Bust of Ferenc Kolcsey

Kölcsey was born in Sződemeter, Hungary (now Săuca, Romania). He was orphaned at an early age and handicapped by the loss of an eye to smallpox. At age fifteen, he made the acquaintance of Ferenc Kazinczy and adopted his linguistic reforms. In 1809 Kölcsey went to Pest and became a notary to the Royal board. He was disenchanted with the office, and, while present in the Cseke in Szatmár, he devoted his time to aesthetical study, poetry, criticism, and the defense of Kazinczy's theories.Kölcsey's early metrical pieces contributed to the Transylvanian Museum did not attract much attention, while his severe criticisms of Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, János Kis, and especially Dániel Berzsenyi, published in 1817, rendered him very unpopular. From 1821 to 1826 he published many separate poems of great beauty in the Aurora, Hebe, Aspasia, and other magazines of polite literature. He joined Pál Szemere in a new periodical, styled Élet és Literatúra (Life and Literature), which appeared from 1826 to 1829, in 4 vols., and gained for Kölcsey the highest reputation as a critical writer.From 1832 to 1835 he sat in the Hungarian Diet, where his extreme liberal views and his eloquence soon rendered him famous as a parliamentary leader. Elected on 17 November 1830 a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he took part in its first grand meeting; in 1832, he delivered his famous oration on Kazinczy, and in 1836 that on his former opponent Dániel Berzsenyi. In 1838, when the opposition leader Miklós Wesselényi was thrown into prison upon a disputed charge of treason, Kölcsey conducted his defense with noted eloquence, but without success. He died about a week afterwards at Cseke, from internal inflammation.Kölcsey's strong moral sense and deep devotion to his country are reflected in his poems, his often severe but masterly literary criticism, and his funeral orations and parliamentary speeches. His collected works, in 6 volumes, were published at Pest, 1840–1848, and his journal of the Diet of 1832–1836 appeared in 1848. The first collected edition of all his works appeared in 1886–87.A monument erected to the memory of Kölcsey was unveiled at Szatmárnémeti on 25 September 1864. His poem Himnusz (1823), evoking the glory of Hungary's past, became the national anthem of Hungary.科尔采伊（Kölcsey）出生于匈牙利的塞德迈泰尔（现罗马尼亚萨乌卡）。他幼年便沦为孤儿，又因天花失明一眼，落下终身残疾。十五岁时，他结识费伦茨·卡津奇（Ferenc Kazinczy），并采纳了后者的语言改革主张。1809年，科尔采伊前往佩斯，担任王室委员会的公证员。他对这份公职深感失望，在萨特马尔的切凯居住期间，他将精力投入到美学研究、诗歌创作、文学批评以及为卡津奇的理论辩护之中。 科尔采伊早年发表在《特兰西瓦尼亚博物馆（Transylvanian Museum）》的格律作品并未引起太多关注，而他1817年发表的对米哈伊·乔科奈·维特兹、亚诺什·基什，尤其是达尼埃尔·贝尔泽尼的尖锐批评，却让他声名狼藉。1821年至1826年间，他在《曙光》《赫柏》《阿斯帕西娅》等高雅文学期刊上发表了多篇优美的独立诗作。他与帕尔·塞迈雷共同创办了新期刊《生活与文学（Élet és Literatúra）》，该刊于1826年至1829年间发行，共四卷，也让科尔采伊作为文学批评家获得了极高声望。 1832年至1835年，他任职于匈牙利国会，其极端自由的政见与雄辩的口才很快让他成为知名的议会领袖。1830年11月17日，他当选为匈牙利科学院（Hungarian Academy of Sciences）院士，并参与了科学院首次盛大集会；1832年，他发表了纪念卡津奇的著名演说，1836年又发表了针对昔日对手达尼埃尔·贝尔泽尼的演说。1838年，反对派领袖米克洛什·韦塞莱尼因一项存争议的叛国指控被投入监狱，科尔采伊以出色的口才为其辩护，但未能成功。约一周后，他在切凯因内脏炎症去世。 科尔采伊强烈的道德观念与对祖国的深切热爱，体现在他的诗歌、虽严苛却精湛的文学批评，以及葬礼演说与议会演讲之中。他的文集共六卷，于1840年至1848年间在佩斯出版；他1832年至1836年的国会日记也于1848年问世。其所有作品的首套完整合集则于1886年至1887年出版。 1864年9月25日，一座纪念科尔采伊的纪念碑在萨特马尔瑙梅蒂举行揭幕仪式。他1823年创作的诗歌《赞歌（Himnusz）》，讴歌了匈牙利往昔的荣光，后来成为匈牙利国歌。