Page:An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry.pdf/15

Rh was no longer confined to the promulgation of patriotic ideas. It was marked by a broadness of view and a profusion of fresh thought, which showed that the poetry of Bohemia was rapidly fitting itself for a place among the recognized literatures of Europe.

With this rise of Czech poetry are intimately associated the names of such men as V. Hálek (1885-1874), Svatopluk Čech (1846-1908), J. V. Sládek (1845), and Jan Neruda (1834-1901).

Hálek's "Songs of Evening" are full of a sentimental melancholy, which sometimes lapses almost into insipidity. A few extracts from these poems are given here, but it is scarcely fair to judge of Hálek by a translation. The fact is, the contents of his verse are almost too fragile to endure the ordeal of transformation into another language. What in the original is tender and sentimental appears almost grotesque and ridiculous when translated.

Svatopluk Čech is the author of numerous patriotic poems, by one of which, "Our Native Tongue," he is here represented.

J. V. Sládek, who lived for some time in America, is the author of the Czech version of Shakespeare's plays, and of Longfellow's "Hiawatha," besides translations from Tennyson, Byron, Polish and Swedish poets. Neruda, besides excelling as a poet, in his "Cosmic Songs" and "Simple Motives" became famous as a writer of short stories and sketches of Prague life. Čech was also a skilful story-writer.