Otokar Březina
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Otokar Březina, pen name of Václav Jebavý, (September 13, 1868, Počátky – March 25, 1929, Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou) was a Czech poet and essayist, the greatest of Czech or even European symbolists.
Life and work
He was born in 1868 in a small town Počátky. The mysterious landscape of Bohemian-Moravian Highlands (Českomoravská vrchovina), where he he spent his whole life, influenced him a lot. He died in 1929 in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou. Almost the whole of his works he created during the period of 13 years while he was working as a teacher in Nová Říše, a small town with a monastery (where he visited a huge library and studied plenty of books by medieval philosophers – esp. German and French mysticians), and got over the shock of the sudden death of both of his parents. In that time (1895) he deeply pondered upon the sense of life and wrote his first book of poems Tajemné dálky that express the poet's separation from the outer world and his seeking for the solace in arts. In his second book Svítání na západě (1896) he explored the pain and solitude to be the way to cognition and the death to be the key to understanding the mystery of life. His third book, Větry od pólů (1897), means his turn from his personal pain to the questions of human solidarity and his endeavour for the fusion with vital vivacities of the Cosmos; the feeling of belonging to "Everything" is more perceptible in his next book Stavitelé chrámu (where he glorified ingenious ones – the bearers of development) and it culminates in his last book of poems Ruce (1901) in a vision of a magical chain of all the hands building up the ulterior world. Březina's poetical expression, very rich in metaphors and parables, religious elements and philosophical and even scientific terms, merged gradually from the rhytmical alexandrines into the broad free verse, full of sensual imaginations, richness of thoughts and musical appreciation. His books of essays creates the integral part of his work and the huge correspondence could serve as a helpful commentary to his creation and philosophy. His peculiar and soaring poetry influenced a big number of Czech modern poets.Works
- Tajemné dálky (Mysterious Ranges) – 1895, book of poems
- Svítání na západě (Sunrise in the West) – 1896, book of poems
- Větry od pólů (Winds from the Poles) – 1897, book of poems
- Stavitelé chrámu (Builders of the Temple) – 1899, book of poems
- Ruce (Hands) – 1901, book of poems
- Hudba pramenů (Music of the Founts) – 1903, book of essays
- Skryté dějiny (Hidden History) – 1931, book of essays
There are also various discourses and monographs of Otokar Březina. The largest is probably the monograph written by Oldřich Králík in 1948.
See also
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