Poetry
On the Changes in France
A franciaországi változásokra
János Batsányi · 1790
Synopsis
Eight lines in a single movement. The poet addresses first the nations and countries that groan under the yoke and weep for their lost freedom, then those who rule over them and hold them in chains. Of both he asks, so that they may read their own fate in advance, to turn their attentive eyes towards a particular place.
Context
The poem appears in the Magyar Museum, the journal the author founded and soon edited alone, the first Hungarian-language literary journal. Eight twelve-syllable lines rhymed in pairs form a single sentence: the first six contain two apostrophes, the last two an exhortation. In 1792, under Francis II, the censors banned it and had the pages already printed withdrawn; the journal was suppressed soon afterwards.
Who it is for
Eight lines, a single sentence, read in a minute; the last line still serves as the title of tributes paid to the poet.
Prizes and reception
A vigorous warning addressed to tyrants, according to Britannica; the censors banned it three years after it was written.
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