National Poetry Day in Hungary

We celebrate the National Poetry Day on April 11^th in homage to our most famous modern poet, Attila József (1905-37). The poem, translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, marks the 32^nd birthday of the poet.

For My Birthday

Upon my thirty-second year –
what a surprise, this poem here,
knicky-
knacky:

a little gift with which I say,
lurking alone in this café:
happy
happy.

Thirty-two years just blew away,
I never made ten doits a day:
hungry,
Hungary.

A pedagogue I might have been,
not this pen-busting, might-have-been,
saddie
laddie.

But no; Herr College Chancellor
showed me the outside of the door:
mocktor
Doctor.

It was a short sharp shock for sure,
my `father’ poem got its cure;
his word
and sword,

that saved the fatherland from me,
evoked my spirit and set free
its name
and flame.

`As long as I have any say
you’ll not teach here a single day’ –
bibble-
babble.

If Mr Antal Horger’s pleased
our poet’s grammar-study’s ceased –
folly’s
jollies –

no high school, but a nation I,
although he like not, by and by
shall teach,
shall teach.

Születésnapomra

Harminckét éves lettem én –
meglepetés e költemény
csecse
becse:

ajándék, mellyel meglepem
e kávéházi szegleten
magam
magam.

Harminckét évem elszelelt
s még havi kétszáz sose telt.
Az ám,
Hazám!

Lehettem volna oktató,
nem ily töltőtoll-koptató
szegény
legény.

De nem lettem, mert Szegeden
eltanácsolt az egyetem
fura
ura.

Intelme gyorsan, nyersen ért
a „Nincsen apám" versemért,
a hont
kivont

szablyával óvta ellenem.
Ideidézi szellemem
hevét
s nevét:

„Ön, amíg szóból értek én,
nem lesz tanár e földtekén" –
gagyog
s ragyog.

Ha örül Horger Antal úr,
hogy költőnk nem nyelvtant tanul,
sekély
e kéj –

Én egész népemet fogom
nem középiskolás fokon
taní
tani! 

The Naming of Cats

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

It isn’t just one of your holiday games;

You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter

When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,

Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,

Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey

All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,

Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:

Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter —

But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,

A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,

Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,

Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,

Such as Munkstrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,

Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum —

Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,

And that is the name that you never will guess;

The name that no human research can discover

But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,

The reason, I tell you, is always the same:

His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation

Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:

His ineffable effable

Effanineffable

Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

T. S. Eliot

A macska neve

A macska nevét kiszemelni felette nehéz,

Nem afféle vasárnapi könnyű mulatság:

És én kijelentem – de ezért ne nézz le -,

Hogy HÁROM NEVET is követel meg macskád.

Egy, amelyen hívogatja naponta a ház,

Mint: Aladár, Jonatán, Kari, Dénes,

Mint: Péter, Salamon, Gyuri és Atanáz –

Mind csupa egyszerű, köznapi név ez.

Cifrábbakat is lelsz, ha nagyon keresel

(Mást, ha uraké s ha kisasszonyoké lesz).

Plátón, Ardzsuna, Perszefoné, Demeter –

Mégis, csupa egyszerű, köznapi név ez.

Ám tudd meg, a macska külön nevet is óhajt,

Büszkébb nevet is, amely övé egyedül:

Másképp hogy is űzi a spájzban a tolvajt,

Holdlepte tetőn hogyan is hegedül?

Ily neveket ha kívánsz, nosza hosszú a listám:

Csimbalabumm, Tyafogány, Kalapetty,

Kraxima, Dzsellifalónia, Bombalurisztán –

Mit soha nem hord több egerész, csakis egy.

Mégse reméld, hogy ezekkel a macska betelne:

Még egy neve van – hanem ezt ne kutasd,

Mert nem fedi fel soha emberi elme –

Ám TUDJA A MACSKA, s a titka marad.

S olykor ha merengve csak ül s elréved macskád,

Nos, annak okát is elárulom én:

Mámoros eszmék töltik a csöppnyi agyacskát,

Úgy töpreng meditál csalafinta nevén:

Rejtett, egyszeri, titkos,

Rejtszeri-titkos,

Agyafúrt, csalafinta NEVÉN!

Ford.: Tótfalusi István

Here are a few ’cat idioms’ for you. Can you match the idioms with their meanings?

Key

1. c.

2. a.

3. d.

4. e.

5. b.

Wondering why this story is so well known in Hungary? According to legends, 500 bards were executed by King Edward I for failing to sing his praises at a banquet in Montgomery Castle in 1277. Their story became the symbol of the passive resistance against the Habsburg oppression in the 19th century in Hungary. The great Hungarian poet János Arany wrote a ballad about it (selling it as a translation of a Welsh song to slip through censorship) after refusing to write a poem celebrating the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, in the decade of the absolutist rule following the defeat of the Hungarian revolution of 1848.

Prof Robert Evans, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, said Hungary considered itself similar to Wales, as a nation that had suffered oppression.

“The idea that the bards refused King Edward was part of the Romantic culture of Britain in the 19th Century,” he said. “It was well known even in Europe but it was picked up by Arany due to [political] circumstances which made it famous.”

The poem was only published after Hungary gained independence.

Since then literally every Hungarian has learnt the poem by heart in school. The poem has been translated into English and Welsh, and Welsh composer Karl Jenkins also wrote a cantata based on it in 2011. This makes a really exciting link between Welsh and Hungarian culture, don’t you think?

‘Local people know very little about it at all. In fact it is only recently that I have been spreading the word about it’, Montgomery Mayor Eric Fairbrother told BBC Radio Wales in March 2017 .

Projection mapping is an exciting new projection technique that can turn almost any surface into an interactive, dynamic video display. Instead of projecting on a flat screen, light is mapped onto any surface –this time on the beautiful facade of the centrally located St John the Baptist Church.

The Hungarian Cultural Centre London organised this spectacular show as the year 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the poem, the Hungarian “Shakespeare of ballads” János Arany. The animation was projected 4 times every hour from 7pm to 10pm on 21 October.

The show was designed by a group of talented Hungarian visual artists, the Glowing Bulbs / Kiégő Izzók.

The event wasn’t the first to celebrate the renowned Hungarian poet in Wales. On the 2nd of March a special celebration of the life of the poet behind “The Bards of Wales” was held in Budapest. The Mayor of Montgomery, Eric Fairbrother, also participated in the event in Hungary and said that the poem was a “great link” between the two countries. During the televised ceremony Mr Fairbrother presented the honorary status of Freeman of Montgomery to the famous poet posthumously.

source: bbc, YouTube

Quite a lot of of Arany János poems have been translated into English. Can you match the Hungarian and the English titles?

Key

1. b.

2. e.

3. d.

4. a.

5. c.

6. g.

7. f.

A videóban szereplő nagykövetek:

Iain Ferrier Lindsay, Egyesült Királyság

Batbayar Olkhonuud Zeneemyadar, Mongólia

Maximiliano Gregorio Cernadas, Argentin Köztársaság

Juraj Chmiel, Cseh Köztársaság

Jerzy Snopek, Lengyel Köztársaság

Eric Fournier, Francia Köztársaság

Liubov Nepop, Ukrajna

Marie-France André, Belga Királyság

Aliaksandr F. Khainouski, Fehéroroszország

Gordan Grlic-Radman, Horvát Köztársaság

Rastislav Káčer, Szlovák Köztársaság

Gajus Scheltema, Holland Királyság

Ksenija Škrilec, Szlovén Köztársaság

Last year Iain Lindsay, British Ambassador to Hungary, surprised the world on 11 April by reading one of Attila József’s poems in Hungarian. The day is celebrated all around the country, and several events are organized to commemorate the poet’s achievements. Many reading circles invite poets and students to recite his poems, and several other poets’ works are also introduced.

József Attila is one of the most significant figures of Hungarian literature; he not only wrote poems, but also spoke several foreign languages such as French and German. His Villon translations are remarkable. József Attila had a short and tragic life; during his 32 years he often suffered atrocities, he was expelled from university because of one of his poems, he suffered from depression, and was also unfortunate in love. These and several other factors led to a nervous breakdown, and later to his death. It’s still unclear if he committed suicide or died in a tragic accident.

Iain Lindsay is reading the poet’s “Tavasz van! Gyönyörű” (It’s spring! Beautiful!) in Hungarian in the video.

“– Azt akartam kifejezni, hogy itt vagyok és kicsit beszélek magyarul. Ezért áprilisban, a költészet napján természetesnek éreztem, hogy magyar verset mondok a közösségi portálon: József Attila Tavasz van! Gyönyörű! című költeményét.” – mondta el Iain Lindsay magyarul egy interjúban.

source: dailynewshungary.com

translated by Watson Kirkconnell

The Bards of Wales is a ballad by Hungarian poet János Arany, written in 1857. Alongside the Toldi trilogy it is one of his most important works.

Arany was asked to write a poem of praise for the visit of Franz Joseph I of Austria, as were other Hungarian poets. Arany instead wrote about the tale of the 500 Welsh bards sent to the stake by Edward I of England for failing to sing his praises at a banquet in Montgomery Castle. The poem was intended as a metaphor to criticise the Habsburg rule over Hungary after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. It was a method of passive resistance to the repressive politics of Alexander von Bach in Hungary, and the planned visit of the monarch.

The poem was written “for the desk drawer” and was first published six years later in 1863, disguised as a translation of an Old English ballad, in order to evade censorship.

The poem is considered to be a manifesto of the passive resistance which led to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. Arany wrote his own preface to the poem:

The historians doubt it, but it strongly stands in the legend that Edward I of England sent 500 Welsh bards to the stake after his victory over the Welsh (1277) to prevent them from arousing the country and destroying English rule by telling of the glorious past of their nation.

The royal form of bardic tradition ceased in the 13th century, when the 1282 Edwardian conquest permanently ended the rule of the Welsh princes. The legendary suicide of The Last Bard (c. 1283), was commemorated in this poem from 1857, as a way of encoded resistance to the suppression of the Habsburg politics of his own time.

The best-known English translation was made by Canadian scholar Watson Kirkconnell in 1933.

In the 6th grade of elementary school, every Hungarian student is required to learn “The Bards of Wales”.

when we were kids

there was a strange house

all the shades were

always

drawn

and we never heard voices

in there

and the yard was full of

bamboo

and we liked to play in

the bamboo

pretend we were

Tarzan

(although there was no

Jane).

and there was a

fish pond

a large one

full of the

fattest goldfish

you ever saw

and they were

tame.

they came to the

surface of the water

and took pieces of

bread

from our hands.

our parents had

told us:

“never go near that

house.”

so, of course,

we went.

we wondered if anybody

lived there.

weeks went by and we

never saw

anybody.

then one day

we heard

a voice

from the house

“YOU GOD DAMNED

WHORE!”

it was a man’s

voice.

then the screen

door

of the house was

flung open

and the man

walked

out.

he was holding a

fifth of whiskey

in his right

hand.

he was about

30.

he had a cigar

in his

mouth,

needed a shave.

his hair was

wild and

and uncombed

and he was

barefoot

in undershirt

and pants.

but his eyes

were

bright.

they blazed

with

brightness

and he said,

“hey, little

gentlemen,

having a good

time, I

hope?”

then he gave a

little laugh

and walked

back into the

house.

we left,

went back to my

parents’ yard

and thought

about it.

our parents,

we decided,

had wanted us

to stay away

from there

because they

never wanted us

to see a man

like

that,

a strong natural

man

with

beautiful

eyes.

our parents

were ashamed

that they were

not

like that

man,

that’s why they

wanted us

to stay

away.

but

we went back

to that house

and the bamboo

and the tame

goldfish.

we went back

many times

for many weeks

but we never

saw

or heard

the man

again.

the shades were

down

as always

and it was

quiet.

then one day

as we came back from

school

we saw the

house.

it had burned

down,

there was nothing

left,

just a smoldering

twisted black

foundation

and we went to

the fish pond

and there was

no water

in it

and the fat

orange goldfish

were dead

there,

drying out.

we went back to

my parents’ yard

and talked about

it

and decided that

our parents had

burned their

house down,

had killed

them

had killed the

goldfish

because it was

all too

beautiful,

even the bamboo

forest had

burned.

they had been

afraid of

the man with the

beautiful

eyes.

and

we were afraid

then

that

all throughout our lives

things like that

would

happen,

that nobody

wanted

anybody

to be

strong and

beautiful

like that,

that

others would never

allow it,

and that

many people

would have to

die.

Charles Bukowski

German-born, Los Angeles-based poet and author who is remembered for his works of dirty realism and transgressive fiction. A writer of novels, poems, short stories, and screenplays, he is known for works such as Factotum, The Last Night of the Earth Poems, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, and Barfly.

Suspected of draft dodging, he was arrested by FBI agents in Philadelphia, and he spent nearly a month in prison during the World War II years.

His poetry deals with the subjects of love, alcoholism, Los Angeles, and poverty.

His memoir Ham on Rye describes his childhood with an abusive father. Bukowski married health food restaurant owner Linda Lee Beighle nine years before his death from leukemia. He had a daughter named Marina.

Actor Mickey Rourke played Bukowski in the 1984 film Barfly.

Judi Dench

Born in England in 1934, Dame Judi Dench made her stage debut in Hamlet in 1957. After building a following for her theatre, film and TV roles, she gained international recognition in the 1990s as a character in the James Bond franchise. Dench won an Academy Award in 1999 for her role in Shakespeare in Love, and earned additional nominations for her work in such films as Chocolat and Philomena.

Dench’s approach to her work is unusual. She famously doesn’t read parts before accepting them, choosing instead to rely on the word of her friends and colleagues to help her make a decision. With her stage work, she often comes to rehearsals not having read the entire play. “Not reading pushes me to a kind of dangerous edge and there is something in me that needs that,” she has explained.

It’s hard to argue with the results. Over the course of her career, Dench has been recognized like few other actors. Along with her 1999 Oscar, she’s received a total of seven Academy Award nominations. She’s also won two Golden Globes, six Lawrence Olivier Awards and 10 British Academy of Film and Television Awards. 

In addition, Dench was named an Order of the British Empire in 1970 and honoured with the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1988. She was recognized with a Fellowship at the Royal Society of Arts in 2006, as well as a Fellowship from the British Film Institute in 2011.

The facts:

1. His father abandoned his family when Poe was one. His childhood and adolescence were plagued by the deaths of those close to him: his mother died when he was 2, his first love when he was 15, and his foster mother when he was 20. His brother died of alcoholism-related illnesses when Poe was 22.

2. He is considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre.

3. Poe had an issue with gambling.

4. In 1835, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia. She was half his age but was listed on the marriage certificate as being 21. The marriage was thought to be brotherly, and some doubt its consummation. Twelve years later, Virginia died of tuberculosis.

5. Poe may have been named after the character Edgar in Shakespeare’s King Lear, a play his parents were performing at the time of his birth.

6. Poe often wrote with his Siamese cat on his shoulder. Poe would place the cat on his shoulder before he commenced writing a poem.

7. His beloved cat Catterina died the same day as Poe, miles apart.

8. In 1849, Poe was found disoriented, wandering the streets of Baltimore in clothes that weren’t his. He was hospitalized for four days but was never coherent enough to explain how he ended up that way before he died. All medical records about his death have been lost, so the cause remains a mystery. Speculation has included heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera, and rabies.

9. Poe invented the word “tintinnabulation” to describe the sound of ringing bells. He first used the word in his poem “The Bells.” where he writes, ‘Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells … From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.’

10. The publication of his renowned poem “The Raven”- perhaps his single best-known work – put Poe on the map. The American football team the Baltimore Ravens are named in honour of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem. This is the only example of a big sports team being named after a work of literature.

11. His masterpiece “The Raven“ made Poe a well-known author in the USA almost overnight. There are stories of children walking behind him on the street and flapping their arms and cawing. He would play along by turning suddenly and saying “Nevermore.”

12. Poe was athletic and handsome, as well as mysterious and brooding. He held a record for swimming six miles up the tidal James River in Virginia, and he enjoyed rowing around Turtle Bay in New York City and hiking through the countryside. He was also a champion long jumper.

13. He was the first person to use the term ‘short story’.

14. Poe carried on writing even after he’d died. At least, if you believe the rather outlandish claim of Lizzie Doten, the psychic medium whose 1863 book, Poems from the Inner Life, included poems which Doten claimed to have received from the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe. 

… and the poem: