Antonín Sova
Illustration — Antonín Sova Antonín Sova (26 February 1864 – 16 August 1928) was a Czech poet and the director of Prague Municipal Library.
Also recorded as Antonin Sova
Antonín Sova

http: archiv.ucl.cas.cz/index.php?path=RozAvn/9.1933-1934/12/103.png · Public domain
- Born
- 1864. · Pacov.
- Died
- 1928. · Pacov.
- Nationality
- Czechoslovakia.
- Occupation
- writer, poet, librarian, journalist and translator.
- Fields
- literature, translation and library science.
- Known for
- Z mého kraje, Pankrác Budecius and kantor.
- Languages
- Czech, German and Russian.
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Antonín Sova Antonín Sova (26 February 1864 – 16 August 1928) was a Czech poet and the director of Prague Municipal Library.
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Note VALÉORINE
Antonín Sova (1864–1928) was a journalist, librarian and poet, among other activities, of Czechoslovak nationality. The journalist was born and died in Pacov. Antonín Sova was also known as Ilja Georgov and Valburga Turková.
Antonín Sova held the position of library director and worked in Písek and Prague. Activity centred on library science, literature and translation.
Among the works are Pankrác Budecius, kantor and Z mého kraje. Languages used include Czech, German and Russian.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q608774 · wikipedia · Antonín Sova
In this article
Life
Life
The recorded working language is Czech, German and Russian. The field of work recorded is literature, translation and library science. Places of work recorded in the authority are Prague and Písek. Positions recorded include library director. Works named in the authority record are Z mého kraje and Pankrác Budecius, kantor.
He was born in Pacov, a small town in South Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, but from the age of two he grew up in nearby Lukavec. His father, Jan, was a teacher and choirmaster who occasionally composed. His mother died when he was 15 and his father married again (Sova never had a positive relationship with his stepmother Sabina). In Lukavec, Antonín, became acquainted with the sisters of Jaroslav Vrchlický. He studied at the grammar school in Pelhřimov, Tábor, and from 1881 to 1885 in Písek. He met the Písek-based poet Adolf Heyduk who helped him publish his first poems in literary magazines (he used the pen-names Ilja Georgov and for Lumír Valburga Turková). While at school, he received the worst possible mark for morale because he ignored the interdict and wore a Czech tricolor tie in a park. He started studying law in Prague but he did not finish for lack of money. Jaroslav Vrchlický helped him find employment in Otto's encyclopedia editorial department which lasted for only a year. His next job was at the medical department of the Prague municipality. Eventually, from 1898 till he retired, he worked as a director of the Prague Municipal Library. He married Marie Kovaříková, who was almost 20 years younger, in 1900, and had a son Jan with her a year later. Their marriage broke up after several years. The poet contracted a disease that paralysed him for the last two decades of his life (probably syphilis). After the constitution of Czechoslovakia in 1918, he lived in Prague and was often visited by younger poets of various styles and political inclinations. In 1924, he moved "in his horsehair grave" to Pacov, where he died on a stormy August night in 1928. The funeral took place in Prague but his ashes were taken to a granite stone in Pacov.
Early literary career
Early literary career
In 1897, Sova was among the writers who established the first Czech official literary association, called Máj. His first published poetry collections were Realistické sloky (Realistic strophes, 1890), Květy intimních nálad (Flowers of Intimate Moods, 1891), Z mého kraje (From My Country, 1893), Soucit a vzdor (Compassion and Defiance, 1894), and Zlomená duše (Broken Soul, 1895). Sova was a supporter of the progressive national movement of the 1890s connected with the Omladina Trial. Together with 11 other writers, he signed the manifesto called Česká moderna in 1895 to demand free speech, social reforms and individualism in art. The reflection of the manifesto in Sova's work is the collection Vybouřené smutky (Uprisen Griefs, 1897).
Theodor Mommsen
Theodor Mommsen
In 1897, Theodor Mommsen wrote a nationalist letter addressed to Germans in Austria (An die Deutschen in Österreich) which was published in Vienna's Neue Freie Presse. Mommsen called Czechs "apostles of barbarism" and wrote that "the Czech skull is impervious to reason, but it is susceptible to blows". Antonín Sova wrote an answer in verses, To Theodor Mommsen. The poem, in which he calls Mommsen a "covetous dotard" and an "arrogant spokesman of slavery", became the national answer to the German imperialism of that time, and Sova started to be one of the most famous poets of his generation.
Later work
Later work
• Údolí nového království (Valley of a New Kingdom, 1900), Dobrodružství odvahy (Adventures of Courage, 1906) – collections of social poetry, the new utopian kingdom is a symbol of hope • Ještě jednou se vrátíme (We Will Return Once More, 1900) – intimate poetry about passionate love and the bitterness of life • Lyriky lásky a života (Lyrics of Love and Life, 1907), Drsná láska (Scathing Love, 1927) – collections of poems about falling into and recovering from love • Povídky a menší črty (1903), O milkování, lásce a zradě (1909) – collections of short stories • Ivův román (Ivo's Novel, 1902), Výpravy chudých (The Poor's Tours, 1903), Tóma Bojar (1910) – psychological and social novels • Pankrác Budecius, kantor (Pankrác Budecius the Teacher, 1916) – novel about a rural teacher in the 18th century
Identity
Identity
Antonín Sova is recorded with the occupation journalist. Recorded as writer, poet, librarian, journalist and translator.

Antonín Sova, portrét od Bohumila Vavrouška.
Bohumil Vavroušek (1875–1939) · National Library of the Czech Republic
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1864
Antonín Sova was born on 26 February 1864.
1928
Antonín Sova died on 16 August 1928.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q608774: Antonín Sova
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “Antonín Sova”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Josef Zika: Cesta básníkova, životopisná poznámka in Pozdrav bouřlivé noci, Prague 1964, pp. 87–104
- 2.Čeští spisovatelé 19. a počátku 20. století, Prague 1982, pp. 241–245
- 3.Sova Antonín.
- 4.The New Age, A weekly review of politics, literature, and art. 23 March 1916.
- 5.An die Deutschen in Oesterreich. Neue Freie Presse. 11923. 31 October 1897.
References
Citations
References
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He also worked under the names Ilja Georgov and Valburga Turková. The authorities additionally record the heading Antonin Sova. His recorded languages were Czech, German and Russian. Sova worked in literature, translation and library science. Recorded position is library director. He worked at Prague and Písek.
Identity and origins
Career and activity
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,661 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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