The totems and taboos in the hungarian children’s poetry: yesterday and today

Abstract

The article describes most notable trends in contemporary children’s poetry in Hungary. Developing in line with European and world trends, Hungarian children’s poetry is an integral part of national literature, which, in turn, has influenced the topics poets have been choosing and/or avoiding. In the early 20^th century, the way children’s poetry was perceived in Hungary changed dramatically due to the developments in the society and literature; poetry for (and about) children had gradually evolved into an independent genre. With childhood experience “growing in value”, perception of a child as an independent person, and not as a “underaged adult”, had an effect on the increase in the numbers of texts where authors shared their own childhood experiences, and on the emergence of a whole new body of children’s literature. Sándor Weöres’s poems became a watershed for Hungarian children’s poetry. New principles he proposed formed the basis for poetic texts that have been created over the past seventy years. Following the precepts of Weöres and other authors of his generation, modern Hungarian poets combine rhythmic and phonetic richness of their native language with topics relevant to modern children, and expand the genre of children’s poetry, enriching the national and European children’s poetic canon.

Keywords: Hungarian literature, children’s poetry, taboo topics, literary paradigm, genre diversity, poetic canon