__NOTOC__ Ján Hollý (contemporary orthography: Gán Hollí; 24 March 1785, Bur-Szent-Miklos – 14 April 1849, Jókő) was a Slovak poet and translator. He was the first greater Slovak poet to write exclusively in the newly standardized literary

Slovak language Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken by appro ...

. His predecessors mostly wrote in various regional versions of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

, Slovakized Czech or

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. Hollý translated

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'' and wrote his own epic

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

in alexandrine verse to show that the Slovak language recently standardized by

Anton Bernolák Anton Dif Bernolák; hu, Bernolák Antal; 3 October 1762 – 15 January 1813) was a Slovak linguist and Catholic priest, and the author of the first Slovak language standard. Life He was born as the second child to a lower noble family in the ...

was capable of expressing complex poetic forms.

Life

Hollý studied in

Skalica Skalica (german: Skalitz, hu, Szakolca, Latin: ''Sakolcium'') is the largest town in Skalica District in western Slovakia in the Záhorie region. Located near the Czech border, Skalica has a population of around 15,000. Etymology The name is deri ...

(Szakolca),

Pressburg Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

(Pozsony) and

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...

(Nagyszombat). He was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest at Madunice (Madunicz) near

Piešťany Piešťany (; german: Pistyan, hu, Pöstyén, pl, Pieszczany , cs, Píšťany ) is a town in Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the country within the Trnava Region and is the seat of its own district. It is the biggest and best kno ...

(Pöstyén), where he wrote all his major works sitting below a big tree. Hollý was an active member of the

Slovak national revival Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

movement. He used the topic of Great-Moravian ruler Svätopluk to encourage the nation, and is regarded as the founding father of Slovak poetry.

Major works

*''Svatopluk'' *''Cyrilo-Metodiáda'' *''Sláv''

External links

References

1785 births 1849 deaths People from Senica District Slovak Roman Catholic priests Slovak poets Catholic poets Slovak translators 19th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests Translators of Virgil {{Slovakia-writer-stub

Life

Major works

See also

External links

References