The guys in white shirts on the street were doing the tasks set in front of them a few hours earlier amid light laughter.
As the people of the time before Christ, we waited for the New Scripture as high school students. This was the magazine in which we could read the unique sign structures of Ferenc Juhász, the picture poems of László Nagy, Ferenc Buda or Utassy. We tore the periodicals out of each other's hands, bought from the combined kiflipense. But reading the lines of contemporary poets, which are not always comprehensible with our adolescent minds, it never occurred to us for a moment to refuse Petőfi, Ady, Attila József or Radnóti.
All this came to mind on the first day of graduation this year. The guys in white shirts on the street were doing the tasks set in front of them a few hours earlier amid light laughter.
Interrupting each other's words, they voiced their indignation as to why in 2024 they have to deal with Babits's poetic creed or Karinthy's not-so-good short story? Who needs these expired records in today's world?
They should have "skipped" thoughts that were out of date a long time ago. This world is not about that anymore! They are concerned with completely different issues, and these loser teachers could finally notice this, of course, it won't happen now if they have been unable to do so for the past four years .
..."Only I can be the hero of my poem" - I quote to myself the line from Babitsi, which I believe is known to everyone, while the boys, by way of derivation, fabricate rhymes from the not always witty slogans of the election posters currently littering the streets. We have it all, from our dirty cleaning to the restrained new momentum we give to the future to our present with a non-existent past.
...In the store, I read next to the cashier's head that "please indicate your need for a VAT invoice in advance!". That is, "Here we lie, Wanderer, tell the Spartans:..."
Would my high school seniors who were just "competing" know what these two quotes have in common? Did they get to the verses during their studies? Do they know the concept of pentameter or hexameter, if not its content?
Do you know where the second quote is from? Who is Simonides, and when and among whom did the Battle of Thermopylae take place?
... One thing is for sure: the hexameter from 2504 years ago will be thrown up even by the simplest "internet search engine", when not only the world no longer remembers those slogans, which are now unavoidable, but also their names and images are completely covered by the blur of oblivion, whose poster faces promising redemption look down on us en masse, asking for votes, with or without VAT.
Featured image: A teacher writes the information on the blackboard during the written graduation exam in Hungarian language and literature at the Báthory István Technikum in Zalaegerszeg on May 6, 2024. MTI/Soldier Tibor
