Alexandru Macedonski

Alexandru Macedonski was a Wallachianborn Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades. A forerunner of local modernist literature, he is the first local author to have used free verse, and claimed by some to have been the first in modern European literature. Within the framework of Romanian literature, Macedonski is seen by critics as second only to national poet Mihai Eminescu as leader of a cosmopolitan and aestheticist trend formed around his Literatorul journal, he was diametrically opposed to the inwardlooking traditionalism of Eminescu and his school.

The family moved often, following General Macedonskis postings. Born in Bucharest, Macedonskison was the third of four siblings, the oldest of whom was a daughter, Caterina. Before the age of six, he was a sickly and nervous child, who is reported to have had regular tantrums. In 1862, his father sent him to school in Oltenia, and he spent most time in the Amaradia region. The nostalgia he felt for the landscape later made him consider writing an Amrzene cycle, of which only one poem was ever completed. He was attending the Carol I High School in Craiova and, according to his official record, graduated in 1867.

Source: Wikipedia