Verhovayak Lapja, 1941. január-június (24. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1941-02-27 / 9. szám
February 27, 1941 Page 3 Vemovayak Lapja HUNGARIAN PERSONAGES by Joseph Szentkirályi JÁNOS ARANY - Iöl7 -1882 János Arany, the greatest Hungarian epic poet, was born in Nagyszalonta, a town which only recently returned to Hungary after twenty years of Rumanian rule. Both his father and mother were extremely poor, common farm hands who could not give their son the education he was longing for. But János worked hard. While still in school, he accepted a student teacher position, and after a year’s teaching he returned to Debrecen College to continue his own studies. Only after his mother was dead and his father became blind did Lady Fortune come his way. The town of Nagyszalonta elected Arany a teacher first, and later town clerk and notary. In 1847 he won the prize of the Kisfaludy Literary Society with his epic poem “Toldi,” and the already famous literary figures of Hungary, like Petőfi and Tompa, raved about the excellence of his poetry. He found refuge from the storm of the 1848-49 War of Liberty in Nagykörös where he spent nine years in teaching. Later he became the director of the Kisfaludy Society and the editor of two literary magazines. Arany served as Secretary of the Hungarian Scientific Academy for twelve years. He died in 1882, surrounded by the love and appreciation of his countrymen. What Professor Watson Kirkconnell writes in his preface to the translation of Arany’s epic poem, “The Death of King Buda,” may be accepted as the universal opinion of the world of literature. “His was a comparatively long and uneventful life, but one in which an unusually gifted mind readily enriched itself by a close study of Latin, Greek, English, French and German poetry in the originals and by tireless efforts to perfect his mastery of Hungarian prosody. Arany is possibly the ripest scholar and greatest artist among all the Magyar poets.” Arany admired the greatness of Shakespeare and translated three of his dramas from the original English. His translation of Hamlet, King John and Midsummer Night’s Dream is still among the best Shakespeare translations in the Hungarian language. Arany wrote lyrics, ballads, narrative and epic poems. Perhaps the best known of the first group is the one entitled “To My Son” (Fiamnak) , which lets us a glimpse in his philosophy of life: On honour’s shoulder heavy loads are set, As thou shalt learn ivith agony, and yet When wrong and evil bo lithe soul, and when An earthly Eden blesses godless men, When hope is wan and glory’s vision pales, Let true religion level the great scales And both to just and equal balance sway; So fold thy hands and pray. Translation by Nora Vállyi and Dorothy M. Stuart Of the great number of ballads Arany wrote, those are of special interest for us which were written under the influence of the Scottish folk balladry. No other Hun garian poet suoceeded in writing ballads better or even as perfect as Arany. Pál Gyulai, the great Hungarian critic, was justified in calling him the “Shakespeare of Hungarian Ballad!” Occasionally Arany wrote about English historical incidents, the best known of which is his “Bards of Wales”: Edward the King, the English King, Rides over hills and vales, “For I must see”—is his decree— “How fares my land of Wales” Montgomery, the castle’s name Where tarried he o’er night; And feasts are spread for Edward by Montgomery, the knight. But King Edward, so the story goes, was not satisfied with food and drink. He wanted to hear his name praised by the Bárds of Wales. Young and old, all the Bards refused to sing Edward’s glory: Five hundred bards go with a song To meet a martyr’s death. Not one, to save his life, e’en once: “Long live King Edward” saith. But the king himself gets his punishment from God and the ghosts of the martyr Bards make his life miserable: Above the noise of fifes and drums, Above all trumpet^’ bare. Five hundred voices sing aloud The martyr’s glorious air. Translation by William Loew Why did he pick out this gruesome incident from the entire English history? Well, it was 1856 when Arany wrote his Bards of Wales, and the hated Austrian absolutism was then in its heights after the Hungarian War of Liberty collapsed under the combined force of the Austrian and Russian armies. How could Arany express his hate and contempt unless under the cloak of past history and in guise of an incident which took place in a country then on friendly terms with the oppressor. Read Francis Joseph for Edward, the thirteen martyr generals of Arad for the Bards of Wales, and you see what Arany had in mind when he wrote this poem. The epic poetry of Arany is perhaps the best known of all his literary achievements. The excellent translation of his “King Buda” by Watson Kirkconnell and those of the Toldi trilogy by Wiliam Loew made his poetry known the world over. Canto\ Six of “King Buda,” describing the pursuit of the “Wonder-Hind,” is one of the most poetic pieces of world literature: The bird flies on from bough to bough; The song is pass’d from lip to lip; Green grass grows o’er heroes now, But song revives their fellowship. Wild beasts in pools of blood they drag; They slaughter all the game they find; They have already kill’d the stag. And now they all pursue the hind. Halloo, they cry, where is the game? Yonder she hastens! one did call. Another shouts; This was she came! A third: She is not here at all! Stamp Notes By WILLIAM B. YUHASE Remember, collectors, a stamp collection is one hobby one can remove from a closet shelf, dust off the albums, revise, admire, and start all ever again when the spirit moves. Our pet local dealer is grinning from ear to ear. Last Christmas he showed us a stampless cover franked with a steamer’s cancellation and a price tag of $6.00. We sniffed and let it go. He sent the cover off to a mail auction and realized over $90.00 on it. We threaten to shove him off into the James Riverif he mentions it again! Oursmall son, age 8. afteran arduous day of swapping decided to become a specialist in stamp collecting, specializing in “bird stamps.” He and his mother dug out my spare English album and stuck about 8 cent’s worth of stamps on its pages, then started a “want list” of all the bird stamps listed in the Scott Catalogue. What he intends to use for money, he would not say. I wonder if many of our Through every nopk and copse they search; Through every bush they track the hind, By lizard-lair and partridgeperch; But what they seek they cannot find. On flies the bird, the song flies now Of Eneh's sons’ fair fellowship: The bird sings on from bough to bough, The song is pass’d from lip to lip. Translation by W. Kirkconnell Editor’s Note: Mr. Szentkirályi has kindly offered to write about any Hungarian personage our readers may have in mind. If you would like to read about a particular Hungarian personage, let us know and Mr. Szentkirályi will gladly satisfy your wishes. collectors collect Christmas seals. They, too, make a nice showing neatly mounted on album pages. In one of our local restaurants, last week a chap walked in and began telling us that he was acquainted with someone who knew a person who recently got a censored letter from England, and promptly sold the envelope to a dealer for $10.00. It must have been a Yankee dealer, for down here the censored envelopes are rather common. I myself have about a 100 of them and feel that they are worth about 2 cents each. It is stories like the above which make a collector’s wife doubt the judgment of a stampie husband. No doubt many of you leaders noticed the stamps displayed in a current weekly. Most of the stamps portrayed events in the last war. Remember, youngsters, we older ones bought and hoarded these stamps, expecting them to be scarce and valuable. After a decade or 20, they dropped in value and are even now plentiful. A young lad sent me some from Budapest (cataloguing over $10.00 each) and informed me that they collected them used only, and even then were doubtful as to the origin of the issues. Down in Knoxville it is amusing to see a pretty lass flag down a street car and drop her letters in a slot over the mail box. The street cars are equipped to receive mail, and I understand for this the U. S. Post Office Dept, pays them $1.00 per year. (Editor’s Note: Verhovay stamp collectors may contact oui STAMP NOTES columnist by addressing their Letters, with stamped, addressed envelopes inclosed for reply, to. William B. Yuhase, Stamp Notes, Verhovay Journal, 345 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa.) Our Program for 1941 1. Every branch to contribute regularly, frequently or occasionally, the occurence of contributions dependent on how often each branch functions and to what extent. (For this purpose each branch should have its regular publicity agent, either elected or appointed.) 2. More contributions from individual members. (Any member with talent for writing ought to broadcast its benefits through the Journal.) 3. All Verhovay achievements, individual or group, to be made known to other members through the medium of the Journal. (This means an extraordinary accomplishment of a member or group of members.)
