Salomeja neris biography samples free
Lithuanian poet who remains the most popular poet of the Lithuanian language. Name variations: Salomeja Bacinskaite-Buciene or S. Salomeja Neris, Lithuania's most beloved poet, once called her land a "droplet of amber. Despite its small population estimated at 2. Lithuania slowly declined after this, with its aristocracy becoming Polonized.
Only illiterate peasants continued to speak the Lithuanian language and celebrate traditional folkways, but these would be revived by the Romantic movement of the 19th century. A small but growing group of intellectuals defied the tsarist policy of Russification, calling for a linguistic and cultural renaissance based on the Lithuanian language and spirit.
Among the peasantry, the names of pagan divinities, once central to an ancient national mythology, would surface again and again, both in their songs and common speech. Dreams of a free Lithuania had to wait until the world began to change radically in World War I , which brought about an eclipse of Russian power in the Baltic region, made possible the creation of an independent Lithuanian state in November Born Salomeja Bacinskaite in the village of Kirsai near the town of Vilkaviskis, Salomeja Neris could later look back on the first decade of her life as being almost idyllic.
Her family were prosperous peasants and, until German troops occupied Lithuania in the autumn of , food was always plentiful.
Salomėja Nėris' literary biography also required some ideological 'editing' in the Lithuanian school system during the Soviet period.
She grew up with a love of the rural landscape and the rich folklore, lyrical folk songs and fairy tales that were an integral part of Lithuania's peasantry. Although a virtual civil war raged until , Salomeja's life was tranquil, as she immersed herself in books. She devoured the classics, Russian, German and other masterpieces of world literature.
Soon she began to write verse, and in saw her first poem appear in print. In , she published her initial collection of verses, Anksti ryta Early in the Morning.