Salomea Neris Lithuanian poetess Date of Birth: 17.11.1904 Country: Lithuania

1. Biography of Salomeja Neris
2. Early Life and Education
3. Anti-Fascist Activism
4. Political Involvement
5. Legacy and Recognition

Biography of Salomeja Neris

Salomeja Neris (pseudonym; real surname Bachinskaitė-Bučienė) was a Lithuanian poet, born on November 4 (17), 1904, in the village of Kiršai, Vilkaviškis district, and passed away on July 7, 1945, in Moscow. She was recognized as a national poet of the Lithuanian SSR, a title awarded posthumously in 1954.

Early Life and Education

Salomeja Neris was born into a peasant family. In 1928, she graduated from Kaunas University and worked as a teacher. She began publishing her poems in 1923, and her first poetry collections, "Early Morning" (1927) and "Traces on the Sand" (1931), reflected her joy of life, bright romantic perception, and the influence of symbolism. However, as time went on, her poetry started to express stronger protests, marking a transition from romantic symbolism to realism.

Anti-Fascist Activism

In 1931, Salomeja Neris broke ties with bourgeois literary groups and joined anti-fascist writers who rallied around the journal "Trjachas Frontas" ("Third Front"). During 1931-1934, her poems appeared in illegal communist publications. In her collections "Along the Cracking Ice" (1935) and "Demjadyte Blooms" (1938), Neris condemned social injustice. In 1940, she published the epic poem "Eglė, the Queen of Serpents," which was inspired by folk motifs.

Political Involvement

After the restoration of Soviet power in Lithuania in 1940, Neris became a member of the National Seimas Commission in the Lithuanian Republic and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1941. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the poetess was evacuated and published the collections "Praise Life, Heart!" (1943) and "Through the Whistle of Bullets" (1943), translated into Russian.

Legacy and Recognition

In 1945, her collection "The Nightingale Cannot Help Singing" was released. The posthumously published collection "My Land" (1946), translated into Russian, was honored with the State Prize of the USSR in 1947. Neris also translated works by A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Turgenev, M. Gorky, S.Y. Marshak, L.A. Akhmatova, and others. She was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class.