Armenian literature; Armenian literature -- History and criticism
This brings us down to the Renaissance of Armenian literature which
took place almost simultaneously in Russia and Turkey, but the field of
modern Armenian literature is such a wide one that we cannot attempt an
analysis of it here. There are, however, some examples of modern
Armenian poetry in this volume.
The occupation of the Armenian provinces by Russia in 1828, with the
attendant emigration of thousands from Persia and Turkey into Russian
Armenia, strengthened the nation. National schools were soon opened,
supported by the Armenians themselves. An Armenian Academy was
established in Moscow in 1815 and a Seminary in Tiflis in 1826. Many
Armenians went to Moscow and Petrograd, and also to foreign
universities, especially to those of Germany, Switzerland, and France.
The educational revival produced a new era, and a new Armenian
literature came into being. Many Armenian newspapers and reviews were
founded and published in different places. Tiflis was the centre of the
literature and learning of Russian Armenia. A similar revival of
letters occurred in Turkish Armenia. In 1860 a national and
ecclesiastical constitution was granted to the Armenians in Turkey. For
Turkish Armenians the literary centres were Constantinople and Smyrna.
In the latter city, good work was done in translating western classics,
but Constantinople was the chief seat of Armenian culture in Turkey.
Thus Armenian literature became divided into two branches—Russian
Armenian and Turkish Armenian—each of which has its own peculiarities
of language, style, and tone. It was poetry that first burst into bloom
and reached maturity soonest. At first the motifs of the poems were
mainly national. The imagination of the poets was kindled by the past,
present, and future of Armenia, its sufferings, its national beauty,
its shortcomings. They looked forward to a national regeneration. They
were apostles of light, science, learning; and pointed out new paths of
national salvation. The result of all this was the production of some
beautiful national songs. These songs are not triumphant anthems like
those of other countries; they are songs of suffering, but with a note
of hope. Then Armenian poetry developed a truer relation with what had
been created in literature and art, and the poets looked at things in a
new way, and assumed new poetical forms. It combined poetry and
imagination with passionate feeling for life and truth. Some of the
poems of this period are of exquisite workmanship, breathing the very
spirit of the time.
As we have said, Armenian poetry of the nineteenth century is so full
of merit and of such intense interest that it would be impossible to do
it justice without writing at great length. We have already exhausted
the space at our disposal, and hope to devote a separate work to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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