Poetry
Marína
Andrej Sládkovič · 1846
Synopsis
In two hundred and eighty-six stanzas of ten lines and five of eight, each of which forms a self-contained thought, the poet sings of beauty, his love for Marína, Slovakia and youth. The first part, lyrical and narrative, tells of a young man's painful love for a young woman; the second, reflective and at times symbolic, gives this love a social dimension and extends it to the whole country, whose landscapes pass by, Mount Sitno and the Hron.
Context
Written for the most part in the winter of 1844, the poem was published in Pest in 1846. At the congress of the Tatrín society, in 1845, it was judged not Slavic enough; today it is regarded as a central work of Romanticism. The young girl who inspired it, Mária Pischlová, a pupil of the poet, who fell in love with her in 1839, was married off by her mother to a man from a prominent family. Translated into German, Polish, Hungarian and French, it was published in Bratislava in 1969 in a bilingual edition by Charles Moisse and Katarína Ballová.
Who it is for
A very long lyrical and meditative poem, which can be read in French in the 1969 bilingual edition.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the longest love poem in the world, and as one of the summits of Slovak romanticism.