Vítězslav Hálek wrote many ballads and lyrics, the collections entitled “Večerní Písně” (Evening Songs) and “V Přírodě” (With Nature) having been models for many writers and as much quoted as Longfellow. An allegorical representation of the struggles of the nation in the seventeenth century is his long poem “Dědicové Bílé Hory” (Heirs of White Mountain). An idyll of the Slovák mountains is his “Děvče z Tater” (The Girl from the Carpathians). His short stories present some intensely interesting character studies as well as plots depending on incident for their interest.
NOT ANY OF THESE HAVE AS YET BEEN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
Adolf Heyduk stands nearest of kin to the Hálek-Neruda school in his beautiful lyrics “Ciganské Melodie” (Gypsy Melodies), “Cymbál a Husle” (The Cymbal and Violin) “Ptačí Motivy” (Bird Motives). He ever sings of the happy life, of young love, family joys, loyalty to the homeland, the beauties of nature especially of the Slovak and Šumava mountains. He is wholesome and cheerful without ever overstepping into rhapsodical inanities.
Realistic writers arose who would not follow the old romantic trend and who depicted more and more of the individual home and national problems with a devotion which was bound to wean the public away from the conventional novel of pure sentiment and unreal figures. Chief among them was Božena Němcová
