hulit1-4, Exercise 1: Arany and Petofi

Model answer (check the details):

Backgrounds: both came from modest backgrounds. Petofi (1823 to 1849) wrote young, joined the revolution and died in the war. Arany (1817 to 1882) lived a long life, worked as a teacher, clerk and then head of the Academy, and was Petofi's close friend.

Styles: Petofi wrote plainly, with folk-song forms, direct feeling, humour and political passion. Arany was a master of metre and craft, who drew on folk language and rhythm but built longer, more controlled works, notably epic narrative and dark ballads.

Contributions: Petofi gave Hungarian poetry the voice of the common man and the energy of the revolution. Arany gave it formal mastery, a body of narrative and ballad poetry and a sombre depth, especially after 1849.

Together they are often named as the two pillars of nineteenth-century Hungarian poetry, with Petofi as the poet of the moment and Arany as the poet of the long aftermath (check the wording of the comparison).