Ion Pillat (31 March 1891 – 17 April 1945) was a distinguished

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. He is best known for his volume ''Pe Argeș în sus'' (''Upstream on the Argeș'') and ''Poeme într-un vers'' (''One-line poems''). His maternal grandfather was

Ion Brătianu An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

. He studied at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

from 1910 to 1914, returning to Bucharest after obtaining a law degree.

Biography

Childhood

Ion Pillat was born on 31 March 1891, in Bucharest. The Pillats were an old family of free farmers, originally from on the

Prut The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth; , uk, Прут) is a long river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube. In part of its course it forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine. Characteristics The Prut originates ...

river. His father, Ion N. Pillat, was a landowner and parlimenarian. His mother, Maria Brătianu, was the second daughter of the political leader Ion C. Brătianu. His elementary education took place in the town of Pitești. In 1910, he enrolled in a student at the Sorbonne, where he studied mainly literature, history and geography, but he also studied law. Titu Maiorescu published some of his poems in 1911 in Convorbiri literare. In 1912, while on holiday in Bucharest, he met

Alexandru Macedonski Alexandru Macedonski (; also rendered as Al. A. Macedonski, Macedonschi or Macedonsky; 14 March 1854 – 24 November 1920) was a Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in h ...

, to whom he published the volume Flori sacre. Ion Pillat, together with Horia Furtună, founded the collection White Books, in which the poets of the time were to be published; the debut volume of the entire collection was Sacred Flowers.

Adolescence and studies in France

At the age of fourteen, he finished a course of study at

Saint Sava National College The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...

in Bucharest. His mother brought him, together with his younger brother Niculae and younger sister Pia, to study at the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges (''lycées'') in France. The school educates more than ...

in Paris, living on the

Boulevard Saint-Michel Boulevard Saint-Michel () is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the other being Boulevard Saint-Germain. It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the Pont Saint-Michel on the Seine and Place Saint-Michel, cross ...

. During a trip to

Chartres Cathedral Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly con ...

, inspired by the

gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...

, he composed his first poem, În catedrală ("In the cathedral"). He enrolled in the SorbonneJean-Yves Conrad, ''Roumanie, capitale…Paris'', Oxus, Collection Les Roumains de Paris, 2006, . to study liberal arts and law, obtaining degrees in 1913 and 1914, respectively.

References

Romanian male poets University of Paris alumni Writers from Bucharest Gândirea Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy 1891 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Romanian poets {{Romania-writer-stub