on Attila József

Translated by Ágnes Lehóczky and Adam Piette

Be the thin edge of a blade of grass

National Poetry Day in Hungary is celebrated on 11 April, the day of Attila József’s (1905–37) birthday. This tells you all you need to know about his stature in Hungarian culture. Despite his tragically short life, József left behind a hugely accomplished and wide-ranging oeuvre. The Song of Cosmos is the result of a five-year collaboration between Ágnes Lehóczky and Adam Piette, poets and scholars at Sheffield, showcasing József’s impressive range of poetry in translation next to the Hungarian originals, as well as essays and creative responses written by people involved in the project. The title of the book is derived from the unpublished sonnet crown that takes centre-stage in the volume, paired with the original artwork by György Békeffi, a now little-known young artist of the 1920s Hungarian avant-garde. This is the first time the graphics (which are also echoed in the book’s cover design) are reunited with the poems in publication, and it’s been long overdue. Writing a crown of Petrarchan sonnets at age eighteen is a huge feat, let alone writing such a monumental, all-encompassing work about human consciousness.

József, largely unrecognised in his lifetime, was a poet of the underclasses and the industrial city, yet his poems are deeply personal and autobiographical. This book curates his most well-known and recognised work alongside his earlier, less recognised pieces. The selection gives us a good sense of his development as a poet, as does the Afterword – a helpful guide ...