Sándor Weöres

Sándor Weöres (in Hungarian naming: Weöres Sándor) (June 22, 1913 in Szombathely - 22 January, 1989 in Budapest) was a Hungarian poet and author.

Born in Szombathely, Weöres was brought up in the nearby village of Csönge. His first poems appeared when he was nineteen, being published in the influential journal Nyugat ("West") through the acceptance of its editor, the poet Mihály Babits. Weöres attended the University of Pécs, studying law first before moving on to geography and history. He ultimately received a doctorate in philosophy and aesthetics. His doctoral dissertation The Birth of the Poem was published in 1939. It was in 1937 that he made the first of his travels abroad, going first to Manila for a Eucharistic Congress and then visiting Vietnam and India. During World War II Weöres was drafted for compulsory labor, but was not sent to the front. After the end of the war, he returned to Csönge and briefly lived as a farmer.

In 1948 Weöres again travelled abroad, residing in Italy until 1949. In 1951 he settled in Budapest where he would reside for the rest of his life. The imposition of Stalinism in Hungary after 1948 silenced Weöres and until 1964 little could be published.

Work

Weöres' translations into Hungarian were wide and varied, and included the works of Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko and the Georgian poet Rustaveli. His translation of the Tao Te Ching continues to be the most widely read in Hungary.

Legacy

Many of Weöres' poems have been set to music. The Hungarian composer György Ligeti, a friend of the poet, set several poems from Rongyszőnyeg and other books. Composer Peter Eötvös has composed two pieces, Atlantis and Ima, with texts from Weöres' poem Néma zene ("Silent Music").

Works

Poetry

• Hideg van, 1934.
• A kő és az ember, 1935.
• A teremtés dicsérete, 1938.
• Meduza, 1944.
• A szerelem ábécéje, 1946.
• Elysium, 1946.
• Gyümölcskosár, 1946.
• A fogok tornáca, 1947.
• Bóbita, 1955.
• A hallgatás tornya, 1956.
• Tarka forgó, 1958.
• Tűzkút, 1964.
• Gyermekjátékok, 1965.
• Merülő Saturnus, 1968.
• Zimzizim, 1969.
• Psyche, 1972.
• Télország, 1972.
• Priapos, written in 1950, published posthumously in 2001.