In this Book
- Light within the Shade: Eight Hundred Years of Hungarian Poetry
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: Syracuse University Press
The pure verbal energy characterizing Hungarian poetry may be regarded as one of the most striking components of Hungarian culture. More than 800 years ago, under the inspiration of classical and medieval Latin poetry, Hungarian poets began to craft a rich chain of poetic designs, much of it in response to the country’s cataclysmic history. With precision, depth, and great intensity, these verses give accounts of their authors’ vision of themselves as participants in history and their most personal experience in the world.
Light within the Shade includes 135 of the most important Hungarian poems ranging from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century. Organized in chronological order, the poems are followed by an essay by Ozsváth providing the historical, biographical, and cultural background of the poets and the poetry. The book concludes with Turner’s essay on the special thematic and literary qualities of Hungarian poetry, as well as notes on
translation practices. This essential volume exposes English-speaking readers to Hungarian poetry’s artistic achievement in history and culture, its evolutionary development as a tradition, and its significance within the
context of world literature.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xv-xvi
- “Be My Star, Ferryman”;
- pp. 4-5
- “Getting Down to Living”;
- pp. 6-8
- A Soldier’s Song
- pp. 10-11
- A Restrained Plea
- p. 15
- The Black Wax Seal
- pp. 19-20
- Winter Is Coming
- p. 21
- Supplication
- p. 22
- Declaration
- pp. 26-27
- Night and Star
- pp. 28-29
- The Mother of Matthias
- pp. 32-35
- Klára Zách
- pp. 36-39
- The Bards of Wales
- pp. 40-44
- The Ordeal of the Bier
- pp. 45-47
- Civilization
- p. 48
- My Complaints . . .
- p. 52
- One Thought Troubles Me
- pp. 56-57
- September Ending
- p. 60
- Song of the Nation
- pp. 61-62
- Monstrous Days
- pp. 63-64
- Twenty Years Later
- p. 65
- Against the Tide*
- pp. 66-67
- Oh Why So Late
- p. 68
- Among My Songs
- p. 69
- On New Waters I Walk
- p. 73
- Autumn Came to Paris
- p. 74
- Confessions of the Danube
- pp. 76-77
- The Voiceless Birds
- p. 80
- On Elijah’s Wain
- p. 81
- The Abandoned Pirate Ships
- pp. 83-84
- I Guard Your Eyes
- p. 85
- Memory of a Summer Night
- pp. 86-87
- Pagan Prayer
- p. 89
- Little Peter Walks
- pp. 90-91
- To Appear Before You
- p. 92
- How It Was
- p. 93
- Profane Litany
- p. 94
- Evening Questioning
- pp. 95-96
- Ode on Beauty
- pp. 97-98
- Evening Arrival
- pp. 100-101
- Between Fall and Spring
- pp. 102-103
- Saint Blaise-ing*
- pp. 104-105
- The Prayer of Jonah
- p. 106
- Autumn Breakfast
- p. 107
- Funeral Eulogy
- pp. 112-113
- Dawn Drunkenness
- pp. 114-118
- Evening Song
- p. 119
- Evening Gloriole
- p. 120
- On the Fields of July
- pp. 128-129
- Self-Portrait
- p. 130
- They Say, How Beautiful
- p. 133
- I Adore You
- p. 134
- Everything for Nothing
- pp. 135-136
- Dream of the One
- pp. 137-138
- One Sentence on Tyranny
- pp. 142-148
- Night in the Outskirts
- pp. 152-154
- The Last of Seven
- pp. 155-156
- Shma Yisroel
- p. 162
- Late Lament
- pp. 163-164
- Welcome for Thomas Mann
- pp. 165-166
- For My Birthday
- pp. 167-168
- Psalms of Devotion
- pp. 172-175
- Twenty-nine Years
- pp. 179-180
- Winter Sun
- p. 186
- À la Recherche . . . *
- pp. 190-191
- Razglednicas*
- pp. 192-193
- Ode to the Mind
- pp. 194-195
- The Translator’s Thanks
- pp. 196-197
- Conquer Me
- p. 198
- On the Third Day
- p. 199
- On a Forbidden Planet
- p. 200
- To Freedom
- pp. 202-203
- You Are a Sign on My Doorpost
- pp. 206-207
- Isabel and Ferdinand
- pp. 208-209
- Mirrorminute
- p. 211
- Poem by an Anonymous European Poet, 1955
- pp. 215-216
- Will You Appear?
- pp. 220-221
- Remembering Our Song
- p. 222
- Star-meadow
- pp. 223-224
- The “Thou” of Hungarian Poetry
- pp. 252-272
- Back Cover
- pp. 279-280