Magyar Egyház, 2008 (87. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2008-01-01 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9. oldal March 19th to the 15th. (This was a lucky decision, given that the authorities knew their plans, and intended to arrest the revolutionaries on the 18th.) On the morning of the 15th, the revolutionaries wit Petőfi began to march around the city of Pest, reading the poem and the 12 points to the crowd (which swelled to thousands). Then, they visited printing presses, declaring an end to all forms of censorship and printing Petőfi's poem together with the 12 Pont. The mayor was forced by the crowds to sign the 12 Pont. Later, a mass demonstration was held in front of the newly-built National Museum, after which the group left for Buda on the other bank of the Danube. When the crowd rallied in front of the Imperial governing council, the representatives of Emperor Ferdinand felt they have no choice but to sign the 12 points. As one of the points was freedom for political prisoners, the crowd moved on to greet the newly freed revolutionary poet Mihály Táncsics. Petőfi's popularity waned as the memory of the glorious day faded, and the revolution went the way of high politics: to the leadership of the nobles. Those in the noblemen's Assembly in Pozsony) had in fact been pushing for slower reforms at the same time - delivering a list of demands to the Emperor on the 13th - but events had overtaken them briefly. Petőfi disagreed with the Assembly, and criticised the way they saw the goals and methods of the Revolution. (His colleague Táncsics was imprisoned yet again by the new government.) In the general election, he ran in his native area, but did not get the seat. At this time, he wrote his most serious poem, the epic Az Apostol ("The Apostle", an epic about a fictional revolutionary who, after much suffering, attempts, but fails to assassinate a fictitious king.) Petőfi joined Polish revolutionary general Józef Bern's Transylvanian army, fighting a successful campaign against Habsburg troops, Romanian and Transylvanian Saxon militias. However, it was defeated repeatedly when Imperial Russia intervened to aid the Austrians. He was last seen in the batlle of Segesvár, July 31, 1849. The circumstances of his death are mysterious. The main opinion is that he died in the battle, based on the account of a Russian military doctor in his diary. He saw an unusual-looking corpse dead of a stomach lance wound, having Petőfi's characteristic yellowish face and matching clothing; Petőfi had the habit of wearing a civilian jacket with uniform trousers. Recently an ethnic Hungarian Romanian claimed to have located fragments of a stone eagle which local Hungarians are known to have erected in 1855 on the site of the mass grave where Petőfi was allegedly buried. Considering the number of fallen Hungarians in the battle of Segesvár, an excavation would not offer much hope, even if genetic material could be obtained from the graves of his parents. Some Hungarians, notably Ferenc Morvái, believe Petőfi was captured and taken to Russia, where he died some years later of natural causes. After the Revolution was crushed, Petőfi's writing became immensely popular, while his rebelliousness served as a role model ever since for Hungarian revolutionaries and would-be revolutionaries of every political colour. Today, streets are named after him throughout Hungary (perhaps one in every village) and in the Hungarian-inhabited areas of Transylvania, as well as a national radio station and a bridge in Budapest. Poetry Petőfi started his career as a poet with so-called "popular situation songs", to which his first published poem, A borozó ("The Winery", 1842), belongs. It is the song of a drinker praising the healing power of wine to drive away all troubles. This kind of pseudo-folk song was not unusual in Hungarian poetry of the 1840s, but Petőfi soon developed an original and fresh voice which made him stand out. He wrote many folk song-like poems on the subjects of wine, love, romantic robbers etc. Many of these early poems have become classics, for example the love poem A virágnak megtiltani nem lehet ("You Cannot Forbid the Flower", 1843), or Befordultam a konyhára ("I Turned into the Kitchen", 1843) which uses the ancient metaphor of love and fire in a playful and somewhat provocative way. The influence of folk poetry and 19th-century populism is very significant in Petőfi's work, but other influences are also present: Petőfi drew on sources such as topoi of contemporary almanac-poetry in an inventive way, and was familiar with the works of major literary figures of his day, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Pierre-Jean de Béranger and Heinrich Heine. Petőfi's early poetry was often interpreted as some kind of role-playing, due to the broad range of situations and voices he created and used. Recent interpretations however call attention to the fact that in some sense all lyrical poetry can be understood as role-playing, which makes the category of "role-poems" (coined especially for Petőfi) superfluous. While using a variety of voices, Petőfi created a well-formed persona for himself: a jaunty, stubborn loner who loves wine, hates all kinds of limits and boundaries and is passionate in all he feels. In poems such as Jövendölés ("Prophecy", 1843) he imagines himself as someone who will die young after doing great things. This motif recurs in the revolutionary poetry of his later years. The influence of contemporary almanac-poetry can be best seen in the poem cycle Cipruslombok Etelke sírjára ("Branches of Cypress for Etelke's Tomb”, 1845). These sentimental poems, which are about death, grief, love, memory and loneliness were written after a love interest of Petőfi's, Etelke Csapó, died. In the years 1844-45 Petőfi's poetry became more and more subtle and mature. New subjects appeared, such as landscape. His most influential landscape poem is Az Alföld ("The Plains"), in which he says that his homeland, the Hungarian plains are more beautiful and much dearer than the Carpathian mountains; it was to become the foundation of a long-lived fashion: that of the plains as the typical Hungarian landscape. Petőfi’s poetic skills solidified and broadened. He became a master of using different kinds of voices, for example his poem A régi, jó Gvadányi ("The Good Old Gvadányi") imitates the style of József Gvadányi, a Hungarian poet who lived at the end of the 18th century. It’s interesting to note that several of Petőfi’s poems were set to music by the young Friedrich Nietzsche, who composed as a hobby while studying classics at Pforta before beginning his career in philosophy. Sándor Petőfi: National Song On your feet, Magyar, the homeland calls! The time is here, now or never! Shall we be slaves or free? This is the question, choose your answer! - On the God of the Hungarians We vow, We vow, that we will be slaves No longer!
