Kerényi Ferenc - Kováts Imre (szerk.): „Tanuljátok meg, mi a költő…” (Gyula, 2001)
„You should learn what the Poet is..."
revolt against conventions, he married his love after fighting for her for a year. His revolution of lyric also covered his family life: we can be grateful to him for the most beautiful pieces of matrimonial poetry. Their home - to where we can also get an insight — was a result of his diligent work as a poet. It was not more than an interior a petit bourgeois could create in his home. On the walls there were portraits of the leaders of the Great French revolution, reminding the poet of his tasks to be accomplished. A central topic of Petőfi’s great vision poems was the worldwide war of freedom. After the successful completion — yet victims necessitating — completion of which mankind can be prepared to live through the age „of universal happiness”. On March 15th of 1848 Hungary also became part of the map of European revolutions. The day when Petőfi arrived: His National Song (Nemzeti dal) became the song of March of the revolution. Our third showroom displays that major event, the Hungarian bourgeois revolution. Demonstrated among others is the contradictory process highlighting the fact that the consistent Republican attitude of Petőfi was too early for his people who lived in a kingdom for 850 years. The Hungarian revolution was the longest to fight in Europe. In August of 1849 it was only the joint forces of the two great powers of the continent, the Austrian Emperor and the Russian Czar that could defeat it. Petőfi turned his poems into deeds: during the war of liberation he served as an officer. First he was a captain and later ha had the rank of major. The reminders are his military documents and sword. He did not live to see the day of surrender: on 3P1 of July of 1849 he disappeared near Shegeshvar /Schassburg/ Shigişhoara while fleeing after a lost battle. Relics of the final stage of his life, the last painting featuring him as well as the objects he used during the fight are exhibited here. The Hungarian people were expecting to see something like a miracle in a fairytale: the reappearance and return home of their favorite poet. If you liked our memorial exhibition, please read the poems of Petőfi in your language upon your return home. You can do that if you visit large libraries: his poems have been translated into more than 50 languages, all of the world languages among them. The producers and organizers of the exhibition thank for your interest. Translated by Eva Kovács
