Antonín Sova
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Antonín Sova (26 February 1864 – 16 August 1928) was a Czech
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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and the director of Prague Municipal Library.


Life

He was born in
Pacov Pacov (; ) is a town in Pelhřimov District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,700 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban mo ...
, a small town in South Bohemia, then part of the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
, but from the age of two he grew up in nearby Lukavec.Josef Zika: Cesta básníkova, životopisná poznámka in Pozdrav bouřlivé noci, Prague 1964, pp. 87–104 His father Jan was a
teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
and
choirmaster A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
who occasionally composed.Čeští spisovatelé 19. a počátku 20. století, Prague 1982, pp. 241–245 His mother died when he was 15 and his father married again (Sova never had a positive relationship with his stepmother Sabina). In Lukavec Antonín became acquainted with the sisters of
Jaroslav Vrchlický Jaroslav Vrchlický (; 17 February 1853 – 9 September 1912) was a Czech people, Czech lyrical poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel prize in literature eight times. Life He was born Emilius Jakob Frida in Louny ...
. He studied at the grammar school in
Pelhřimov Pelhřimov () is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monument reser ...
,
Tábor Tábor (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populated town in the region. The town was founded by the Hussites in 1420. The historic town centre is well pres ...
, and from 1881 to 1885 in
Písek Písek (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 31,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the oldest bridge in the country. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument z ...
. He met the Písek-based poet
Adolf Heyduk Adolf Heyduk (6 June 1835 – 6 February 1923) was a distinguished Czech poet and writer, a representative of the May School. He is best known internationally because of his poem cycle ''Gypsy Melodies'' that were set to music by Antonín Dvoř ...
who helped him publish his first poems in literary magazines (he used the pen-names Ilja Georgov and for
Lumír ''Lumír'' is a weekly literary magazine that was established in 1851 by Ferdinand Břetislav Mikovec. It was the focal point of the neo-romantic nationalist poet Jaroslav Vrchlický and his Ossianic followers.Arne Novák & William Edward Harkin ...
Valburga Turková). While at school he received the worst possible mark for morale because he ignored the interdict and wore a Czech tricolor tie in a park. He started studying law in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
but he did not finish for lack of money. Jaroslav Vrchlický helped him find employment in Otto's encyclopedia editorial department which lasted for only a year. His next job was at the medical department of the Prague municipality. Eventually, from 1898 till he retired, he worked as a director of the Prague Municipal Library. He married Marie Kovaříková, who was almost 20 years younger, in 1900, and had a son Jan with her a year later.Municipal Library of Písek: Antonín Sova Their marriage broke up after several years, though. The poet contracted a disease that paralysed him for the last two decades of his life (probably
syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...
). After the constitution of Czechoslovakia in 1918 he lived in Prague and was often visited by younger poets of various styles and political inclinations. In 1924 he moved "in his horsehair grave" to Pacov, where he died on a stormy August night in 1928. The funeral took place in Prague but his ashes were taken to a granite stone in Pacov.


Early literary career

In 1897 Sova was among the writers who established the first Czech official literary association, called Máj. His first published poetry collections were (Realistic strophes, 1890), (Flowers of Intimate Moods, 1891), (From My Country, 1893), (Compassion and Defiance, 1894), and (Broken Soul, 1895). Sova was a supporter of the progressive national movement of the 1890s connected with the
Omladina Trial In 1894, the Omladina Trial, convened in the Austro-Hungarian regional capital of Prague, ostensibly placed Czechs, Czech anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism before the court as well as specifically convicting 68 Czech Nationalists of radical acti ...
. Together with 11 other writers he signed the manifesto called Česká moderna in 1895 to demand free speech, social reforms and individualism in art. The reflection of the manifesto in Sova's work is the collection (Uprisen Griefs, 1897).


Theodor Mommsen

In 1897
Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...
wrote a nationalist letter addressed to Germans in Austria (''An die Deutschen in Österreich'') and it was published in Vienna's ''Neue Freie Presse''. Mommsen called
Czechs The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...
"apostles of barbarism" and wrote that "the Czech skull is impervious to reason, but it is susceptible to blows". Antonín Sova wrote an answer in verses, ''To Theodor Mommsen''. The poem, in which he calls Mommsen a "covetous dotard" and an "arrogant spokesman of slavery", became the national answer to the German imperialism of that time, and Sova started to be one of the most famous poets of his generation.


Later work

*''Údolí nového království'' (Valley of a New Kingdom, 1900), ''Dobrodružství odvahy'' (Adventures of Courage, 1906) – collections of social poetry, the new utopian kingdom is a symbol of hope *''Ještě jednou se vrátíme'' (We Will Return Once More, 1900) – intimate poetry about passionate love and the bitterness of life *''Lyriky lásky a života'' (Lyrics of Love and Life, 1907), ''Drsná láska'' (Scathing Love, 1927) – collections of poems about falling into and recovering from love *''Povídky a menší črty'' (1903), ''O milkování, lásce a zradě'' (1909) – collections of short stories *''Ivův román'' (Ivo's Novel, 1902), ''Výpravy chudých'' (The Poor's Tours, 1903), ''Tóma Bojar'' (1910) – psychological and social novels *''Pankrác Budecius, kantor'' (Pankrác Budecius the Teacher, 1916) – novel about a rural teacher in the 18th century


References


External links


Biography and works
(in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sova, Antonin 1864 births 1928 deaths People from Pacov People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech poets Czech male poets Symbolist poets Poets from Austria-Hungary