Václav Bolemír Nebeský (18 August 1818 – 17 August 1882) was a

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, ...

poet active during

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech language, culture and national identity. The most prominent figures o ...

Biography

Václav Bolemír Nebeský was born at the Nový Dvůr estate in the neighbourhood of

Kokořín Kokořín is a municipality and village in Mělník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. Kokořín is known for the Kokořín Castle. Administrative parts Villages of Březinka, Janova Ves, K ...

. He went to high school in

Litoměřice Litoměřice (; german: Leitmeritz) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. The town is the seat ...

. He learned Greek and Latin very well there and this ability helped him to become a translator much later. Then he studied at

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

of Prague. After 1820 he chose to take the typically Czech name of Bolemír. He spent four years in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he worked as a private teacher. When he returned to Prague he continued to be a private educator and he worked for the president of the Czech Museum. He cooperated with other important figures of national revival, among others with Boleslav Jablonský,

Josef Kajetán Tyl Josef Kajetán Tyl (4 February 180811 July 1856; ) was a significant Czech dramatist, writer, and actor. He was a notable figure in the Czech National Revival movement and is best known as the author of the current national anthem of the Czech Re ...

Karel Jaromír Erben Karel Jaromír Erben (; 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) was a Czech folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropol ...

Karel Havlíček Borovský Karel Havlíček Borovský (; Borová, today ''Havlíčkova Borová;'' 31 October 1821 – 29 July 1856) was a Czech writer, poet, critic, politician, journalist, and publisher. Early life and education He lived and studied at the Gymnasium i ...

and

Karel Sabina Karel Sabina (pen names include Arian Želinský and Leo Blass) (29 December 1813 – 8 November 1877) was a Czech writer and journalist. Life Karel Sabina grew up in poverty as an extramarital child of a daughter of a sugar producing factory' ...

. He was also with intimate relation with famous writer

Božena Němcová Božena Němcová () (4 February 1820 in Vienna – 21 January 1862 in Prague) was a Czech writer of the final phase of the ''Czech National Revival'' movement. Her image is featured on the 500 CZK denomination of the Česká koruna. Biograph ...

. He was active during

revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

, known commonly as Spring of Nations. He was elected a deputy at the Austrian Parliament. In 1849 he got tenure at the University but never lectured. Worked as a journalist. Václav Bolemír Nebeský died in Prague in 1882. He has been buried at the

Vyšehrad cemetery Vyšehrad (Czech for "upper castle") is a historic fort in Prague, Czech Republic, just over 3 km southeast of Prague Castle, on the east bank of the Vltava River. It was probably built in the 10th century. Inside the fort are the Basilica ...

in Prague

Works

Václav Bolemír Nebeský was a poet and translator. His best-known work is the poem is ''Protichůdci''. The title means "The men, who go in opposite directions". It was published in 1844. The main hero is the

Wandering Jew The Wandering Jew is a mythical immortal man whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. In the original legend, a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion was then cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming. Th ...

, Ahasver. He is a man weary of life, who longs for death. The hero is probably a symbol of everyone's endeavour and suffering. The poem is written in trochaic pentameter. Nebeský translated many works by ancient authors, for example

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

Aischylos Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, wikt:Αἰσχύλος, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre be ...

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

and

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

. He also published anthologies of Jewish legends in 1881.

References

External links

Protichůdci. Báseň od Václ. Bol. Nebeského, Tisk a sklad Jar. Pospíšila, Praha 1844.

Original poems and translations by Václav Bolemír Nebeský at Czech Wikisource.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nebesky, Vaclav Bolemir 1818 births 1882 deaths People from Mělník District People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Old Czech Party politicians Members of the Imperial Diet (Austria) Czech poets Czech translators Translators from Greek Translators from Latin Burials at Vyšehrad Cemetery Charles University alumni