Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/423

HE “Death of Janošík” (Smrt Janošíkova) is one of Botto’s best creations and one that merited him recognition as the songster-poet of his people. John Botto was born Jan. 25, 1829, in Vyšný Skalník, Slovakia, and studied at Levoč and Pešt. As early as 1846 his compositions attracted attention, particularly his “Duma pri Dunaji,” which appeared the following year. Although he did not produce as much as some of his contemporaries, still his firm mastery of the language in verse and his insight into the emotions of his countrymen was apparent from the very beginning.

From a few bare facts which he found in the archives of Levoč St. Michael, recording the execution of a certain George Janošík, leader of “mountain boys” in 1713, Botto evolved an elegy, as philosophic in some places as it is gently romantic in others. His Janošík is a national martyr, less heroic than idealistic, and as contemplative and tragic as Hamlet. In the beginning of the poem the lyrist pictures to us the lofty recesses in the Tatras where the mountain boys, or “falcons” as he calls them, and their leader roam at liberty and hold their rendezvous. He describes the sentiment of the peasants toward these champions who fought against the tyranny of the lords, the arrest and condemnation of Janošík, and the mute mourning of the oppressed people over their doomed defender. The climax is reached at the execution and death of Janošík shortly before the end of the poem. The work is replete with references to the legends of the land, which, together with the pathetic wailings of the poet, appealed to the emotional hearts of the peasant folk. Slovakia cherishes this work of Botto as a valued literary heritage of the nineteenth century.