Janos Garay

Janos Garay Poems

Janos Garay Biography

János Garay (October 10, 1812 – November 5, 1853) was a Hungarian poet and author, was born in Szekszárd, Tolna County. From 1823 to 1828 he studied at Pécs, and subsequently, in 1829, at the University of Pest. In 1834 he brought out an heroic poem, in hexameters, under the title Csatár. Garay was an energetic journalist, and in 1838 he moved to Bratislava, where he edited the political journal Hírnök (Herald). He returned to Pest in 1839, when he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1842 he was admitted into the Kisfaludy Society, of which he became second secretary. Garay enriched Hungarian literature with numerous lyrical poems, ballads and tales. The first collection of his poems was published in Pest; and his prose tales appeared in 1845, under the title of Tollrajzok (Sketches with the Pen). His historical ballads and legends, styled Árpádok (Pest, 1847, 2nd ed. 1848), showed him to be a master in the art of ballad-writing. Some of his lyrical poems also are excellent, as, for example, Balatoni kagylók (Shells from the Balaton Lake) (Pest, 1848). His legend Bosnyák Zsófia (Pest, 1847), and his poetical romance Frangepán Kristófné (Christopher Frangepan's Wife) (Pest, 1846), gained the prize of the Kisfaludy Society. His last and most famous work was an historical poem in twelve cantos, with the title Szent László (Saint Ladislaus) (Eger, 1852, 2nd ed., Pest, 1853, 3rd ed. 1863). Garay was professor of Hungarian language and literature to the University of Pest in 1848-1849. Since he was frail he supported the 1848 Revolution for freedom through his poetry. When the Revolutionaries lost he was condemned by the Habsburgs. After about four years illness he died in 1853, in great want. A collective edition of his poems was published in Pest the year after his death by F. Ney (2nd ed. 1860), and several of his poems were translated by Kertbeny. His birthplace of Szekszárd has a statue to honor him.)

The Best Poem Of Janos Garay

The Old Veteran And Napoleon

There were three at one table: the pot-bellied judge
- the hero on half-pay - the journalist drudge;
and scattered about, from their tables a-gape,
were peasant lads drinking the juice of the grape.

From vespers already they'd sat at their swilling,
in health after health all their glasses refilling;
and toasts to King Mátyás brought less off the shelf
than Háry, the veteran, drank to himself.

There was reason for all the big noise and hurrah,
for the peer of that hero six towns never saw.
All eyes and ears gaped at his utterance bold;
The world was agog at the tales that he told.

So now, lifting up the quart stein in his hand,
he tells new adventures by sea and by land,
recounts where and what he accomplished and heard
- and silently everyone hangs on his word.

He smashed whole armadas asunder alone;
had gone, with a comrade, to oceans unknown;
had hung his tent round with French heads in his mirth,
and dangled his legs off the edge of the earth.

'But you've heard nothing yet!' he would gravely protest;
and all would crowd closer to hear out the rest.
'What! Nought?' - says the judge. 'Why, what more could remain?
Drink, comrade!' And everyone drinks like a drain.

' 'Tis true,' cries a student, on mischief now bent,
'the best is to come!' and they listen intent.
'You lads will know nothing, unless he relate
how 'Uncle' once captured Napoleon the Great?'

'Ahem!' - said the hero. 'Napoleon's a joke.
He's 'Great' with the French and the likes of such folk.
But with Magyars, God knows, it is different by far
- And he's nothing at all to a Magyar hussar!'

By this, 'twas himself he referred to, of course,
although he had never once ridden a horse;
so often, however, he'd mentioned his steed,
he'd become, in his thinking, a trooper indeed.

'Well, once - the exact time and place I forget
- with 'Nap' and full two hundred thousand we met;
against them just one or two hundred we came,
all fine trim hussars, made of fire and flame!'

The mischievous student here sneezed a great sneeze,
but Háry continued his tale quite at ease:
'Two hundred against those vast thousands and more!
Judge, what is your verdict? Who settled the score?'

'Who settled the score?' said the judge. 'If I'm right,
your captain had sense, and avoided the fight!'
'He'd sense,' cried the other, 'but courage as well!
You bet that we fought them, and how those French fell!

The foremost I struck at those foemen so fickle,
and the French toppled down, like grass at the sickle.
The sun stopped to gaze at a marvel so mad:
two hundred beat two hundred thousand, by Gad!'

A terrible sneeze sneezed the student once more,
but Háry continued his tale as before:
'The French fled already, like weeds in the wind;
we Magyars rode after in haste unchagrined.

And lo, their Great Leader I saw, if you please,
on a horse with gold stirrups, outracing the breeze!
Then after, I spurred my stallion so good,
and gallantly caught him beside a great wood.

'By Heaven!' I cried, as grabbed his fat ,
'Confess you're Napoleon, and don't play the goat'
- 'What's true, Sir, is true,' he replied. 'I am Nap.
But spare me? I'll pay you right well, my good chap.

Yes, ask what you will, my brave Magyar, I swear
The French King has treasures enough and to spare!
'By Gad, Sire,' cried I. 'Not so hasty away!
Come along, you damned Frenchman, you're captured to stay!'

The student once more sneezed a terrible sneeze,
but Háry continued, as bold as you please:
'Well, onward we went, we arrived on the plain,
where a fine coach-and-six just before us drew rein.

A most noble lady that carriage did hold;
her dress was all heavy with diamonds and gold.
At the sight of us two, 'Jesus, save us!' she cried;
for 'twas Marie Louise, the Great Emperor's bride.

'O mighty Napoleon, what sight do I see!
Alas, Royal Husband in fetters!' - says she.
'Who are you my good Sir, who've captured my lad?'
- 'I'm trooper John Háry,' I answered, 'by Gad!'

'Now hark what I say, my good Sir,' she replies,
and with that the fair lady looks deep in my eyes,
'your deed most heroic was never outsoared
by Magyar on earth, and deserves a reward.

Set free your great captive, and you may reply
that I will be yours till the day that I die!'
- 'By Gad, Royal Madam,' I cried. 'Trust to me!
I understand honour. My prisoner goes free!

For a beautiful woman true knights will endure
both fire and water, and Hell, to be sure.
I'm trooper John Háry, a Magyar of zeal,
Step up Mr. Emperor! Shake on the deal''

The student's loud sneeze was more terrible still,
but Háry concluded his tale with a will:
'I spoke, and the king rushed away like a sheep,
but he pressed in my hands two gold watches to keep.

My captain got one - him I loved like a brother
- And later my subaltern asked for the other.
By Gad, if I'd kept one, 'twould prove every jot
- but that is my tale, friends, believe it or not!'

Believe it they did, though, the pot-bellied judge,
the bright peasant lads, and the journalist drudge;
while the mischievous student drank deep, and in mirth
cried: 'Our Uncle Háry's the best on the earth!'

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