National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

Sándor Petőfi: National song

SÁNDOR PETŐFI: NATIONAL SONG Title: Nemzeti dal (National song) Originally published: First printed as a pamphlet in Pest on 15 March 1848 Language: Hungarian The modern edition is Petőfi összes művei (Budapest: Akadémiai, 1956), pp. 37–38. About the author Sándor Petőfi [1823, Kiskőrös (Central Hungary) – 1849, Segesvár (Rom. Sighi- şoara, Ger. Schässburg, present-day Romania)]: poet. His parents were of Slavic origins; his father was a butcher. He studied in various secondary schools all over the country. For some time an actor, he later joined the army but was discharged in February 1841 because of ill health. His first poem was published in Athenaeum in 1842. After working as an actor in Kecskemét for a time, he eventually moved to Pest, where, with the help of Mihály Vörösmarty (1800–1855), he published an edition of his poems. He met Júlia Szendrey in Nagykároly (Rom. Carei, present-day Romania) and married her in September 1847. He was a prominent figure among the group of young radicals that promoted the Revolution of March 1848. His poem, ‘National song,’ printed as a pamphlet, became the symbolic text of the revolutionary demonstrations . After a failure in institutional politics, Petőfi entered the military and, after serving in Debrecen, moved to Transylvania. From January 1849 he served in the army of General Józef Bem (1794–1850). While his propagandistic services were highly appreciated by Bem personally, Petőfi fell into conflict with the military leadership and subsequently resigned his commission. On 30 July 1849, however, he rejoined Bem’s army, and was killed on the following day in a battle between the Hungarian and Russian forces at Segesvár. As his body was never found, there has been a lasting controversy about the circumstances of his death: from time to time the legend resurfaces that he was actually taken captive by the Russians and his grave is to be found somewhere in Siberia, which even inspired excavations in the 1990s. Already in the 1850s Petőfi had became ‘canonized’ as the symbol of the 1848–49 Revolution and War of Independence, and he has remained a crucial cultural and political reference ever since. Main works: A helység kalapácsa [The hammer of the village] (1844); Versek, 1842–1844 [Poems, 1842–1844] (1844); János vitéz [János the Brave] (1845); Szerelem gyöngyei [The pearls of love] (1845); Versek, 1844–1845 [Poems, 1844– SÁNDOR PETŐFI: NATIONAL SONG 441 1845] (1845); Felhők [Clouds] (1846); Összes költeményei [Collected poems] (1847); Az Egyenlőségi Társulat proclamátiója [The proclamation of the Society of Equality] (1848); Újabb költeményei, 1847–1849 [New poems, 1847–1849] (1851). Context In the 1840s the Hungarian reform movement underwent a process of radicalization, culminating in the outbreak of the Revolution in March 1848 and the subsequent establishment of the first modern representative government in Hungary, which in turn was followed by the revolutionary war against Vienna. The Revolution also brought about the triumph of a circle of young intellectuals of radical democratic convictions, usually referred to as the ‘March Youth,’ who emerged as a powerful cultural and political lobbygroup in the mid-1840s. In contrast to the previous generation of liberal politicians stemming from the middle nobility and the country-gentry, these radicals came either from the petty nobility or from non-noble background; they were mostly but not exclusively educated in Protestant secondary schools, and represented the first cohort of a new social phenomenon, the intelligentsia , who earned their living by publishing literary works, translating, and working in journalism. Their emergence meant the shift of focus of public life from the traditional framework of gentry politics and antiquarian scientific journals towards new forums of sociability and public debate such as literary magazines, cafés and, in general, the urban space. Their appearance also effected a considerable paradigm shift in terms of the traditional itinerary of reception of European intellectual trends. While the previous generation was mostly formed by German romantic ideas or ideas mediated by a German cultural filter (such as the ‘stadial history’ model of the Scottish Enlightenment), the new generation emerged under the influence of French romantic literary and political doctrines , especially those of Jules Michelet, Alphonse de Lamartine and Fran- çois Mignet. Some of the characteristic figures of this generation subsequently became eminent cultural or political personalities, for example...