Pest is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two thirds of the city's territory. It is divided from Buda, the other part of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable parts are the Inner City, including the Hungarian Parliament, Heroes' Square and...
to be close to doctors, and died there, in the same house where Károly Kisfaludy had died twenty-five years before. He was buried in Kerepesi Cemetery. His funeral, on November 21, was a day of national mourning. His penniless children were provided for by a national subscription collected by Ferenc Deák
Ferenc Deák
Ferenc Deák de Kehida , , was a Hungarian statesman and Minister of Justice. He was known as "The Wise Man of the Nation".-Early life and law career:...
, who acted as their guardian.
A monument by Ede Kallós
Ede Kallós
Ede Kallós was a Hungarian sculptor. His sculptural style integrated elements of realism and academism style mainly engaged in creating art for tombs....
, constructed in the 1900s, stands in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in the square which bears his name.