Veronica Micle
Encyclopedia
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
-born Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n poet, whose work was influenced by Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. She is best known for her love affair with the poet Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, one of the most important Romanian writers.
Biography
Born in NăsăudNasaud
Năsăud is a town in Bistriţa-Năsăud County in Romania located in the historical region of Transylvania. The town administers two villages, Liviu Rebreanu and Luşca.The name Năsăud is possibly derived from the Slavic nas voda, meaning "near the water"...
, Micle was the second child of the shoemaker Ilie Câmpeanu and his wife Ana. She was born to him posthumously: Ilie died in 1849, taking two bullets to the chest while fighting under Avram Iancu
Avram Iancu
Avram Iancu was a Transylvanian Romanian lawyer who played an important role in the local chapter of the Austrian Empire Revolutions of 1848–1849. He was especially active in the Ţara Moţilor region and the Apuseni Mountains...
against the Hungarian revolutionaries
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...
. Her mother went to Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, settling in Târgu Neamţ
Târgu Neamt
Târgu Neamţ is a town in Neamţ County, Romania, on the Neamţ River. It had, , a population of 20,496. Three villages are administered by the town: Blebea, Humuleşti and Humuleştii Noi.- History :...
in 1850 and in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
in 1853. Ana went to primary school (during which she began using the name Veronica) and to the Iaşi Central School for Girls, which she graduated in June 1863. Her graduation exam proctor was the Rector of the University of Iaşi, Professor Ştefan Micle. They fell in love and on August 7, 1864, at the Bob Church, Cluj, she married Micle, thirty years her senior. She had two daughters: Virginia, a poet who married Eduard Gruber, and Valeria, an opera singer who used the name Hilda professionally.
In March 1872, in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, she met Eminescu, beginning a relationship that would last for the rest of their lives. At first he would visit the literary salon that she hosted. Their friendship had become love sometime between 1875, when they started dedicating poems to each other, and 1878 (sources vary). Their romance went through several ups and downs—for instance, Eminescu left for Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1877 to edit Timpul
Timpul
Timpul is a newspaper published in Romania, originally published as the official platform of the defunct Conservative Party....
and that year Micle published poems in which she expressed her sadness at being left behind. Her husband died in 1879, leaving her rather poor. She came to Bucharest to seek a pension and Eminescu publicly called her his fiancée, but further stresses intervened (including a stillborn child in May 1880) and while he took up the subject again in 1881, he was diagnosed with syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
in 1883.
In 1887, she moved to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in an effort to keep up Eminescu's spirits. After his death in June 1889, she retired to Văratec Monastery
Varatec Monastery
Văratec Monastery is a Romanian Orthodox religious settlement located in north-eastern part of the country, in Văratec village, Agapia Commune, Neamţ County.-External links:***...
, where she put together a volume called Dragoste şi Poezie (Love and Poetry), in which she included poems of her own and those of Eminescu dedicated to her, to which she added commentary. A shaken Micle took arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
not two months after Eminescu's death. She is buried on the monastery grounds, in Văratec
Agapia
Agapia is a commune in Neamţ County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Agapia, Filioara, Săcăluşeşti and Văratec.At the 2002 census, 100% of inhabitants were ethnic Romanians, and 99.2% were Romanian Orthodox....
. Her house in Târgu Neamţ, given to her by her parents as a wedding dowry and which she donated to the monastery in 1886, is now a museum.
Literary activity
Micle made her publishing debut in Noul Curier Român (NCR) in 1872, with two romantic sketches published under the pen-name Corina. She published her poems, influenced by Eminescu, in Columna Lui Traian in 1874 and in Convorbiri Literare the following year. She also contributed to FamiliaFamilia (literary magazine)
The Romanian-language Familia literary magazine was first published by Iosif Vulcan in Budapest from June 5, 1865 to April 17, 1880. The magazine moved to Oradea and continued publication from April 27, 1880 to December 31, 1906....
(from 1879), Revista Nouă and Revista Literară.
Additionally, a volume containing 93 of Eminescu's letters to Micle and 15 of her replies was published in 2000.
Works
- Rendez-vous, NCR, I, 1872
- Plimbarea de mai în Iaşi, NCR, I, 1872
- Poezii, Bucharest, Halman, 1887
- Poezii, Prof. I. S. Mugur, Iaşi, Şaraga, 1909
- Dragoste şi Poezie, Bucharest, Socec, Prof. Octav Minar.
- Translations from LamartineAlphonse de LamartineAlphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
and GautierThéophile GautierPierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
, in Poesii, Bucharest, Halman.