Petofi, Sándor

Petőfi, Sándor (shän`dôr pĕ`töfē), 1823–49, Hungarian poet and patriot. A failure as an actor, Petőfi became the author of exquisite lyrics. He composed the national poem "Talpra Magyar" (1848), and several epics, including Janos Vitez (1845, tr. 1866). His poetry served as inspiration to the patriots of the Hungarian revolution, in which he was killed.

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Petofi, Sándor

(born Jan. 1, 1823, Kiskorös, Hung.—died probably 1856, Siberia) Hungarian poet and revolutionary. He became famous with his first poetry volume, Versek (1844). Before the revolution of 1848 he wrote poems that glowed with political passion; one of them, “Talpra magyar” (“Rise, Hungarian”), became an anthem. He disappeared in battle and was assumed dead in 1849, but archives opened in the 1980s revealed that he was marched to Siberia and died there. His works are characterized by realism, humour, descriptive power, and a peculiar vigour and have a direct style adapted from national folk songs. János vitéz (1845), an entrancing fairy tale, is his most popular epic.