Josef Václav Sládek (27 October 1845 in Zbiroh – 28 June 1912 in Zbiroh)[1] was a Czech poet, journalist and translator, member of the literary group Lumírovci, pioneer of children's poetry in Czech lands.[2]
Life
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In 1865, he graduated at the Academic Gymnasium in Prague.[1] In 1867, he became suspected by the Austro-Hungarian police of supporting the Czech opposition movement against the monarchy.[1] In 1868 he moved to United States,[3] where he spent two years working as a laborer. He was interested in the fate of indigenous peoples and blacks. He described his American experience in a collection of poems (titled Poems) and in one prose (American images). His stay in the USA influenced him significantly. Throughout the rest of his life he focused on translating Anglo-American literature. He translated 33 plays by William Shakespeare and other works by Burns, Longfellow, Harte, Byron, Coleridge etc.[4]Less known fact is that Sládek translated the Czech anthem Kde domov můj into English.[5][6]Sládek was a good friend of Antonín Dvořák and from 1897 to 1898 lived in Vysoká u Příbramě close to Dvořák. His poems were set to music by Karel Bendl and Josef Bohuslav Foerster.
Works
Poetry
- Básně (1875)
- Jiskry na moři (1880)
- Světlou stopou (1881)
- Na prahu ráje (1883)
- Ze života (1884)
- Sluncem a stínem (1887)
- Selské písně (1890)
- České znělky
- Starosvětské písničky (1891)
- Směska (1891)
- České písně (1892)
- V zimním slunci (1897)
- Nové selské písně
- Za soumraku (1907)
- Léthé a jiné básně (1908)
References
External links
