Mihály Vörösmarty
| Mihály Vörösmarty | |
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| Spouse | Laura Csajághy |
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Béla Ilona Erzsébet |
Mihály Vörösmarty (archaically English: Michael Vorosmarthy 1 December 1800 – 19 November 1855) was an important Hungarian poet and dramatist.
He was born at Puszta-Nyék (now Kápolnásnyék), of a noble Roman Catholic family. His father was a steward of the Nádasdys. Mihály was educated at Székesfehérvár by the Cistercians and at Pest by the Piarists. The death of the elder Vörösmarty in 1817 left his widow and numerous family extremely poor. As tutor to the Perczel family, however, Vörösmarty contrived to pay his own way and go through his academical course at Pest.
The activities of the diet of 1825 enkindled his patriotism and gave a new direction to his poetry. He had already begun a drama entitled Salomon. He flung himself ever more recklessly into public life until he fell in love with Etelka Perczel, who socially was far above him. Many of his lyrics concern this unrequited love. Meanwhile, his patriotism found expression in the heroic epic Zalán futása ("The Flight of Zalán", 1824). This new epic marked a transition from the classical to the romantic school.
Henceforth Vörösmarty was hailed by Károly Kisfaludy and the Hungarian romanticists as one of their own. He had forsaken the law for literature, and his financial situation deteriorated. Between 1823 and 1831 he composed four dramas and eight smaller epics, partly historical, partly fanciful. Of these epics he always regarded Cserhalom (1825) as the best, but modern criticism has given the preference to A két szomszédvár ("Two Neighbouring Castles", 1831).
When the Hungarian Academy was established on 17 November 1830 he was elected a member of the philological section, and ultimately succeeded Károly Kisfaludy as director with an annual pension of 500 florins. He was one of the founders of the Kisfaludy Society, and in 1837 started two periodicals: the Athenaeum and the Figyelmező. The first was the chief bellettristic periodical, and the second was the best critical periodical of Hungary.
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