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LYRIC AND DRAMATIC POETS BEFORE 1848

its very beginning the nineteenth century was favourable to literature. In the year in which Kazinczy left his prison, a little volume was published containing four hundred short love songs, all of them written in the same form. It was the first volume of poetry to capti­vate the reading public. Young men learned the poems by heart, ladies treasured the volume, and the pieces written in their albums were usually selected from it. The author of the book, (1772–1844), was a young man of twenty-eight, who a little while before had been fighting against Napoleon as an officer in the army. Fifteen years later, his younger brother, Charles, also commenced his activity as a writer. The two brothers occupy an important place in Hun­garian literature. They were both leaders and pioneers, fond of embarking on great literary enterprises. Their talents were, however, very different in character, and their activity pursued different lines.

Alexander, the elder, was a lyric poet, while his brother was the first to write original Hungarian dramatic poetry. Alexander, who was of a tranquil and happy disposition, wrote sentimental poems. Charles, who was inclined to melancholy, wrote comedies. The elder brother was a type of the sensible country gentleman. The younger