Sándor Weöres (; 22 June 1913 – 22 January 1989) was a Hungarian poet and author. Born in

Szombathely Szombathely (; german: Steinamanger, ; see also other alternative names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by t ...

, Weöres was brought up in the nearby village of Csönge. His first poems were published when he was fourteen, in the influential journal ''

Nyugat ''Nyugat'' ( Hungarian for ''West''; pronounced similar to ''New-Got''), was an important Hungarian literary journal in the first half of the 20th century. Writers and poets from that era are referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT" ...

'' ("West"), through the acceptance of its editor, the poet

Mihály Babits Mihály Babits (; 26 November 1883 – 4 August 1941) was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator. His poems are well known for their intense religious themes. His novels such as “The Children of Death” (1927) explore psychological pro ...

. Weöres attended the

University of Pécs The University of Pécs (UP; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Pécsi Tudományegyetem''; PTE) is an institution of higher education in Hungary. The modern university was established in 1912 but has its roots in the medieval university founded ...

, first studying law before moving on to geography and history. He ultimately received a doctorate in philosophy and aesthetics. His doctoral dissertation ''The Birth of the Poem'' was published in 1939. It was in 1937 that he made the first of his travels abroad, going first to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

for a Eucharistic Congress and then visiting Vietnam and India. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Weöres was drafted for compulsory labor, but was not sent to the front. After the end of the war, he returned to Csönge and briefly lived as a farmer. In 1948 Weöres again travelled abroad, living in Italy until 1949. In 1951 he settled in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

where he would reside for the rest of his life. The imposition of Stalinism in Hungary after 1948 silenced Weöres and until 1964 little of his work could be published.

Work

Weöres' translations into Hungarian were wide and varied, including the works of Ukrainian national poet

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...

, the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

poet Rustaveli, the Slovenian poets

Oton Župančič Oton Župančič (January 23, 1878 – June 11, 1949, pseudonym ''Gojko'') was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. ...

and

Josip Murn Aleksandrov Josip Murn, also known under the pseudonym Aleksandrov (4 March 1879 – 18 June 1901) was a Slovene language, Slovene Symbolism (arts), symbolist poet. Together with Ivan Cankar, Oton Župančič, and Dragotin Kette, he was regarded as one o ...

. He translated Indian poet Jai dev's poetry Gita Govinda from Sanskrit. He also translated

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''Venus and Adonis'' and ''Henry VIII'', T. S. Eliot's ''The Waste Land'', the nonsense poems by Edward Lear and

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

, the complete poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé,. His translation of the

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...

continues to be the most widely read in Hungary.

Legacy

Many of Weöres' poems have been set to music.

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music edu ...

composed a choral piece to the text of the 14-year-old poet's poem ''Öregek'' (“Old People”).

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

, a friend of the poet, set several poems from ''Rongyszőnyeg'' and other books in the composition '' Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel''. Composer

Peter Eötvös Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

has composed two pieces, ''Atlantis'' and ''Ima'' with texts from Weöres' poem ''Néma zene'' ("Silent Music"), and in 2013 he composed ''Speaking Drums'' (Four Poems for Percussion Solo and Orchestra) based on the poems by Sándor Weöres. In 1980 the Hungarian filmmaker

Gábor Bódy Gábor Bódy (30 August 1946 – 24 October 1985) was a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, theoretic, and occasional actor. A pioneer of experimental filmmaking and film language, Bódy is one of the most important figures of Hungarian cine ...

adapted the poem Psyché to make the epic feature

Nárcisz és Psyché ''Narcissus and Psyche'' ( hu, Nárcisz és Psyché) is a 1980 Hungarian drama film directed by Gábor Bódy. It was adapted for the screen by Vilmos Csaplar from a Sándor Weöres novel. The film stars Patricia Adriani, Udo Kier, György Cserh ...

Works

Works in English

* ''Eternal Moment: Selected Poems by Sandor Weores'', 1988 * ''Selected Poems'', 1970 * ''Self-portrait: Selected poems by Sándor Weöres'', 1991

Poetry

* ''Hideg van'', 1934 * ''A kő és az ember'', 1935 * ''A teremtés dicsérete'', 1938 * ''Meduza'', 1944 * ''A szerelem ábécéje'', 1946 * ''Elysium'', 1946 * ''Gyümölcskosár'', 1946 * ''A fogok tornáca'', 1947 * ''Bóbita'', 1955 * ''A hallgatás tornya'', 1956 * ''Tarka forgó'', 1958 * ''Tűzkút'', 1964 * ''Gyermekjátékok'', 1965 * ''Merülő Saturnus'', 1968 * ''Zimzizim'', 1969 * ''Psyche'', 1972 * ''Télország'', 1972 * ''Priapos'', written in 1950, published posthumously in 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Weores, Sandor 1913 births 1989 deaths People from Szombathely 20th-century Hungarian poets Hungarian male poets University of Pécs alumni Hungarian children's writers 20th-century Hungarian male writers Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery Baumgarten Prize winners