Poetry: Botev and Vazov

Hristo Botev (1848–1876)

Poet, journalist, revolutionary. He lived stormily and briefly, and died stormily and young – he was killed in the Vratsa Balkan in May 1876, shortly after landing with his band of rebels from the steamship Radetzky. He left behind about twenty poems. Twenty! And yet he is indisputably the most quoted Bulgarian poet.

• “Hadji Dimitar” – about a dying hero mourned by nature and the samodivi (wood nymphs of Bulgarian folklore). Learned by heart in every school for a hundred years now.
• “My Prayer” („Моята молитва“) – an ironic prayer to the god of reason, which still sounds fresh today.
• “Farewell” („На прощаване“) – a letter to his mother before the battle. On Botev Day, 2 June, schoolchildren recite it and cry at the same time.

On 2 June at 12 noon, sirens all over the country sound for one minute in memory of Botev and all who fell for freedom. Cars stop, people stand still.

Ivan Vazov (1850–1921)

The patriarch of Bulgarian literature. He wrote everything: poems, short stories, plays, travel writing and the novel Under the Yoke. If Botev is the storm, Vazov is the broad river that flows through every home.

• “Epic of the Forgotten” („Епопея на забравените“) – a cycle of odes to the heroes of the Revival: Levski, Benkovski, Rakovski, Paisiy. Half of Bulgaria learned its history from these verses.
• “Beloved Fatherland…” („Отечество любезно…“) and “The Bulgarian Language” („Българският език“) – poems that serve as hymns to the homeland and the mother tongue.
• “The Volunteers at Shipka” („Опълченците на Шипка“) – the battle of Shipka (the 1877 mountain-pass battle of the Russo-Turkish War) as an epic. After reading it, nobody can climb the pass without feeling a little like a hero.

Read the full texts (in Bulgarian): Anthology: Hristo Botev · Anthology: Ivan Vazov