Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/217

 ALEXAN DER PETŐFI WMtlo'wthebtiUhfill41/Jewamors· Ther• let "" rest tili glorious victory Shal l crown 1/Je righl-my bons upgathered b1 Atthe subli"" interment of thejrul W/Jen mil l ion voices shoul their ll l gy Untlw 1/Je unfurled bannws waving high ,· On the gigantic grav1 which covws ali The hwoes, who for frudom fali. And wllcotfi iJ death blcaus1 1/Jey die for thee­ A ll holy l world-deliulring liberty l 203 Petöfi's place in Hungarian poetry is easily defined. He is the greatest Hungarian lyric p oet. Song was the natural and spontaneous expression of · his personality. Feelings were eve r weiling up .in his soul and finding an outlet in song. He was an 11 impressionist " in the highest sense of the word. AU his feelings-patriotism, friend­ ship, . love, anger, political sympathy-quickly rose to passion. "My heart," he once said, 11 is like the echoing fo rest, to one call it responds with a hundred cries." He never endeavoured to maderate his feelings or to sup­ press them. He followed the first írnpulse a nd unre­ strai nedly gave bimself up to the impression of the moment. He enj oyed the glad ness of his heart, and suffered from its sorrow, in a measore quite unknown to other men. " Though the earth were covered with snow, if I could but sow in it the seeds of my joyful spirit, a forest of roses would lighten the winter's gloom." His great capacity of feeling naturally made bim ex­ tremely sensitive and excitable. Sanguine by nature, and full of youthful fervour, he was easily írnpelled to rash deeds, but never to any course wh ich deviated from the path of h onour. He was content with no compromise, could endure no compulsion, and wished to enj oy free­ dom in all its futness and perfection. In the interecurse