Auseklis, which refers to the “Morning Star” (and as such combines Byronic associations of Lucifer, the rebellious bringer of light, with a reference to the dawn deity in the Latvian mythological pantheon), was the pen name of Miķelis Krogzemis (Ungurpils 1850 – St Petersburg 1879). That name derives from the estate on which he was born, “Miķelis from the Krogzemji estate”, since Latvians did not get regularized family names until late in the 19th century. Short-lived but already celebrated in his lifetime, Auseklis created a range of metaphorical and symbolical references with a powerful presence in Latvian nationalist discourse even today.
A comrade of Andrejs Pumpurs, Kārlis Baumanis and Andrejs Jurjāns, Auseklis was educated in the Baltic-German teachers’ training college at Valka (Ritterschaftliches Parochiallehrer-Seminar, 1868-71); he worked as a teacher in Latvia and (from 1874) in St Petersburg. In 1876 he published a pedagogical yearbook, a platform for his ideas on the proper “Latvian spirit” in education.
In his three collections of poems and translations (1872-88) Auseklis celebrates his native landscape, history and, especially, mythology. Several poetical versions of folk legends, also including the long epic Čūsku tēvs Zalktis (“The snake father Grass-snake”), were later re-created by Lautenbahs-Jūsmiņš, and would function as an invented Latvian mythology. As such, Auseklis is a follower of Garlieb Merkel and Juris Alunāns, whose mythical pantheon he uses (while also adding several invented deities himself). Auseklis’ earliest poetry had been heavily influenced by Friedrich Schiller; the author had translated (or rather: adapted for local readers) some 12 poems by Schiller. In his later work he relied more on folk poetry. In general, he owes his influence and emblematic status within the nationalist movement to his poems, which became popular songs for choral societies.
As a journalist, Auseklis contributed mostly to the daily Baltijas Vēstnesis (“Baltic herald”) with articles on culture, education and local customs, including folklore materials. Auseklis also exercised a formative influence on the popular Latvian almanac: his Baltijas gruntnieku, saimnieku, pagasta valdību u.c. kalendārs 1879. gadam (“Calendar of Baltic landowners, farmers, district governments, etc., for the year 1879”) introduces a nationalist flavour to the popular format by inserting commemorative events, newly-coined Latvian forms for Christian names and literary and informative appendices.
