Petöfi, Sándor

Pe·tö·fi (pĕtʹə-fē, pĕʹtœ-), Sándor. 1823-1849.

Hungarian lyric poet and revolutionary hero best known for his patriotic songs and the epic poem Janos the Hero (1845).

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born Jan. 1, 1823, Kiskörös, Hung.

died probably 1856, Siberia

Hungarian poet and revolutionary.

He became famous with his first poetry volume, Versek (1844). Before the revolution of 1848 he wrote poems that glowed with political passion; one of them, "Talpra magyar" ("Rise, Hungarian"), became an anthem. He disappeared in battle and was assumed dead in 1849, but archives opened in the 1980s revealed that he was marched to Siberia and died there. His works are characterized by realism, humour, descriptive power, and a peculiar vigour and have a direct style adapted from national folk songs. János vitéz (1845), an entrancing fairy tale, is his most popular epic.

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▪ Hungarian poet

born Jan. 1, 1823, Kiskőrös, Hung.

died , probably 1856, Siberia

      one of the greatest Hungarian poets and a revolutionary who symbolized the Hungarian desire for freedom.

      Petőfi had an eventful youth; he studied at eight different schools, joined for a short time a group of strolling players, and enlisted as a private soldier, but because of ill health was soon dismissed from the army. He traveled extensively in Hungary, mostly on foot. As a schoolboy he displayed a keen interest in the stage and in literature, and his first poem was published in 1842. After years of vicissitudes, in 1844, on the recommendation of Mihály Vörösmarty, then the leading Hungarian poet, he became an assistant editor of the literary periodical Pesti Divatlap. His first volume of poetry, Versek, appeared in the same year and made him famous at once, though the tone of his poems scandalized many. In 1847 he married Julia Szendrey, who inspired his best love poems.

      Petőfi played a leading role in the literary life of the period preceding the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. After 1847, together with Mór Jókai, he edited the magazine Életképek. A fervent partisan of the French Revolution, he castigated the social conditions of his country, attacking the privileges of the nobles and the monarchy. Politically he was an extreme radical and an inspired agitator, but he was lacking in experience and failed to obtain a seat in the Diet. His poems glowed with political passion, and one of them, “Talpra magyar” (“Rise, Hungarian”), written on the eve of the revolution, became its anthem. During the revolution he became the aide-de-camp of General Jozef Bem (Bem, Józef Zachariasz), then head of the Transylvanian army, who had great affection for the somewhat unsoldierly but enthusiastic poet. Petőfi disappeared during the Battle of Segesvár, July 31, 1849. Though for many years his death at Segesvár had been assumed, in the late 1980s Soviet investigators found archives that revealed that he was one of some 1,800 Hungarian prisoners of war who were marched to Siberia. It is believed that he died of tuberculosis in 1856.

      Petőfi's poetry is characterized by realism, humour, and descriptive power and imbued with a peculiar vigour. He introduced a direct, unpretentious style and a clear, unornamented construction adapted from national folk songs. This simplicity was the more arresting as it was used to reveal subtle emotions and political or philosophical ideas. Of his epic poems the János vitéz (1845), an entrancing fairy tale, is the most popular. Petőfi's popularity has never diminished in Hungary.

      A critical edition of Petőfi's works by B. Varjas Béla was published in six volumes, 1948–56.

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