EMINESCU, MIHAI. - The greatest Romanian poet,
b. at Ipotești (Botoșani) on 15 Jan. 1850, d. at Bucharest on 15 June 1889.

At sixteen he published verses in the journal Familia (1866)
which made him famous; he then attended the faculty of letters
and philosophy in Vienna and Berlin (1869-74); he was a member
of the literary association Junimea (Youth) and subsequently librarian of the University of Iasi, school inspector, editor of the newspaper Timpul (1877-83).

Gnawed by a chronic illness and anguished by political
events, he despaired of the future of his homeland and,
in the last song of revolt of the entire race, the Doina
(5 June 1883), he exhausts his spiritual energy and on
28 June 1883 he loses his reason. His powerful activity includes: The Blue Prince of the Linden (1875);
Colin (1876); The Tale of the Forest (1878); Oh, I remain; The
Prayer of a Dacian (1879); Third Epistle (1881); Under
the Odd Poplars, Diana, Hesperus (1883); The Star in the Sky;
A Single Desire, Doina, the novellas The Poor Dionysius (1872),
and Cesara (1876), besides various political and social essays. The different religious attitudes of the lyrics are explained
as expressions of the states of mind through which
his agitated spirit passed. Buddhism, Giordano Bruno,
Kant and Schopenhauer exercised a strong influence on
him. In the essay Religion (1880), written on the occasion
of the encyclical of Leo XIII against the nihilists and communists, he exalts Catholicism as the assertor of a more
evolved humanity; in the article The Iconographers of Mr.
Baldiman (13 Nov. 1888) he exalts the beauty of Italian
sacred images. He tends toward the projection of the particular
into the universal, whence the cosmic and religious inspiration that
pervades his most intimate song.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Works: Poesie, Italian trans. by R. Ortiz, Florence 1927; Poesie svelte, Romanian text and trans. by U. Cianciolo, Modena 1941. Studies: C. Tughavini, M. M., Rome 1925; Buletiani, M. E., 1930 ff.; G. Bertoni, La poesia di M. E., in Archivum Romani-cum, 1940, p. 3 ff.; P. Giureano, E., Genoa 1946. Perru Urode

@incollection{ec5_eminescu_mirai, author = {Iroaie, Petru}, title = {Eminescu, mirai}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {310}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/eminescu-mirai} }

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Eminescu, Mihai

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