A Költészet Napját ünnepeljük ma József Attila versével. 11 April is National Poetry Day in Hungary. We celebrate poetry and remember one of the greatest Hungarian poets, Attila József, who was born on this day in 1905. Let us celebrate both poetry and Attila József today with one of his well-known poems written for his own 32nd birthday and translated masterfully by Peter Zollman. ON MY BIRTHDAY To end my thirty-second year I wrote myself a souvenir – a pretty ditty: a quick impromtu memoir saluting in this coffee-bar my birth on earth. Thirty two years… Without a doubt what Hungary has doled me out was not a lot. I could have been a teacher, but I wear my pencils to the butt for just a crust, for I was sent down from Szeged by the provost, that egg-headed old so and so who picked on my ’With a Pure Heart’ – To save the nation from my art he barred the bard and drew his sword against my kind. His words deserve to be enshrined to shame his name: ’Until I do give up the ghost don’t dream of any teaching post’ – I quote, Unquote. So what matter […]
| to recite | elszavalni |
| ditty | dalocska |
| impromptu | rögtönzött |
| to dole sy out | kiosztani valakit |
| provost | igazgató/felügyelő |
| to bar | kizárni |
| to be enshrined | ereklyeként őrzik |
| to shame | megszégyeníteni |
| to give up the ghost | meghalni |
| graduand | végzős hallgató (egyetemen, főiskolán) |
| crammer | hencegés |
