Poetry
The Song of Romania
Cântarea României
Alecu Russo · 1850
Synopsis
Sixty-five verses in prose, addressed to the country as to a mother. The author first sings of its splendours, its landscapes and its riches, then moves through the great moments of its history, the battles and past glories, the injustices and humiliations it has suffered, before closing on a call to awaken and on the hope of a better future.
Context
The text first appeared in French, anonymously, in Paris in 1850, in România viitoare, the journal of the exiled Romanians; Nicolae Bălcescu translated it into Romanian, and Russo reprinted it in 1855 in Vasile Alecsandri's România literară. Its authorship has been disputed between the two men; it is usually attributed to Russo, with Paul Cornea and Paul E. Michelson seeing a share of Bălcescu in it. The text is built as an exordium, a narration and a peroration, and it is regarded as the first work of poetic prose in Romanian literature.
Who it is for
A short text, in rhythmic prose; a little Romanian history, and that of 1848, helps in following it.
Prizes and reception
Nicolae Iorga saw in it what would suffice to make its author a great name in Romanian letters.
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