Mihai Eminescu

Mihai Eminescu (Romanian pronunciation: [miˈhaj emiˈnesku]; born Mihail Eminovici; January 15, 1850 – June 15, 1889) was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. [1] Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul ("The Time"), the official newspaper of the Conservative Party (1880-1918).[2] His first poems volume was published when he was 16 and he went to Vienna to study when he was 19. The poet's Manuscripts, containing 46 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, were offered by Titu Maiorescu as a gift to the Romanian Academy during the meeting that was held on January 25 1902.[3] Notable works include Luceafărul ("Evening Star"), Odă în metru antic (Ode in Ancient Meter), and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires). In his poems he frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects. In general his work was influenced by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

Eminescu was hospitalized on February 3, 1889 at the Mărcuţa Hospital of Bucharest and then he was hospitalized at the Caritas Sanatorium. On June 15, 1889, around 4 a.m., the poet died at Doctor Şuţu's Sanatorium. On June 17 Eminescu was interred at the shade of a linden in Bellu Cemetery. He was elected after his death (on October 28, 1948) as member of the Romanian Academy[4].

Family

His father was Gheorghe Eminovici from Călineşti, a Romanian village in Suceava county, Bucovina, which was then part of the Austrian Empire (while his father came from Banat). He crossed the border into Moldavia, settling in Ipoteşti, near the town of Botoşani. He married Raluca Iuraşcu, an heiress of an old aristocratic Moldavian family. In a register of the members of Junimea, Eminescu himself wrote down the date of his birth as December 22, 1849 and in the documents of the Gymnasium from Cernăuţi, where Eminescu studied, the date of December 14 1849 is written down as...