Selections from the Poems of Alexander Petőfi

What it is

This is a short book of English translations of Petőfi's poems, titled Selections from the Poems of Alexander Petofi. Henry Phillips Jr. translated the poems and printed them privately in Philadelphia in 1885. In his preface, he says he made the translations years earlier while studying the Hungarian language. He later compared them again, because he doubted his own knowledge of Hungarian. The scanned book is available as a PDF from the Internet Archive.

Why it matters

The preface describes Petőfi as one of the most remarkable literary figures of his time, a poet who rose to high rank despite a life of hardship. The translator's own admission of limited knowledge of Hungarian shows how English readers often met the poet through the work of a single translator. The book reflects how Petőfi's reputation as a national symbol of his people spread beyond Hungary.

Look closer

• What does the translator admit about his own knowledge of Hungarian, and how might that affect the poems?
• Why does the preface call Petőfi a 'spell' to conjure his people, and what might that tell you about how he was seen?
• What is left out of a short selection, and how would a reader's view of the poet change with more poems?