If you come to Romania there are some things you must know about our culture. In literature we had our best: George Calinescu, Vasile Alecsandri, Ion Creanga, Mihail Sadoveanu, Emil Cioran, Titu Maiorescu and the greatest poet of all times, Mihai Eminescu. He created some of Romania’s most read poems, like “Luceafarul”.

Eminescu’s early life

Mihai Eminescu’s real name was Mihail Eminovici. He was the 7th brother out of 11, born on December 15th 1849. Gheorghe and Raluca Eminovici from Ipotesti, his parents, were simple people who knew that without some education, their children could not make it in their lives. That’s why Mihai and Serban were sent to study in foreign schools.

Regarding his parent’s plans for him, Mihai was nowhere near to be a perfect student. It’s unclear where he studied first and second grade but he did finish 3rd and 4th grade in Cernauti. In 1860 he went to Ober Gymnasium, the German Highschool of Cernauti. He got into Aron Pumnul’s class, who was very fond of Mihai. Aron was one of the first one who noticed Mihai’s talent in poetry.
In high-school Mihai flunked Math and Latin but did very good with Literature and History.

First poems

In 1864, because he wasn’t granted a scholarship, he got a job at the County Permanent Council in Botosani (eastern part of Romania) as a writer. Mostly he wrote letters and official papers. That job was dull and Mihai felt he was missing his education so he quit his job in order to attend some classes in Bucovina. In 1866, his teacher Aron Pumnul died. M. Eminovici wrote his first poem called “La mormantul lui Aron Pumnul”, which was published in a local homage brochure.

In the same year he sent a poem to Familia magazine, a literature magazine from Pesta. The poem is called “De-as avea”. Iosif Vulcan, the chief editor of the magazine read the poem and decided that it was too good to let a talent like Mihai’s waste and the two started to work together. Back then, Mihai Eminovici was only 16 years old.

When the Familia Magazine appeared, the poem “De-as avea” was signed by M. Eminescu, which was the name he will be remembered as for eternity.

During these years, Mihai traveled a lot. He came all the way from the eastern part of Romania to the western part, where he planned to study. He continued his collaboration with Familia Magazine.

Meanwhile, he joined Mihail Pascaly’s mobile theatre team. Mihai was copying scripts and he even got some small parts. People loved him! During this year (1867) he wrote one of his greatest poems: “Ce-ti doresc eu tie, dulce, Romanie”.

Studying in Vienna

In 1869 he attended some Philosophy classes held by Robert von Zimmermann at the University of Vienna. During the same time he got critical about the theatrical productions in Romania and wrote a sum of other articles for other magazines such as Convorbiri Literare. He met Titu Maiorescu, one of the few people who helped Mihai Eminescu in his career.

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