Hviezdoslav

Hviezdoslav (born Feb. 2, 1849, Vyšný Kubín, Slovakia, Austrian Empire [now in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia]—died Nov. 8, 1921, Dolny Kubin, Czech.) was one of the most powerful and versatile of Slovak poets.

Hviezdoslav was a lawyer until he became able to devote himself to literature. He originally wrote in Hungarian and was a Hungarian patriot, but in the 1860s he switched both activities to Slovak. By the time of his death the Slovaks possessed an extensive poetic literature of a high order. Hviezdoslav’s contribution to this development was of decisive importance. In his main epics—Hájnikova žena (1886; “The Gamekeeper’s Wife”) and Ežo Vlkolinský (1890)—he treated local themes in a style that combined realistic descriptive power with lyric echoes from folk song. In his voluminous lyric output he experimented with a variety of metrical forms and forged a characteristic style, interwoven with neologisms and dialect elements. Most memorable are his moving Krvavé sonety (1919; “Blood-Red Sonnets”), which embody his attitude toward World War I. He also translated much Hungarian, Russian, German, and English literature into Slovak.