Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - Lehel Vadon: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Hungary

the Péter Pázmány University in 1908. The course which was titled "Longfellow's selected poems" was the second university level subject on American literature in the history of American Studies in Hungary.

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7 In József Reményi's pantheon of American literature where the author presented a thorough analysis of Longfellow's art, perspective and style the poet appeared as an aesthetician and bard of the evolving American middle class. In Reményi's view Longfellow, a descendant of Puritans had been unable to conceal the didactic purpose of his poems making his lines often sound like textbooks put into verse. While acknowledging Longfellow's poetic skills and creative imagination dedicated to the commemoration of life's beauty, Reményi declared that Longfellow's works could not be enjoyed by someone with refined aesthetic taste and ranked him as a second class poet.

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8 Antal Szerb regarded Longfellow as the poet of secondary romanticism who worked with romantic elements despite a lack of a romantic spirit. In his view Longfellow was the poet of the petty bourgeoisie "whose tremendous world-wide success was due to the fact that his works were tailormade to middle class tastes as he sang about the fabulous Middle Ages and his idealistic poems reenforced loyalty to the prevailing political order

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9. According to Mihály Babits "Longfellow was the forerunner of American poetry's supercilious eclecticism harvesting and integrating the ripe stylistic and thematic treasures of European literature into American poetry, much the same way as American billionaires collected priceless pieces of art in their homes from European museums."

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0 In 1957 commemorating the 150th anniversary of Longfellow's birth the Irodalmi Színpad of Budapest paid homage to the poet's achievemts in a 1

7 Joseph Szentmihályi, "Outline of Professor Yolland's Activity," Angol Filológiai Tanulmányok, II (1973): p. 13. 1

8 József Reményi, "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow," Vasárnap, 14 (1936): pp. 263—265. — The same essay: József Reményi, Amerikai Írók (Budapest: Franklin-Társulat, [1938]), pp. 24—33. 1

9 Antal Szerb, A világirodalom története (Budapest: Magvető Könyvkiadó, 1962), pp. 622—623. 2

0 Mihály Babits, "Líra Amerikában," (1930) in Mihály Babits, Arcképek és tanulmányok (Budapest: Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó, 1977), p. 372. 134