George Coșbuc (; 20 September 1866 – 9 May 1918) was a

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

n poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many travails but also its occasions for joy. In 1916 he was elected titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

Biography

Early life

Coșbuc was born in Hordou, a village in northeastern

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

. His father, Sebastian Coșbuc, a

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine C ...

priest looked up to by his parish, drew from a line reputed to have yielded fourteen consecutive generations of priests. George attended primary school and graduated to secondary classes in the neighboring village of Telcs (''now: Telciu''). He happily took to the scholarly bent encouraged by his father, earning the praise of instructors and being chosen among the few who were to sign up for advanced courses at ''Liceul Românesc'' (Romanian

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...

), a higher learning academy in the town of

Năsăud Năsăud (; german: Nassod, ''Nußdorf''; hu, Naszód) is a town in Bistrița-Năsăud County in Romania located in the historical region of Transylvania. The town administers two villages, Liviu Rebreanu (until 1958 ''Prislop''; ''Priszlop'') a ...

. He soon found himself doubling as teacher. He began tearing through the library of the institution, impressing colleagues with his encyclopedic inclinations, and joined a local literary club, the ''Virtus Romana Rediviva'', an association his father frowned upon as a deviation for a prospective career as clergyman. In 1884, already a well-loved teacher at the age of 24, he published his very first poems in the yearly almanac of the literary club.

First works

Coșbuc began attending courses at Franz Joseph University in 1884, while collecting fairy tales and popular stories, which he rewrote and published to local success. He became so popular that three years later, he was asked to become editor in chief of the main

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , ...

Romanian newspaper, ''Tribuna''. He soon published what widely became known as his first masterpiece, ''Nunta Zamfirei'' ("Zamfira's Wedding") to enthusiastic praise in Romanian literary circles. He moved to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, the capital of Romania, and the center of cultural discourse in that country. His contributes to the periodical ''

Convorbiri Literare ''Convorbiri Literare'' ( Romanian: ''Literary Talks'') is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania. History and profile ''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by T ...

'' to consistent acclaim. In collaboration with other former educators, he pieced together a praised

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...

textbook: ''Carte românească de citire'' (the "Romanian Book of Reading").

1890s

In 1893, he published ''Balade și idile'' ("Ballads and Pastorals"), a volume which cemented his reputation. He began dabbling in poetry with political subtext, penning the emphatic ''Noi vrem pământ'' ("We Demand Land"), ''Lupta vieții'' ("Life's struggle"), and overviewed the debut of yet another literary magazine, '' Vatra''. In 1895, he married Elena Sfetea. He completed the first Romanian translation of

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: th ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

'' in 1896, and also published a collection of various poems and short stories, ''Versuri și proză'' ("Verses and Prose"). His output as a translator is astonishing: within the span of three years, he published large portions of Kalidassa's

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

'' Abhignānashākuntala'' (some of them through

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

translations), and a new Romanian translation of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...

''. Coșbuc also undertook the translation of various works by

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

. The

deemed him an "''outstanding member''" in 1898. He further contributed to literature by completing, a decade later, the epic effort of translating Dante Aligheri's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

'' in its entirety.

Later life

In December 1901, he joined

Alexandru Vlahuță Alexandru Vlahuță (; 5 September 1858 – 19 November 1919) was a Romanian writer. His best known work is '' România pitorească'', an overview of Romania's landscape in the form of a travelogue. He was also the main editor of ''Sămănătorul ...

in founding and, until 1905, editing the influential magazine ''

Sămănătorul ''Sămănătorul'' or ''Semănătorul'' (, Romanian for "The Sower") was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuță and George Coșbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribun ...

'', a traditionalist publication appealing to those intellectuals who could claim peasant roots. After more than a decade of tremendous success as an author, he experienced personal tragedy in August 1915, when his only son, Alexandru, died in a car accident. Heartbroken, Coșbuc ceased all work. He died three years later in Bucharest, and was buried at

Bellu Cemetery Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania. It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. Th ...

Legacy

The name of his native village was changed from Hordou to Coșbuc in 1925. There are busts of him in the

Cișmigiu Gardens The Cișmigiu Gardens or Cișmigiu Park ( ro, Grădinile Cișmigiu or Parcul Cișmigiu, links=) are a public park in the center of Bucharest, Romania, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important mome ...

of Bucharest, as well as in Arad,

Bistrița (; german: link=no, Bistritz, archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , hu, Beszterce) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of approxima ...

, Cojocna,

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, and

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

. There are several high schools named after the writer, including the George Coșbuc National College in Năsăud (founded in 1863, and named after him in 1919), the in

(founded in 1919, and named after him in 1959), and the George Coșbuc National Bilingual College in Bucharest.

References

Coșbuc
universal_lexikon.deacademic.com *

External links

Romanian Poetry – George Coșbuc (in English)

Romanian Poetry – George Coșbuc (in Romanian)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosbuc, George 1866 births 1918 deaths Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Romania Burials at Bellu Cemetery Catholic poets People from Bistrița-Năsăud County Titular members of the Romanian Academy Romanian Austro-Hungarians Romanian folklorists Romanian Greek-Catholics Romanian magazine editors Romanian newspaper editors 19th-century Romanian poets Romanian male poets Romanian schoolteachers Romanian translators Romanian-language poets 20th-century translators 19th-century translators 19th-century male writers 20th-century Romanian male writers Translators of Virgil Eastern Catholic poets