Mihai Eminescu (Romanian pronunciation: [mihaj eminesku] ( listen); born Mihail

Eminovici; 15 January 1850 15 June 1889) was a Romantic poet, novelist and
journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet.
Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and worked as an
editor for the newspaper Timpul ("The Time"), the official newspaper of the
Conservative Party (18801918).[2] His poetry was first 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 25 January 1902.[3] Notable works include Luceafrul (The Vesper/The
Evening Star/The Lucifer/The Daystar), Od n metru antic (Ode in Ancient Meter),
and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires). In his poems he frequently used
metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects.

Mihai Eminescu statue, Chiinu

His father was Gheorghe Eminovici from Clineti, a Moldavian 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 Ipoteti, near
the town of Botoani. He married Raluca Iuracu, 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 22 December 1849 and in the documents of
the Gymnasium from Cernui, where Eminescu studied, the date of 14
December 1849 is written down as his birthday. Nevertheless, Titu Maiorescu, in
his work Eminescu and His Poems (1889) quoted N. D. Giurescu's researches and
adopted his conclusion regarding the date and place of Mihai Eminescu's birth, as
being 15 January 1850, in Botoani. This date resulted from several sources,
amongst which there was a file of notes on christenings from the archives of the
Uspenia (Domneasc) Church of Botoani; inside this file, the date of birth was
"15 January 1850" and the date of christening was the 21st of the same month.
The date of his birth was confirmed by the poet's elder sister, Aglae Drogli, who
affirmed that the place of birth was the village of Ipoteti.[4]

Mihai Eminescu, monument by Tudor Cataraga Chisinau, Rep.of Moldova

Early years[edit]
Mihail (as he appears in baptismal records) or Mihai (the more common form that
he used) was born in Botoani, Moldavia. He spent his early childhood in Botoani
and Ipoteti, in his parents' family home. From 1858 to 1866 he attended school
in Cernui. He finished 4th grade as the 5th of 82 students, after which he
attended two years of gymnasium.

The first evidence of Eminescu as a writer is in 1866. In January of that year

Romanian teacher Aron Pumnul died and his students in Cernui published a
pamphlet, Lcrmioarele nvceilor gimnaziati (The Tears of the Gymnasium
Students) in which a poem entitled La mormntul lui Aron Pumnul (At the Grave
of Aron Pumnul) appears, signed "M. Eminovici". On 25 February his poem De-a
avea (If I Had) was published in Iosif Vulcan's literary magazine Familia in Pest.
This began a steady series of published poems (and the occasional translation
from German). Also, it was Iosif Vulcan, who disliked the Slavic source suffix "-ici"
of the young poet's last name, that chose for him the more apparent Romanian
"nom de plume" Mihai Eminescu.

In 1867, he joined Iorgu Caragiale's troupe as a clerk and prompter; the next year
he transferred to Mihai Pascaly's troupe. Both of these were among the leading
Romanian theatrical troupes of their day, the latter including Matei Millo and
Fanny Tardini-Vldicescu. He soon settled in Bucharest, where at the end of
November he became a clerk and copyist for the National Theater. Throughout
this period, he continued to write and publish poems. He also paid his rent by
translating hundreds of pages of a book by Heinrich Theodor Rotscher, although
this never resulted in a completed work. Also at this time he began his novel
Geniu pustiu (Wasted Genius), published posthumously in 1904 in an unfinished
form.

On 1 April 1869, he was one of the co-founders of the "Orient" literary circle,
whose interests included the gathering of Romanian folklore and documents
relating to Romanian literary history. On 29 June, various members of the "Orient"
group were commissioned to go to different provinces. Eminescu was assigned
Moldavia. That summer, he quite by chance ran into his brother Iorgu, a military
officer, in Cimigiu Gardens, but firmly rebuffed Iorgu's attempt to get him to
renew ties to his family.

Still in summer 1869, he left Pascaly's troupe and traveled to Cernui and Iai.
He renewed ties to his family; his father promised him a regular allowance to
pursue studies in Vienna in the fall. As always, he continued to write and publish
poetry; notably, on the occasion of the death of the former ruler of Wallachia,
Barbu Dimitrie tirbei, he published a leaflet, La moartea principelui tirbei ("On
the Death of Prince tirbei").