Mihály Vörösmarty (Puszta-Nyék 1800 – Pest 1855) was schooled in Székesfehérvár and at the Piarist College in Pest. His father’s death left the family impoverished, but work as a private tutor made further studies possible. Vörösmarty took a law degree in 1824 but never practised.

His early poetry was bilingually in Hungarian and Latin, later only in Hungarian. His patriotism was expressed in the epic Zalán Futása (“Zalán’s flight”, 1824), which established his literary fame. It was followed by a series of heroic epics: Cserhalom (1825, considered by him to be his best work), Eger (1827), and Széplak (1828). He joined Károly Kisfaludy’s literary movement and published his first poems in the literary section of the monthly Tudományos Gyüjtemény, for which he also worked as an editor. Aurora, a literary yearbook edited by Kisfaludy, published other poems. In 1830 Vörösmarty was appointed to the Hungarian Academy; he would become its director in later years. He was also among the founding members of the Kisfaludy Társaság literary society, founded in Pest in 1836 and named after Kisfaludy, who had died in 1830. The society held meetings, awarded prizes, funded collections of Hungarian folk songs, and sponsored many publications by literary figures in Hungary.

Vörösmarty also influenced the development of post-1837 national literature through his editorial work for the periodicals Athenaeum and Figyelmezö – it is in that capacity that he got to know Sándor Petőfi, whom he was the first to publish. His own works also continued to be published in prominent periodicals, such as Életképek, Honderü, and Pesti Divatlap. In the same period he was one of the founders of the National Theatre in Budapest. His poem Szózat, later one of Hungary’s national anthems, dates from this period (1836-37).

Supported by Lajos Kossuth, Vörösmarty was elected to the National Assembly of 1848. In that same year he was appointed professor of Hungarian literature at the University of Pest, and he contributed to the Hungarian translation of Shakespeare’s works. After the collapse of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, he went into exile, returning in 1850. His last poem, A vén cigány, was written in 1854; he died in 1855. A 3-volume edition of his works had already appeared in 1833, followed by a 4-volume edition in 1840. Both editions included commentaries by József Bajza and Ferenc Toldy. An annotated 8-volume edition appeared in 1884.