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

His Puritan New England upper class bred romantic conscience was in a continuous conflict with his educated self and his imagination and expressive power failed to enable him to transcend the limits of his knowledge. Whereas in his poetry culture and civilization take precedence over creativity and originality, his message reached the masses and he was the most celebrated poet of his age not only in the English speaking countries but all over the world. Due to consciencious efforts to satisfy the literary tastes of the middle class he enjoyed immense popularity in his home country and Hungary as well. "His lyrical poetry was devoid of strange and heated passion as he only sang about the idealized aspects of ordinary middle class life. Longfellow, a sophisticated gentleman with Victorian manners intentionally avoided vulgar, coarse or plain ugly themes."

2 Written by the prolific publicist and translator Imre Huszár in 1866, the first Hungarian article on Longfellow and his poetry appeared in the Fővárosi Lapok. Huszár introduced one of Longfellow's less famous poems titled "Flower-de-luce", a book of verses where the author paid homage to his former schoolmate and colleague, Nathaniel Hawthorne. According to Huszár Flower-de-luce impressively presented the "pure and simple beauty of reality and attempted to enhance its objectivity with the colors of imagination". Huszár viewed Longfellow as "an artist who had addressed not a nation or an era, but whose eternal appeals voiced the concerns of humanity".

3 József Csukássi's—one of Longfellow's first Hungarian translators

— more extensive essay appeared in the same paper three years later. The article that retraced Longfellow's life and achievements was the first Hungarian treatise to emphasize the poet's European qualities. "Although a different flower, it gains its fragrance from European soil, a different fruit yet its delicious taste was bequeathed by the same land."

4 In Csukássi's view Longfellow along with the "grimly original Poe" and the "lofty Bryant" 2 László Országh, Az amerikai irodalom története (Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 1967), p. 158. 3 Imre Huszár, "Külirodalmi Szemle. (Longfellow legújabb műve: Flower-de-luce)," Fővárosi Lapok, 289 (1866): pp. 1182—1183. 4 József Csukássi, "Longfellow Wadsworth Henry. I.," Fővárosi Lapok, 12 (1869): p. 44. 130