A History of Hungarian Literature/Chapter 11

by Frigyes Riedl

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XI

MICHAEL VÖRÖSMARTY

The dawn of the nineteenth century was bright with promise for Hungary. On December 1, 1800 was born Michael Vörösmarty (1800–1855), the son of a steward of an estate in the province of Fehér.

Vörösmarty became the first member of Hungary's great literary triumvirate. He took his degree in jurisprudence, but never practised as a lawyer. He was the first Hungarian author to make a good living by his pen. The great er part of his life was spent in Pest, which in the third and fourth decades of the century was the centre of the country. During the war for freedom he was made a judge of the Court of Appeal, with the right of recommending to the mercy of the king, such a post being congenial to him both as a lawyer and as a poet. But during the latter years of his life, his hopeful and energetic spirit was crushed by the catastrophe of 1849. It was with profound sorrow that he beheld his country deprived of her liberty and even of the hope of future progress. He died on November 19, 1855, after years of grief and despondency, not however quite unillumined with hope.

Vörösmarty's first poems ushered in the golden age of Hungarian literature. His importance is due to three great achievements. The first was the creation of a new 134 HUNGARIAN LITERAT URE poetic language. Literaturc could not attain its zen itb until it had an adequate organ at its disposal . Like Klopstock in Germany, so Vörösmarty in Hungary, was the first to employ the kind of language which afterwards became the language of all poets. If we read a poet who lived before Vörösmarty, and one who lived after bim, we are struck by the difference between them. Vörösmarty employed a vast number of turns and words and poetical forms wh ich were unknown before his time, but wh ich appealed to the popular imagination and became a national treasure. His second achievement was to unite the hitherto con­ trasted qualities of the different literary sch ools in his creations and so to form a higher and more perfect type. Before Vörösmarty's time there was one school of a well-marked national tendency. The subjects were chosen from the national life to serve;: a national aim, every aliusion contributing to that end. We may cite Joseph Gvadányi, the auth or of A Cormtry Nofary's Jo urney to Buda, or Andreas Dugonics, who wrote historical novels in a somewhat uncouth style, and with too much of the didactic eleme nt in them. The works of that school were defective inasmuch a s they were not sufficiently artistic. Then there was the classical school, the adherents of which imitated the Latin authors, especially Horace. Here no doubt there was enough of the artistic element­ too much perhaps--for autbors were too carefui of the form, with the resu lt that their productions were often stiff and Iifeless and left their readers cold. But Vörösmarty combined the best qualities of both schools in his works, without their faults. He had the perfection of form and the lucidity of composition for which the Latin poets were famous, but he also possessed in full MICHAEL VÖRÖ SMARTY 135 measure the sense for national subjects and vigour o f expression in the national tongue. His third great achievement was to become the poet of a really lofty style. No other Hungarian author ever soared so high . His voice is the nohlest in the great symphony of Hungarian poetry. He was exactly what the ancients thought a poet should be, a vates, whose eyes turned from earth towards beave n in holy rapture . With this elevation of thought was combined a wonderful imagin ation . Vörösmarty's first great work, which he finished at the age of twenty-five, was a gran d national epic : Zalán's Flight ( 1825). I t was inspired by patriotic enthusiasm an d patri ot ic grief, the outcome of thepolitical events of theday. In the second decade of the century, and at the heginning of the third, the Austrian Government silently and cun­ ningly airned a deadly blow at the liberty of the Hun­ garian State. Metternich and his party endeavoured to lull the H ungarian statesmen into such a condition of torpor that the very exist_m ce of the Constitution should be gradually forgotten. Accdrding to their Constitution , to which Hungarians ding as to their very life, Hungary possesses a nati onal Parliament, which controls taxation and fixes the number of soldiers to be enli sted . The Austrian Govern ment, aiming at absolute power, saw an obstacle in this Parliame nt, and the Emperor Fra ncis neglected to summon it. H ungary was regarded as an Austrian provin ce, having no elaírn to indep e nden ce. The provinces in vain demanded the opening of Parliament and conformity to the exi sting laws. The Austrian Government did not stir a finger. Anxiety grew apa ce. 11 What will become of the country ? Is it finis Hungaria! 1" At last some of the provinces, the only 136 HUNGARIAN LITERATORE forum of State life, decided upon a stubborn resistance. They refused the su pply of soldiers and neglected to collect th e taxes. The country was in a state of fe ver , and revolution seemed imminent. The terrified Austrian Government endeavoured to overco me the difficulty by sending royal commissi oners to the recalcitrant provinces with orders to act on the king's authority if the provinces refused to obey. But the provinces fou nd a means of thwarting the efforts of the commissioners and of making their task impossible. Discontent and indignation grew to such an alarming extent that the Austrian Government thought it wiser to yield, and ParJ iament was opened in 1 825 , after an interval of sixteen years. Once again there was a national Parliament, though Metternich had though t it dead and buried for ever. Such were the events which írnpelled th e young poet to write h is epic. His purpose was to recall to the people the grand scen es in their country's history, that they might be strengthened in the time of oppression and despondency. Zalán's Fliglt t is in the style of Virgil, with the deus ex machin&. playing a part in it. lts subject was taken from the time when the Hungarians were con­ quering a home for themselves. The entry of the Hun­ gariau s into Europe a thousand years ago and their seUlement on the shores of the Danube and Tisza was u ndoubtedly the most important event in the nation's history, and one worthy to form the subject of a great h istorical epic. We see two contending nations : the Hungariaus led by the great conqueror Árpád, and the Bulgarians under their prince, Zalán. The war was the decisive one waged for the possession of the country, and it ended with the flight of Zalán before the victorious H ungarians, who took possession of the land. MICHAEL VÖ RÖSMARTY I37 The best possible translation coul d hardly enable a foreign reader to appreciate the importance of this work. He would find powerful descriptions of battles, much pathos, and fine pictures in it, but the characters would scarcely seem to him striking or interesting. The whole epic is really a long description of the war, in the well-known maoner of Virgil, and as it deals whoily with hattles it is somewhat monotonous. Another draw­ back is that Vörösmarty, wishing to be faithfui to ali the Virgilian traditions, introdneed the mythological element. But the ancient Hungarian mythology was practically unknown, for Ch ristianity stamped out cvery trace of it by persecutio n until hardly any tradition survived among the people. Vörösmarty was therefore obiiged to in vent a mythology for the purposes of his epic, and to introduce deities in which no one believed. Th e two principal gods are Hadur (the lord of battles) and the evil deity Ármány (Ahriman). It may be that thcse deities had never been worshipped by the people, and that none but the epic poets used their names. All this, however, is unimportant. The real signi ficance of the poem lies in its language, which had the effect of a revelation. No other H ungarian poet had ever sung like this. N one of the n ation's bards before him had been endowed with such dignity and melody, such grandeur and pathos. Vörös­ marty's hexameters flow so melodiously and with such force that it is universaily agreed that since the time of Virgil no literatore can show such perfect verses. • Vörösmarty continued the work so successfully begun by his Zalán's Flight. The hero of h is next epic poem,

• Hungarian prosody, like that of every other modem European

nation, is based upon accent. But curiously enough the Hungarian language is j ust as suitable for the Greek and Latin verse forms, in which quantity is considered instead of accent. 138 HUNGARIAN LITERATURE Cserhalom, is the king, St. Ladislas (109 2), wh o was the favourite character of legen dary poetry. Cserhalom is the name of the battlefield where St. Ladislas van quished the Kumanians. Doring the hattie the circumstance happened which became so famous during the Middle Ages, that we find it depicted in fresco on the walls of old churches. Aceording to the tradition, St. Ladislas, after his victory, observed that one of the flying Kumanians was carrying a H o ngarian maiden on his horse. The chivalrous king rode after the Kuma nian to rescue the girl, but since his charger was fatigued by the battle he could not easily overtake bim, and the distance between the two riders did not diminish . St. Lad islas then cried out : "Fair maiden, take hold of the soldier's belt and throw yourself to the grou nd, that you may bring him down too . The maiden did as the king bade her, and the king soon came up with the soldier, disarmed bim, and only spared his life at the maiden's request. Vörös­ marty's poem is based upon the incident, which, however, he expanded and alte red. Vörösmarty's m ost famous but most terrihle epic is entitled The Two Castles. The story is that of a family feud existing in the Middle Ages, between the owners of two neighbouring castles. Such ferocious events are narrated that a colleague of Vörösmarty, Daniel Ber­ zsenyi, characterised the epic as "a cann ibal poem." The feúd had petsisted for a long time, and once when Tihamér, a son of one of the noblemen, ret urned from the wars, a dreadful scene met his eyes. He found every member of his family slain, parents, brothers, al i. Tihamér vowed an awful revenge. He would destroy his foe's wh ole fam ily. He challenged aU the members, one by one, to a duel. At last only two were left alive, MICHAE L VÖRÖSMARTY 139 the aged father and his young daughter Enikö. Tihamér challenged the grey-haired old man and lew bim. Then arraying bimself in his va nquished foe' s helmet .and coat of maii, he appeared before the last member of the family, Enikö. The maiden had passed the hours in dreadful agony of mind. Her family was slain . Her only hope was that her father might be victorious. All at once her h ope appeared to be realised, and her anxiety ceased wh en she saw her fath er e nter the hall. It was he, his helmet, his armour. She rushed joyfully to meet bim, when Tihamér suddenly raised his h elmet, and in a moment the maiden knew that her father was dead and that she was in the power of the victorious enemy. It was more than her overcharged heart could endure, and she fell like a flower before the sickle. The dreadful picture haunted Tihamér, who, unable to find rest in the castle, rushed away and was never heard of more. Equally path etic is the end of another poetical character, the heroine of a short, idyllic narrative poem entitled Beautiftd Ilonka. Th e two poems differ greatty in character ; the one narrates stern, martial actions and the other shows us gentie resignation. It is easy to recognise the pre-em inently lyrical character of Vörösmarty's talent even in his dramas and epics, and ofte n the parts in wh ich this feature is the most evident, constitute the finest portions of both drama and epic, even though they are not in keeping with the genre itself. But where this lyrical element is in its proper plaee, as in an idyllic narrative poem like Beautíjul Ilonka, thre Vörösmarty excels. A hunter sits slill in the darA forest glade ; His bow and his a"ow he ready bath made The fleetfootetl prey to surprise. HUNGARIAN LITERATORE But vainly he wails in his deep shady nooll ; The deer is asleep by the cool weiling lwoo/1, Whilsl the sun ever higher tloth rise. The hunter ne'er moves from his suf'e hiding-place ; He will watch till ihe lwilighl halh moved on apace, Some stf'oke of good /orlune to meet. And see l there is something at length comes in sighl :­ A moth which a maiden, aU lovely and brighl, Follows after with light faliing feel. " O pretty gold buttet'fly, come to me, pf'ay l o" bence to thy distant home lead me away, Whwe the sun sinks to f'est /af' below l " Thus saith the faif' maid, as she hastily hies A way o' er the swaf'd in puf'suit of hef' prize ; And she spof'ts on hef' path likd a f'Oe. The huntef' exclaims : " What a true f'oyal chase l " Then staf'ts /f'om his post to puf'sue in the f'ace ; And follaws the gif'l in her flight. Fof'getting all else, to o'ef'take hef' he's bent ,· While she, unawaf'e, on the moth is inteni ; Both in hopes of a faif'y delight. " I've caught thee at last l " said the maiden with foy, And Jaid hef' faif' hand on the fiuttering toy. " Thou'f't caught l"said the huntef', as well ; And held /of'th at once his right hand to the maid, Who let go the fly ; and, though gf'eatly aff'aid, Won his heaf't by her eyes' magic spell. II. " Oh l say ; tloth the house of Petef'di stanel r Its gallant old lord, lives he yet in the lan d- r " His house, t"hough clecayecl, bideth stil l . There sits by the wine-cup the veff'an at f'esl, The maid at his side, and the young slf'anger guest, Whose bright eyes soft al l uf'ement doth fill• • • • • • MICHAEL VÖRÖ SMARTY "And now," saith the host ; "afull bumper we'll give :­ May my late leader' s son as our monarch long live l " But mark, how confused is the guest l

And thus in the course of gay converse anti glee, Fast flew the glad moments away from the three : But the maiden felt love's gentie flame ; She gazed on the face of the noble young guest ; And oft the mute longing her bosom opprest, To know whence he was, and his name. " In this cup,ere we part, I will bid thee farewell l Kind host, and thee, flower of the deep-wooded dell. Oh l that Heaven to Buda may br·ng Thee maid, and thy grandsire, at no distant day : The hunter, who waits thee, compelled is to stay At the court of Matthias the king ."

III.

The sire and his grandchild are now on their way, Their long promised visít to Buda to pay.

"O, where shall we meet with our dear stranger friend 1 Wht.t favouring fate may his footsteps attend 1 Dwells he here, or afar doth he stray In the deptlis of the woods, by the fa wns' cool retreat 1 Quoth the girl ; and her heart with emotion fast beat : Her blush came, and then faded away. The UjJaki onward come galloping now, And laurel-wreath'd Garras, with war-llardened brow ,· Whil st veterans their monarch attend. Old Peterdi lifts up his voice with surprise, His guest he can now in the king recognise :­ " On his head may all blessings descend l "

• 142

HUNGARIAN LITERATURE " Shall WI"go lo thi courl of MaUhias, my child 1 Or, ralhir f'ltum lo our own V1rl1s' wild ; To thi hom in our hamlll again 1 W1 may thn1," said thi worthy old man , "look for f'ISt " But forshadowing grilf, as h1 spakl, fillld his bf-1ast ; And sadly d•JJ.arlld th1 lwain. As th• flown, w blighud by inward d'"Y• Though lovily in aspet, must wilher away : So languishld Ilonka the fair, A voiding thi world, and absorb1d in hir gri•f ; From de•P hidden S/Wf'OW sh1 found no f'lli•f ; For mmory fid hlf' d1spair. So soon to its limit hir Iif•' s cuf'1'mt flowed, To th1 lomb fair Ilonka by S01'f'OW was bowed, Like a lily which droops to the ground. Virlue's image she show1d, and its too frqumt fau.- In thi lon1 house the king slands ; but, ah l Coms loo lau, For they rest 'neath the grav1 's hallowid mound.• In his lyrics, as in his epic poetry, Vörösmarty was the bard of lofty themes. His lyrical poems fali into two more classes. Some deal with simple themes in a simple style, and breathe a spirit of serenity. Such, for instance , is the poem entitled Bird Vo ices, t of which we give the first and last stanzas : Thus saith thi larlf in upward flight Whil1 circling lo the hlavenly height : " I ere• th11, breeze, that sw11ps thi lawn ; I greet the beaut1ous t;olden dawn ; Thi wintry snows af'l at an end, Bright ts thi sky, glad fillds •llnd ; Th1 grass grows gf'lln, and I will thn1 My littil st soon build with care. Soon UJill thi nwbom 1arlh appear ;

• BvTLER.'s " Hungarian Poems ."

t Lo:sw's "Magyar Poema." MICHAEL VÖRÖSMARTY A weil deeked table set jOf' cheer. O, foy and pleasure, Joy and pleasure, The meadow lands are ours for pleasure." • • • • "My sorrows and my foys are bound To one who faitbless roams around, And on a light love's wing doth stray. Who now can hear My piaints so drear 1 This spot so calm Brings my heart balm. The rocky cliff re-echoes every tone But I receive no answer to my moan. Were I an eagle free And my hearl burned so sore, Soon on strong wings l'd be Up near the heaven's door. And from the sun I would gain fire to burn The callous leaves that coldly from me turn. I can but voice My dolorous cry ; Alas, poor bird, Can only die. • 0, break, my heart, and cease as doth my song ; What arl thou but my song so sadly strong 1 " The nightingale, the forest's very heart, Thus to the WOf'ld her sOf'row did impart : And when the wood thus speaks the world is still And listens how with woe her heart doth thrill. 143 Other poems are of an entirely opposite character, full of emotion, exaltation, excitement. In them Vörös­ marty treats of the highest subjects in the grandest style. His imagination passes all bounds, it gleams, it fiashes, it rushes like a stream of lava. He soars to great heights and beholds visions which he enables us partly to 144 HUNGARIAN LITERATORE see, grand yet gloomy visions, as though lighted by the ruddy flame of a torch wildly blown about by the wind. As an exam ple Jet us take the first and the last two stanzas of the Hoary Gypsy : • Come, gypsy, play : thou had'st thy pay in drinks, Let not the grass grow under thee, strike up l On bread and water who will bear :,je's ills 1 With flowing wine fil l high the parting cup. This mundane life remains for aye the same, It freezeth now, then burneth as a flame ; Strike up l How long thou yet wilt play who knows 1 Thy bow-strings soon will wear out, I suppose. With wine and gloom are füled the cup and heart, Come, gypsy, play, let ali thy cares depart l The stars above this earth-all sorrows' home­ Leave them in peace, their woes let them endure l From sin and stain by rushing of wild streams And tempests' fury they may yet grow pure. And Noah's ark of old may come again And in its compass a new world contain. Strike up l How long thou yet wilt play who knows 1 Thy bow-stYJngs soon will wear out I suppose. With wine and gloom are filled both cup and heart, Come, gypsy, play, let ali thy cares depart l Strike up l But no- -n ow leave the cords alone ; When once again the world may have a feast, And sileni have became the storm's deep groans, And wars and strifes o'er ali the world have ceased, Then play inspiringly ; and, at the voice Of thy sweet strings, the gods may even rejoice 1 Then take again in hand the songfui bow, Then may thy brow again with gladness glow, And with the wine of joy fül up thy heart ; Then, gypsy, play, and ali thy cares depart 1 What a profoundly sad picture he presents to us in his

• LoEw, "Magyar Poetr}·. " MICHAEL VÖRÖSMARTY

I45 A.j>peal,• a poem wh ich became one of the two national anth ems. lts leading idea is that a crisis is at hand, and eith er a brighter day must dawn or the whole nation must perish. Loyal and true for aye remain, Magyar, to this thy home l Here, where thy eradie stood, once more Thou'lt rest within thy tomb. No other land than this expantls For thee, beneath the sky ; The faus may bring thee bane or bliss, Here thou must live and die l Thy fathers' blood for this dear spot Hath often freely flowed ; Great names for full ten bundred years Have hal l owed this abode. Here fought, to found a native land, A rpád against his foes ; Here broke the yokes of slavery Hunyad, with mighty blows.

Magyar, to this, thy native land, Ever devoled be l It nourishecl thee, and soon, when dead, lts earth receiveth thee. No other land than this expands For thee beneath the sky l The fales may bring thee bane and bliss Here thou must live and die l In The Living Sta tue he sings of subj ugated Poland, for which unfortunate cou ntry Hungarian poets have always displ ayed much sympathy, for th ey see in her fate that which has long threatened their own country. Poland is the living statue, whose terrihle lot it is to stand dumb and motionless while it sees and feels everything. The statue yearn s for her spellbound limbs to be set • LoEW' ..MagyarPoetry." K free; for a sigh that might relieve her marble breast; and for a word to escape her sealed lips. "It is but a brief word that I would utter to ye, oh mankind, world, nature, universe! If on earth there is right, and in heaven mercy, look upon me and my agony."

Vörösmarty was a master not only of passionate and pathetic poetry, but also of the reflective epigram. His distiches, the form he used in his epigrams, are melodious, Hungarian being one of the few languages which are equally suitable for modern metres based upon accent and the ancient metres based on quantity. One of his reflective poems is entitled Thoughts in a Library. He begins by contrasting the subjects treated of in books with the material upon which they are printed. The paper was made of rags. On one page is written the praise of virtue, yet the paper itself may have been part of the garment of a murderer. Another book treats of innocence and purity, yet its pages may have robed the impure. Perhaps the book of laws was once the mantle of a tyrant or of an unjust judge. Then he goes on to ask whether on the whole books have been a blessing to man­ kind. It may be that they have widened the gulf between the cultured and uncultured, yet we must not undervalue them, for they pave the way to man's dignity. "What is our task in life?" he asks at the end of the poem, where human feeling is blended with patriotic feeling. "To strive with all our strength for the noblest aims. The fate of a nation lies in our bands. When we have lifted this country out of its errors and misfortunes, we shall be able to say, as our eyes close in death, 'We thank thee, life, for all the grand opportunities of work which thou hast given us, and which have enabled us to play our part here manfully.'"

Vörösmarty was a great poet, but not a great dramatist, because he lacked two important qualifications. He had not enough psychological knowledge to construct real, life-like characters, nor could he invent probable incidents. Why then did he attempt to write for the stage? For both internal and external reasons. To take the latter first, it wa white Vörösmarty was at the height of his activity that the drama began to assume an increasingly important positi on in the poetry of the nations nearest to Hungary, and in Hungary, where the stage was becoming an importat factor, there was a great scarcity of original plays. But there was an inner motive too. Vörösmarty loved to give expression to grand passions for which the drama was the most suitable vehicle.

The influence of Shakespeare's historical plays can easily be detected in some of Vörösmarty's dramas, par­ ticularly those based upon the early history of Hungary. In Csongor és Tünde, he was very happily inspired by Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Others again like The Treasure Seekers clearly show the influence of the German Fate-tragedies (Schicksaltragoedien). The most noteworthy, however, are the dramas which were modelled on the Freneh dramatic school, like The Bánus Marót. The play of The Bánus Marót is based upon a pathetic incident. When Hungary was under the Turkish yoke the Turks carried off a number of young boys whom they trained to be soldiers. The Janizari army was largely composed of Christian youths. Vörösmarty wove around this a tragic plot, full of startling incidents. The drama is a story of revenge, crime and retaliation. A Turkish Bey in revenge steals the son of a Hungarian nobleman, brings him up as a Turk, and employs the youth in securing inmates for his harem.

The young man (Bod) returns to Hungary, having no remembrance of his country or of his family, members of which he happens to meet, though without recognition on either side. Such a situation could easily give rise to tragical incidents, but Vörösmarty, writing under the influence of the French school, heaped wonder upon wonder, intro­ docing extravagant passions and improbable actions. Bod meets Ida, the wife of his brother Marót, and instead of stealing her for his master's harem, falls in love with her himself, and declares his love just as her hushand returns home.

Then comes a common stage trick. Marót spreads a false report of his own death in order to deceive the lovers. A funeral ceremony is arranged, and Marót, unseen, hears Ida tell Bod that she loves him. The husband, embittered by his wife's faithlessness and especially enraged by her confession of love for a Turk, bands her over to the Bey and demands that Bod shall be beheaded . Soon, however, he discovers by means of a sword carried by Bod, which is a family heirloom, that Bod is his brother. He forgives him, and endeavours to free his wife from the Turkish Bey's prison. Bod under­takes the task of rescuing Ida; he penetrates to the Bey's tent, but finding himself unable to deliver her, kills her, in order to put an end to the shame of his brother's wife. This costs him his own life, for he falls by the hand of the Bey. In the battle which follows the Hungarians are victorious, and Marót executes the Bey and swears the destruction of the Turks.

It is easy to recognise the influence of Victor Hugo and the French école romantique in this tragedy. Two brothers as deadly enemies, who recognise each other towards the end of the drama by means of a family token; a man (Bod) follows a vile occupation, and is saved and ennobled by love; a husband concealed within a suit of armour in the old hall of his castle witnesses his wife's treachery, spreads the report of his own death in order to confound the guilty woman by rising from his coffin, and, finally, in a frenzy of revenge, throws his once beloved wife into the arms of his most hated foe, the Turk; these are all over­-strained motives and reveal the influence of Victor Hugo and Dumas père.

The Vérnász (Bloody Nuptials) is still more terrible. Œdipus is surpassed. A father, believing his wife to be unfaithful, conveys his two children, a boy and a girl, to a forest and leaves them to perish. The children do not die, however, and many years afterwards the father meets the maiden and marries her, not knowing her to be his daughter. The boy has become an outlaw, and breaks into the cast'e of his father, who orders him to be executed. Soon after, the truth comes out, and the girl retires to a nunnery, while the father in a frenzy casts himself over a precipice.

The charm and melody of language, the lyrical beauty which we find in all Vörösmarty's dramas, reach their perfec­tion in a fairy play called Csongor and Tünde. Vörösmarty here dramatised an old fairy tale written by a sixteenth­ century poet. Csongor, a young hero, and the fairy Tünde love one another, but an old witch opposes their happi­ness. The hero has to pass through many marvellous adventures before he recovers his loved one, who has meanwhile been banished from fairyland for allowing earthly love to enter her heart. Fairies and other fabulous characters influence the course of events, either favour­ably or unfavourably to the wishes of the lovers, as in the Midsummer Night's Dream. The moral is, of course, that true love overcomes every obstacle.

Not the least of Vörösmarty's merits is that he was the first great translator of Shakespeare into Hungarian and the first Hungarian author to appreciate rightly the world's greatest dramatist. His translation of Julius Cæsar appeared in 1839.^[1]

Vörösmarty urged others to translate his works well. "A good translation of Shakespeare," he said, "would be worth to any nation at least the half of its existing litera­ture." Petőfi equally idolised Shakespeare. In one of his dramatic criticisms he said: "In the field of poetry Shakespeare has reaped all that is most beautiful. We can only glean after him what he did not find worthy of him." Arany was influenced by Shakespeare even when writing his ballads, and said of him: "We can best express our feelings by quoting the words of the psalmist, 'Thou art great in great things and great in small.'"

The three greatest Hungarian poets, Vörösmarty, Petőfi and Arany, arranged together to translate some of the plays. Their choice was in each case characteristic. MICHAEL VÖRÖSMARTY Vörösmarty, the poet of melancholy and grand passion, translated King Lear, Petőfi chose the proud, defiant Coriolanus, and Arany, the contemplative Hamlet. • In the sixties, the Kisfal udy Society published th e com­ plete Hungarian Shakespeare, and to that work the best writers contributed. Among the contemporaries of Vörösmarty whose work displayed similar tendencies, the most noteworthy was a Benedictine monk named GREGORY CzuczoR (18oo-1866) . About the year 1848 he wrote a fiery poem entitled The Alarm, summoning the nation to revolt against the Austrians. For this he was put into prison, wh ere he remained for n early two and a half years, at first in chains aceording to the order of General Haynau. Czuczo r's ch ief epic poem is Botond; dealing with the pagan period of Hungarian history. lts hero is the ch i eftain Botond, who drove his mace through the bronze gates of Byza ntium, and the poem telis of his love for a Greek girl . Czuczor was the son of a peasant, and his songs brought with them into the realm of poetry the sweet fresh a1r of the country ; they at once found their way to the hearts of th e people, and are still popular. JOHN GARAY (1802- 1853) was also an epic poet. One of his poems relates the deeds of the national hero, St. Ladislas, but his best known work is a ballad about the chieftain Kont, who was beh eaded by King Sigismund. Very popular, too, is a tale of his about a soldier returned from th e wars against Napoleon, who relates the most absurd and impossibl e adventures in a very amosing way.

• Arany was the best translator of poetry , while the best prose

translation in the Hungarian language, that of Cervantes' Do11 Quixote, was the work of William Gyróy (1838-I88s).

1. The name of Shakespeare was first heard from the lips of Bessenyei. The first translation appeared in 1786. It was by Alexander Kun Szabò, after an adaptation by Weisse in German, and all the first translations were made from German variants. When the first theatre was opened, in 1790, Kazinczy trans­lated Hamlet for it, but from such an altered version that the prince does not die at the end. In some cases managers even produced new plays, with the name of Shakespeare as author. For instance, a play was produced at Kolozsvár in 1812 entitled Alexander Menczikov, of which Shakespeare was declared to be the author. More absurd still, when a real Shakespearean play was given, it was advertised to be by Kotzebue in order to draw a larger audience. The finest of Hungarian tragic poets, Katona, was greatly influenced by Shakespeare's method of drawing his characters.