Celakovský, František Ladislav

Born Mar. 7, 1799, in Strakonice; died Aug. 5, 1852, in Prague. Czech poet and folk-lorist.

Čelakovský studied at Charles University. During the years 1834–35 he edited the newspaper Pražské noviny and the supplement Česká včela. He taught at various universities from 1842 to 1952. Čelakovský published the collections Slavic National Songs (vols. 1–3, 1822–27), Lithuanian National Songs (1827), and The Wisdom of the Slavic Peoples in Proverbs (1851).

Čelakovský employed motifs of folk poetry in the poetry collections Echoes of Russian Songs (1829) and Echoes of Czech Songs (1839). He was the author of the philosophical and didactic narrative poem The Hundred-petal Rose (1840) and of numerous epigrams. He compiled anthologies of Russian and Polish literature. Čelakovský’s works reflected the rise of the patriotic and democratic movement in Bohemia.