František Čelakovský

František Ladislav Čelakovský (7 March 1799 – 5 August 1852) was a Czech poet, translator, linguist and literary critic. He was a major figure in the Czech National Revival. His most notable works are Ohlas písní ruských (Echoes of Russian Songs) and Ohlas písní českých (Echoes of Bohemian Songs).

Life Čelakovský was born in Strakonice to the carpenter Vojtěch Čelakovský and his wife Anna. He attended high school in České Budějovice and then Písek. He began studying philosophy in Prague, but due to financial problems transferred to a lyceum in České Budějovice was expelled for reading Jan Hus. He continued his studies in Linz and then at Charles University in Prague (then called Charles-Ferdinand University). Rather than focus on the required courses, he took language and literature courses for self-study. He failed a logic exam in 1822 and never got a university degree.

Čelakovský made a living as a private tutor until 1829.Thanks to Karel Alois Vinařický's recommendation, Prague's archbishop had him translate Augustine of Hippo's De Civitate Dei. In 1835, he was named a professor of Czech language and literature in Prague.

On 26 November 1835, Čelakovský commented negatively in Pražské noviny about Russian Tsar Nicholas I's threats against a Polish uprising. The Russian embassy in Vienna complained and Čelakovský was removed from his position as both an editor and professor. For the next two years, he survived only through translations and the support of Karel Alois Vinařický. From 1838, he was a librarian for the Kinsky family. In 1841, he became a professor of Slavic Literature in Wrocław, and then got the same position in Prague in 1849. They had four children together, before she died from typhus in 1844. The next year, he married Antonie Reissová in Prague. Antonie kept a correspondence with author Božena Němcová, which Čelakovský occasionally took part in. They had four children together, but one, Anna, died three months after she was born. Antonie died in 1852, and Čelakovský died in Prague later that year, on 5 August 1852. Čelakovský's granddaughter Marie Tůmová, daughter of Marie, was a teacher and a women's suffragist.

Works Čelakovský's style is often classified as pre-romanticism.

Ohlas písní českých (Echoes of Bohemian Songs) (1839) is a similar collection of poems based on themes from Czech life. However, rather than focusing on epic or heroic themes like Echoes of Russian Songs, most of the poems are in much simpler language, with proverb-like lines about daily life.

Mudrosloví národa slovanského v příslovích (The Wisdom of the Slavic People in Proverbs) (1852) is a collection of Slavic proverbs, arranged thematically to portray the traditional life philosophy of the Slavs.

In addition to poetry and works related to Slavic folklore, Čelakovský also published translations from German, English, and Latin into Czech, scientific literature on Slavic linguistics, and textbooks on the Czech language.