Language Slovak, Hungarian Spouse Ilona Orszaghova Role Poet | Name Pavol Hviezdoslav Nationality Slovak Education Law Academy in Presov | |
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Born Pavel Orszagh
February 2, 1849
Vysny Kubin (Felsokubin), Arva County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now in Slovakia) ( 1849-02-02 ) Resting place Cemetery in Dolny Kubin Pen name Pavol Orszagh Hviezdoslav, Jozef Zbransky Occupation poet, dramatist, translator Died November 8, 1921, Dolny Kubin, Slovakia Books Hajnikova zena, Krvave sonety, Ezo Vlkolinsky, Zalmy a hymny Parents Mikulas Orszagh, Terezia Orszaghova People also search for Mikulas Orszagh, Terezia Orszaghova, Ilona Orszaghova, L̕udmila Podjavorinska | ||
Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav a Matica slovenská
Pavol Országh de Felsőkubin Hviezdoslav (2 February 1849 - 8 November 1921) was a Slovak poet, dramatist, translator, and for a short time, member of the Czechoslovak parliament. First, he wrote in a traditional style, but later became influenced by parnassism and modernism.
Contents
Name
Born as Pavel Országh in Vyšný Kubín (Felsőkubin), Orava County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire, Országh became a Slovakian patriot and then continued wroting his poems in Slovakian until the 1860s. He was of noble origin. He studied in Miskolc, Kežmarok (Késmárk), Budapest, and Prešov (Eperjes). Hviezdoslav (a Slavic name, meaning approximately "celebrating the stars" and/or "Slav of the stars") was his pseudonym from 1875. His earlier pseudonym was Jozef Zbranský.
Life
Hviezdoslav studied at grammar schools in Miskolc and Kežmarok (Késmárk). After his graduation in 1870, he continued his studies at the Law Academy of Prešov (Eperjes), where in 1871 he participated in the preparation of the Almanach Napred ("Forward" Miscellany/Almanac), which marked the beginning of a new literary generation in Slovak literature. Due to his contribution to this Almanac with several radical poems, however, he was ignored in the literary life of the country for the rest of the 1870s and couldn't get his works published. During this period, he pursued his law career in Dolný Kubín, but he also carried on with his literary work in his free time. He practiced as a lawyer between 1875 and 1899 in Námestovo (Námesztó), and then in Dolný Kubín again. In 1918, he became a member of the newly created Revolutionary National Assembly (provisional governing body, later parliament) in Prague, and from 1919 to 1920, served as its representative. In 1919, he was chosen as the leader of the re-established Matica slovenská (see below). In 1954, the Literary Museum of P. O. Hviezdoslav was established in Dolný Kubín. A festival of amateur poetry reciters named Hviezdoslav's Kubín has been held there since.
His relation to the Slovak Matica
The Slovak Matica is a cultural institute. During the darkest years of Slovak literary life, Slovak Matica kept Slovak literature alive. The intolerant anti-Slovak policy of the Hungarians forcibly closed the doors of the Matica and confiscated its property in 1875. The Matica was re-opened after the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1919. Hviezdoslav was honored by being named its new head. Under his inspired leadership, the Matica spread and grew.
Works
He introduced the syllabic-tonic verse into Slovak poetry and became the leading representative of Slovak literary realism. His style is characterized by extensive use of self-coined words and expressions, making it difficult to translate his works into foreign languages.
His oeuvre constitutes some 12 volumes of original poetry and an additional 3 volumes of translations of classical authors. During his era, he was the poet laureate of the Slovak nation. To honor his quality 1905 translation, of The Tragedy of Man by Imre Madách, he was elected a member of the Kisfaludy Society in 1912.
Collected works and selections
Reflexive poetry
He began writing poetry – initially in Hungarian – while still attending grammar school (in Miskolc and Kežmarok / Késmárk)). His first poetry collection, the Básnické prviesienky Jozefa Zbranského ("Poetry primroses of Jozef Zbranský"), was published in 1868. It introduced the syllabic-tonic verse into Slovak literature.
An awakened national pride brought him to resolve to work in Slovak, but the inclination towards realism in his early poetry was met with aversion by the older generation.
Among the most important of his mature lyric cycles are:
Epic compositions
The poet's epic compositions derive from his native Orava and from biblical topics, through which he commented allegorically on the situation of the Slovak nation:
Biblical poetry with allegorical untertones
Drama
Translations
Hviezdoslav was also a versatile translator who endeavored to refine and enrich the Slovak language and to advance its potential as a medium for poetic expression.
He translated many works of such authors as Goethe (Faust, Iphigenia on Tauris, ballads), Schiller (selected poems), Mickiewicz (Crimean Sonnets [3] et al.), Pushkin (Boris Godunov, The Captive of the Caucasus, The Gypsies, Rusalka, etc.), Shakespeare (Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream), Słowacki (In Switzerland, etc.), Arany (28 lyric poems and ballads), Petőfi (42 selected poems), Lermontov (A Song about the Emperor Ivan Vasilievitch, The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, The Demon) and Madách (The Tragedy of Man).
These artistic translations were collected after his death into volumes 12 to 15 of The Collected Poetical Works of Hviezdoslav.