Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-11-01 / 11. szám
14 FRATERNITY No Hungarian poet could ever separate himself from the nation’s plight; none wished to. Dániel Berzsenyi is one of the finest examples of a poet who, while witnessing the agony of the nation, also assisted in its rebirth. His magnificent ode, “A magyarokhoz” (To the Magyars), voices despair and renunciation, tempered by faith in the future of his country. Herder, the 18th-century German poet and folklorist, prophesied that in all probability the Hungarian people and their language would die out; no wonder that some of Berzsenyi’s poems sound like the death- cry of a nation. But Berzsenyi refused to bend to the death-sentence of the Cassandra prophets. He wrote: “Hungary was not destroyed by the hordes of the Tartars, or by the might of the Turks. Civil wars could not ruin her, because her ancient virtues were kept alive.” 3 These lines, taken from his vatic inatory, “To the Magyars”, were followed by a premonition that Hungary would perish “as Troy and Babylon, Carthage and Rome have perished.” 4 His immediate predecessors or contemporaries in Hungarian letters, such as Csokonai, Gvadányi, Kazinczy, Fáy, Kármán, Verseghy, Batsányi, Katona, the Kisfaludy brothers, Vörösmarty and others, although aware of the sufferings of the nation, disagreed on literary, linguistic and political issues; there were also regional differences between the Western, so-called Trans-Danubian poets (Berzsenyi’s home was in the Trans-Danubian area) and the Eastern poets, i. e. those who lived on the Lowland (Alföld) or in Transylvania. Some of these authors developed a morbid self-consciousness; some stopped writing altogether, whereas others adopted a stoic philosophy, which is also perceptible in the works of Berzsenyi. Despite his dependence on Horace, Berzsenyi lacked “the calm Horatian mind”,5 as Gyula Farkas, the Hungarian literary historian, has observed, and “his soul was devoured by inner fire”.« Berzsenyi resolved his dilemma as a Hungarian and as a poet by expressing himself and his moral standards in the classical mould and seeking liberation from his individual and national cares through romantic sensibility. Among his favored themes were outstanding Hungarians of the past, such as “Nagy Lajos” (Louis the Great), “Hunyadi Mátyás” (Mathias Hunyadi), or his friends, whom he immortalized in poetic portraits, such as “Káldi Pálhoz” (To Paul Káldi), “Felsőbüki Nagy Pálhoz” (To Paul Felsőbüki Nagy), “Virág Benedekhez” (To Benedict Virág), “Wesselényi hamvához” (To the Dust of Wesselényi). Berzsenyi was a slow, painstaking writer. Sometimes he failed to distinguish between moralizing and moral poetry; and although his inflated conceits militated against flawless workmanship, he showed in his intentions an unswerving fidelity to creative demands. 3 Frederick Riedl, “A History of Hungarian Literature”, New York, 1906, p. 96. 4 Ibid., p. 96. 5 Gyula Farkas, “A magyar irodalom története”, Budapest, 1934. p. 197. 6 Ibid., p. 197.
