Géza Gyóni monument in Sopron, Hungary.
His first volume of poetry, simply titled Versek (Poems), was published in 1903. In Budapest, he contributed to the literary magazine Nyugat and began a long rivalry with the leading Hungarian poet of the time, Endre Ady, whom he criticized in his second collection, Szomorú szemmel (With Sad Eyes), in 1909. In November 1907, Gyóni was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army and spent eighteen months in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he smashed rocks and built railroads. In 1912 he was called up for active service during the Balkan Wars. In response, Gyóni wrote the great pacifist poem Cézar, én nem megyek (“Caesar, I will not go”).
Géza Gyóni (1884-1917) died in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp during the First World War.
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