Arghezi, Tudor (1880–1967)

Romanian poet, pamphleteer, essayist, and novelist. His life as a monk and experiences of imprisonment for political writing provided inspiration for his poetry and novels. Two cycles of poems, 1907 (1955) and Cîtare omului/Ode to Man (1956), elevated Arghezi to the status of a classic writer.

Life Arghezi was born in Bucharest. His first poems were published by Macedonski in 1896. Three years later he became a monk, but returned to writing and in 1904 contributed to a new journal, Linia dreapta. He made his name as a fiery polemicist with the review Viata sociala and his own journal Cronica. In 1918 he was imprisoned for contributing to a newspaper published under the German occupation. Again during World War II, a pamphlet attacking the German ambassador led to Arghezi's internment 1943. After the war, brief literary activity was followed by silence from 1948 until 1954.

Work Recognition came with the volume of poetry Cuvinte potrivite/Words Made to Measure (1927), whose poems express the anguish of a soul in search of God and identify the poet with the land and the peasant. The novel Icoane de lemn/Wooden Icons (1930) is based on his life as a monk, while his prison experiences provide inspiration for Poarte negra/The Black Gate (1930) and the poems Flori de mucegai/Flowers of Mildew (1931). Tablete din ţara de Kuty/Sketches from the Land of Kuty (1933), a satirical novel, was followed by Ochii Maicii Domnului/The Eyes of the Madonna (1934) and Cimitirul Buna-Vestire/The Cemetery of Annunciations (1936). In the poems ‘Carticica de seara/Little Book of Evening’ (1935) and ‘Hore/Round Dances’ (1939), the wonders of nature are seen through the eyes of a child so that the verse often appears naive.