Jurgis Kazimirovic Baltrusaitis

Baltrušaitis, Jurgis Kazimirovič 

Born Apr. 20 (May 2), 1873, in the village of Paantvardžiai, Kaunas Province; died Jan. 3, 1944, in Paris. Lithuanian poet. Wrote in Russian and Lithuanian. Born into a peasant family. Graduated from Moscow University in 1899.

From 1921 to 1939, Baltruŝaitis was the plenipotentiary representative of the Lithuanian Republic in the USSR. He lived in Paris after 1939. His works were first published in 1899. He joined the symbolists. His collections of poems Earthly Steps (1911) and Mountain Path (1912) were published in Russian. His first poems in Lithuanian were published in 1930. In 1942 the collection Garland of Tears was published in Lithuanian. The collection of poems Lily and Death was published posthumously (1948). Philosophic lyrics and individualistic motifs prevail in the poetry of Baltrusaitis.

WORKS

Aŝarų vainikas. Kaunas, 1942.
Poezija. Vilnius, 1967. (With an introduction by V. Kubilius.)

REFERENCE

Briusov, V. Dalekie i blizkie. Moscow, 1912.