János Garay

János Garay ( born October 10, 1812 in Szekszárd, † November 15, 1853 in Pest ) was a Hungarian poet.

Life

János Garay was the son of a family kleinadeliger origin in Szekszárd. His parents had more of a middle-class life: his father was a respected dealer. His schools he attended in Szekszárd and Pécs, with the studies he began in Pest. He first studied medicine, later moving to philology. At the age of 21 years, he wrote for various magazines and is considered the first known professional journalist in Hungary. In 1836 he married for the first time, but his wife, Márta Pap died after six months. In 1837 he married Mária Babocsay. In 1838 he went to Pressburg, where he got a job at a newspaper office. In 1839 he returned to plague. From then on he lived with short interruptions in Pest: In 1845 he was at the university library a job and wrote among other things for the newspaper Budapesti Napló. His last years were marked by illness-related suffering. He suffered from a severe form of gout and was almost blind. In 1850, three years before his death, he was appointed professor of the Hungarian language. Since 1839 he was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and since 1842 a member of the Kisfaludy Society.

His poetry

Beginning of the 30s he began to write romantic poems. A poem in hexameters about John Hunyadi was his first major lyrical publication.

Formed by thoroughly studying German masterpieces and excited by Vörösmarty poetry, he wrote several dramas, mostly historical content, among which Arbocz (1837 ) is particularly addressed. However, as a playwright his success has been moderate. His strength was evident in ballads, epics and folk tales in - adaptations. He processed, among other legends from the region of his hometown Szekszárd and the Balaton.

Worth mentioning are the epics Csatár (1834 ), The Legend Bosnyák Zsófia, the poetic narrative Frangepan Kristófné and the historical poem Szent Laszló ( Eger 1850, 2.Bde; . 2nd edition, Pest 1853).

As his most famous work is considered the epic about János Háry (published in 1843), the Obšitoš entitled Az ( The veteran ). Its stories were also known by Kodály's Singspiel Háry János and Háry János Suite. The first half of this poem is written in the verse form of the Nibelungenlied, the second after the accentual principle, which was common especially among Hungarian poets.

As more talented of ballads he showed in his under the title appeared Árpádok cycle of historical ballads ( Pest 1847, 2nd edition 1848). His lyrical poems Balatoni Kagylok ( plague in 1848, Eger 1851) are greatly appreciated. His stories appeared in Pest in 1845.

A complete edition of his poems organized Franz Ney ( plague in 1854, 5 vols ); a selection of the same in German translation issued Kertbeny ( 2nd ed. , Vienna 1857). His biography wrote József Ferenczy ( Pest 1883).