In 1814, the peasant-priest Antanas (Polish name-form: Antoni Drozdowski; 1760–1833) published a collection of religious and secular songs (<em></em>) in order to “preserve the memory of a very ancient nation and the ”. This is usually considered the first poetical publication in the language and also set a pattern whereby poetry in Lithuanian was to a very large extent produced by clerics, mainly Catholic priests. Four years later, in 1818, the theologian/philologist Ludwig (1776–1840; professor and head of the Lithuanian seminar at the University of ) salvaged a lengthy pastoral poem in MS (<em>Metai</em> or “The seasons”, by Christian (Kristijonas) , 1714–1780). Hailing its author as the “national Lithuanian poet”, Rhesa published the text, with a dedication to Wilhelm von , as <em></em> (1818; the first complete edition of Donelaitis’s poem and other works was published in in 1865). Various significant poets emerged in Russian-ruled Lithuania Major on the eve of the 1830-31 uprising. The priest Silvestras Teofilis (1789–1831) published his lastingly popular <em></em> in 1828, a poetic legend about the nation’s : mother of 14th-century Grand Duke , she was supposed to have been in her youth a virgin priestess serving . In 1829, the philologist Simonas published a patriotic ode extolling the glories of Lithuania () and a collection of six fables inspired by Aesop and Lithuanian (). Mention should also be made of the Samogitian nobleman Dionizas (d. 1830), a correspondent of with interests, whose major work <em>Mužikas Žemaičių</em> <em>ir Lietuvos</em> was published posthumously in the journal <em></em> (1886).
The period between the was dominated by Bishop Antanas (1835–1902). His most famous poem, <em>Anykščių Šilelis</em> (1860-61; full version published 1906) contrasts the beautiful Anykščiai forest in old pagan times with the devastated forest in current days. Baranauskas intended to demonstrate that poetry in Lithuanian could rise to the heights of ’s Polish poems, and with it gained international attention among philologists. Baranauskas’s <em>Dainų dainelė</em> appeared in 1857, <em>Dievo rykštė ir malonė</em> in 1861. His verse <em>Nu Lietuva, nu Dauguva</em> was used as an unofficial national anthem until Vincas ’s <em> </em>(1898) was adopted by the independent Republic in 1919.
Other mid-century poets were the priest Kajetonas (1804–1874); in the Polish introduction to his collection (1861), he advocated that Samogitian be the standard for the ; Josepas (1822–1866), also a priest, published biblically-themed in 1863, with a nationalist dedication to the united <em>lëtuv-źemajtems</em> countrymen; he also Aesop’s fables into Samogitian-Lithuanian (<em>Pasakas pradiejo Josepas Źelvovic</em>, 1863).
The printing of Lithuanian in Latin (non-Cyrillic) letters was . The collections of the priest Silvestras (1845–1897) accordingly appeared in : (1870), (1879); his (1881), probably printed in /Ragainė (present-day Neman, in the Kaliningrad district), extolled the language and the great past of Lithuania, and warned against a threat from the East (<em>maskoliai</em>). Other work appeared in emigrant communities in the United States, e.g. Antanas ’s (1894).
The literary landscape changed with the establishment of the periodical <em></em> (“Dawn”) in 1883. The first self-styled Lithuanian poet, (Jonas Mačiulis, 1862–1932), published his landmark collection in 1895; his output over the next decades was considerable and covered various genres: poetry (e.g. <em>Tarp skausmų į garbę</em>, 1895; , 1907; <em>Raseinių Magdė</em>, 1909; , 1920), an operetta libretto <em>Kame išganymas?</em> (1895), and, after independence, (the trilogy <em></em>, 1921-30; , 1925; <em>Didysis Vytautas – karalius</em>, 1930). His verse collection <em>Jaunoji Lietuva</em> of 1907 addressed the plight not only of Lithuanians, but also of other subjugated nations (Czechs, Hungarians, Finns, Greeks), looking forward, in the style of and of Georg , then active in East Prussia (see below), to a European community of free and equal nations. Poets of this generation tended to proclaim values as specifically Lithuanian, in contradistinction to other nations. Pranas (1876–1901) played on the opposing word-pair <em>tėvynė</em> (“fatherland”, figured as glorious, complicated, tragic) and <em>tėviškė</em> (cozy, simple, warm), and recycled Teodor ’s notions of the , whom he contrasted with “the ugly Muscovites”. Juozas (1845–1937), author of <em>Raštai: Įvairios eilės</em> (1884), opposed Lithuanians (and in particular the idealized peasantry) to Poles, Russians, and Germans alike; Mečislovas (1849–1919), an <em>Auszra</em> contributor with verse collections (<em></em>) published in 1884 and 1905 and author of the verse narrative (1904), also opposed Samogitian Lithuania against Germany, Poland, and <em>Gudija</em> (the adjacent Russian lands, corresponding to what now is Belarus). Antanas specifically targeted the Polish-speaking nobility (rather than the common people), as did Aleksandras (1854–1898, author of <em></em>, 2 vols, 1900-01).
Separate mention should be made of Jonas (1848–1917; again, a priest), who tried to create a national epic on the lines of the Aeneid on the origins of the Lithuanian nation: <em>Lietuvos Eneida</em> (1913-14).
By the end of the century, patriotic poetry in Lithuanian was also being written in East Prussia (Lithuania Minor), with a programme of cultural solidarity with Russian-governed Lithuania Major. One of the key poets of Lithuania Minor was Georg (1831–1904), alumnus of the University of and polyglot (he wrote in more than 30 languages). An anti-imperialist and pacifist enthusiast for minority languages and minority cultures, his career took him to many European countries, between Wales and Norway, but he also regularly sojourned in and . One of his poems became the anthem of Lithuania Minor. In Tilsit, Sauerwein founded, and initially chaired, a Pan-Lithuanian cultural association (1885; named after the myhical heroine celebrated in Valiūnas’s 1828 poem and by now a ).
Among the poets who advocated Lithuanian unification, Martynus (1858–1946, co-founder of <em>Birutė</em> and political activist) stands out; in his many works (<em>Mazgotė</em>, 1899; <em>Birutininkų dainos</em>, 1908) he criticized not only the policy of Germanization, but also the moral flaws of Lithuanians themselves. Other Lithuanian union-poets were Dovas (1845–1921; ps. Draugams, 1885), like Jankus a political activist, Jerkmonas (1847–1896), and Fridrichas (1883–1909). In addition, many anthologies appeared which included poets from both Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Major. The Birutė-themed collections published in Tilsit included patriotic verse by Jonas , Vincas , and Maironis: <em>Birutės dainos</em> (1886, Tilsit; 5 reprints between 1904-19) and <em>Birutės garsas</em> (1904-14; 2 editions). The most substantial anthology of Lithuanian verse was , edited by Vilius (1848–1914), which, alongside samples from Lithuania Major and Minor, also included and Lithuanian translations from Baltic-German originals.
