Fraternity-Testvériség, 1955 (33. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1955-09-01 / 9. szám

10

TESTVÉRISÉG

THREE HUNGARIAN POETS

BÁLINT BALASSA MIKLÓS ZRÍNYI MIHÁLY CSOKONAI VITÉZ

By

JOSEPH REMÉNYI

Professor of Comparative Literature Western Reserve University

Dr. Joseph Reményi

CURRICULUM VITAE

Dr. Joseph Reményi, Professor of Comparative Literature, has been on the faculty of Western Reserve University since 1929. He is the author of two books on American literature published in Budapest, and monographs on Hungarian literature and related topics published in America. Dr. Reményi is a contributor to The Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature, Immigrant Backgrounds, Collier’s Encyclopedia, Contemporary Europe, The World of Great Stories, and other anthologies and encyclopedias. His essays, articles and book reviews have appeared in numerous American and European scholarly and literary periodicals and daily newspapers. He has also written novels, short stories and poems in his native tongue, and translated American and English prose works and poetic works.

Bálint Balassa

BÁLINT BALASSA

(1554—1594)

I.

The sixteenth century is one of the most tragic epochs of Hungarian history. The defeat of the Hungarian defenders of Christendom by the Turks at the battle of Mohács in 1526, the mutilation of their country by the Austrians and the Ottomans, marked a period in which the Hungarian nation seemed on the brink of utter destruction. Religious controversies between the Catholics and the Protestants added to the confusion already existing because of the political and economic cataclysm; these upheavals led to a feeling of despair in every segment of Hungarian society. The crucifixion of a nation that under the rule of King Mátyás Corvinus the Just, occupied a prominent position in European politics and culture a few decades earlier, naturally affected the character of creative expression. Writers and poets failed to produce works of literary significance; they were either chroniclers, like Sebestyén Tinódi, whose rhymed verses show no sign of true poetry, or historians of less than average merit, such as Miklós Istvánffy, who wrote in Latin, or priests, monks and