Light within the Shade: Eight Hundred Years of Hungarian Poetry

The
pure verbal energy characterizing Hungarian poetry may be regarded as one of the most striking components of Hungarian culture. More
than 800 years ago, under the inspiration of classical and medieval Latin
poetry, Hungarian poets began to craft a rich chain of poetic designs, much of it in response to the country’s cataclysmic history. With precision,
depth, and great intensity, these verses give accounts of their authors’ vision
of themselves as participants in history and their most personal experience
in the world.

Light within the Shade includes 135 of the most important
Hungarian poems ranging from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century.
Organized in chronological order, the poems are followed by an essay by Ozsvath providing the historical, biographical, and cultural background of the
poets and the poetry. The book concludes with Turner’s essay on the special thematic and literary qualities of Hungarian poetry, as well as notes
on translation practices. This essential volume exposes English-speaking
readers to Hungarian poetry’s artistic achievement in history and culture,
its evolutionary development as a tradition, and its significance within
the context of world literature.