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Jaroslav Vrchlický | |
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 Portrait of Jaroslav Vrchlický byJan Vilímek | |
| Born | Emil Bohuslav Frída (1853-02-17)17 February 1853 |
| Died | 9 September 1912(1912-09-09) (aged 59) |
| Resting place | Slavín |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Alma mater | Charles University |
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| Spouse | Ludmila Podlipská |
| Children | Eva Vrchlická |
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| Signature | |
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Jaroslav Vrchlický (Czech pronunciation:[ˈjaroslavˈvr̩xlɪtskiː]; 17 February 1853 – 9 September 1912) was aCzech lyrical poet. He was nominated for theNobel prize in literature eight times.[1]
He was bornEmilius Jakob Frida inLouny.[2]He lived ten years with his uncle, a pastor nearKolín. Here he attended the first years of primary school from 1857 to 1861), and the briefly in Kolín from 1861 to 1862.[3] He studied at a grammar school inSlaný from 1862, where he was a classmate ofVáclav Beneš Třebízský, also in Prague and in 1872 graduated fromKlatovy.
Guided by his uncle's example, Vrchlický joined after graduating from the Prague Archbishop's seminary. But in 1873, he transferred to the Faculty of Arts ofCharles-Ferdinand University in Prague, where he studiedhistory,philosophy and Romance philology. During his studies he studied with historianErnest Denis.His first literary work was printed by editorSofie Podlipská.
In Prague, he formed friendships withZikmund Winter,Josef Václav Sládek andAlois Jirásek. They formed the group Lumírovci.
From 1875, he worked as a secretary and tutor to the sons of noble familyMontecuccoli-Laderchi, first inMerano, and laterLivorno. After returning briefly he worked at thepedagogical institute in Prague in Manor Street. Through the intercession ofLeopold, Count von Thun und Hohenstein, in 1877 he was appointed secretary of the Prague Czech Polytechnic, and later became aprofessor ofmodern science and was awarded an honorarydoctorate.
In 1901 he, along withAntonín Dvořák, was knighted, and Austrian EmperorFranz Joseph I. appointed him a member of the Upper House of the Imperial Council inVienna. Vrchlický defended the requirement ofuniversal suffrage. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Padua, a member of the Polish Society ofParis and also an honorary citizen of many Czech towns. In 1893 he was appointed professor ofEuropean literature atCharles University. He was also a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts (appointed by the Emperor 20 April 1890).At that time (1903–1904) he also became acquainted withMilan Rastislav Štefánik.[4]
He also wroteepic poetry, plays,prose and literary essays and translated widely from various languages, introducing e.g.Dante,Goethe,Shelley,Baudelaire,Poe, andWhitman toCzech literature. He was one of the main voices inLumír magazine from 1851.
Vrchlický's life was the subject of a 1997 novel,Za trochu lásky....
During and even after his life, Vrchlický was never universally positively acknowledged. His foreign orientation became a source of criticism in the late 1870s, he was deemed to be overlooking local thematic and, in effect, the needs of the Czech national life.Eliška Krásnohorská recognized his poetic talent, but had objections to the romantic utilization of foreign sources, which, in her view, didn't contribute to the fight for national independence.[5]
At the beginning of the 1890s, a time when he was considered to be the greatest Czech poet and received numerous official awards, he came into conflict with the younger generation of poets and literary critics, who saw his works as superficial, lacking in originality and heavy with clichés. He was viewed as a symbol of the past, which he took very hard.[3][5] Examples of these critics are (the three years older)Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who only viewed him as a good translator, andF. X. Šalda.
Only in the last period of his artistic creation, when he managed to once more create unconventional verse, was he acknowledged by the younger generation ofS.K.Neumann andK.Toman.[5] The generation following (e. g.Viktor Dyk,Lev Blatný andJaroslav Seifert) subsequently fully understood the merit of his work. Today he is often viewed as one of the greatest Czech poets of all times.
Vrchlický's expansive work contains about 270 volumes, including over 80 poetry collections and 50 plays. Vrchlický tried to prove that Czech is a language that can express everything. He wanted to write poetry that would be comparable to other European works and move the Czech literature to a higher level.
Vrchlický's early poetry expresses his perception of life through natural motifs. It deals with love experiences, youthful pessimism and artistic self-doubt. His reflections are shown in natural imagery, his poems praise the ideals of art and beauty.[5] It is represented mainly by the collections:
Romantic and intimate poetry forms an important part of Vrchlický's work. This poetry, initially full ofpagan mythology, later very personal, has woman at its focal point. He convincingly expressed all subtleties of romantic relationship and marital and family happiness. It is represented by:
Some of his collections contain very complicated stanza forms, which he used to enrich Czech poetry. Complex composition is very notable in:
Collections ofsonnets form a separate category, which he wrote throughout his life. There is no common theme, but all depict his feeling and emotions:
1890s works share a common theme of Vrchlický'sexistential crisis and express the feelings of melancholy,pessimism, disillusionment and resignation:
Vrchlický's late works show calm, balance and a new belief in the meaning of life and work. After the previous weakening of creativity his poetry became less pathetic and hasty. The verse is simpler and more melodic.
Freely composed cycle of both epic andlyric poems which tries to depict the advancement of humanity and path towardshumanism. The vast poetry collections which contain all most all of Vrchlický's epic poetry are not chronologically sorted.[6]
Vrchlický wrote prose only occasionally and mostly short stories.[5]
His plays were written for the National Theatre in Prague, which was constructed in his thirties (1881). He wrote more than 30 dramas, some of them asverse drama. He also wrote severallibrettos with stories from Czech history or foreign literature.[7]
Media related toJaroslav Vrchlický at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or aboutJaroslav Vrchlický atWikisource