Andrejs Pumpurs (b. September 22, 1841 on the Courland side of the former Lieljumprava civil parish, now Birzgale civil parish -- d. July 6, 1902 in Riga) was a poet who penned the Latvian epic Lāčplēsis (The Bear Slayer, first published in 1888) and a prominent figure in the Young Latvia movement. September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... coat of arms of Courland Courland (Latvian: Kurzeme, German: Kurland, Polish: Kurlandia, Latin: Curonia / Couronia) is a historical Baltic province now part of Latvia. ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Riga (Latvian: RÄ«ga), the capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the River Daugava, at . ... Look up poetry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... LāčplÄ“sis is an epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs, a Latvian poet, who wrote it between 1872-1887 based on local legends. ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... The Young Latvians (in Latvian: jaunlatvieÅ¡i) is the term most often applied to the intellectuals of the first Latvian National Awakening (in Latvian: tautas atmoda), active from the 1850s to the 1880s. ...

Growing up on both banks of the Daugava river, he was one of three children from the civil parish chosen by the Lutheran minister for the German class of the church school in Lielvārde. Unable to continue his education after completion of the three year course, due to his family's poverty, but working as a raftsman and doing odd jobs with his father, Pumpurs was exposed to the Latvian oral tradition, especially strong in the region of his birth, and to the legends that would be at the forefront of his works. His first poems and early sketches for the epic were written in Piebalga, a rural center of Latvian education and cultural life, between 1867 and 1872. River Daugava flowing through Riga city into the Baltic Sea The Daugava or Western Dvina (Latvian: Daugava, German Düna, Belarusan: Заходняя Дзьвіна, Russian: За́падная Двина́, Finnish Väinä) is a river rising in the Valdai Hills, flowing through Russia and Belarus, and then Latvia, draining into the Gulf of Riga, an arm of... Mr wadawits smells Luthers seal Lutheranism is a Christian tradition based upon the main theological insights of Martin Luther. ... 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

After a brief period in Riga, he left for Moscow in 1876 and was introduced to the Slavophile Ivan Aksakov and the editor Mikhail Katkov by Fricis Brīvzemnieks (Treuland). Pumpurs became the third Latvian to volunteer to fight with the Serbs and their Russian allies against the Turks, his experiences in Serbia strongly influencing his already fervent nationalism. His military career took him to Sevastopol and he received an officer's education in Odessa. In 1882 he returned to the Livland guberniya in what became the Ust-Dvinsk Regiment, participating in secret meetings of the Narodnaya Volya movement. From 1895 he worked for the quartermaster in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils), traveling widely to supply the Russian army, until he died of rheumatism after a trip to China. Government Russia District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuri Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... A Slavophile was an advocate of the supremacy of Slavic culture over that of others, especially Western European culture. ... Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (1818-1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of Alexander III. On finishing his course at the Moscow University Katkov devoted himself to literature and philosophy, and showed so little individuality that during the reign of Nicholas I he never once came into disagreeable... Serbs (Serbian: Срби / Srbi) are a south Slavic people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia. ... Motto: none Anthem: Bože Pravde Capital Belgrade Largest city Belgrade Official language(s) Serbian1 Government Republic  - President Boris Tadić  - Prime Minister Vojislav KoÅ¡tunica Independence    - Formation of Serbia 850   - From the Ottoman Empire July 13, 1878   - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes formed December 1, 1918   - Socialist Federal Republic... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology that holds that (ethnically or culturally defined) nations are the fundamental units for human social life, and makes certain cultural and political claims based upon that belief; in particular, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate... Sevastopol (Russian and Ukrainian: Севастополь; Crimean Tatar: ), formerly known as Sebastopol, is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of Crimean peninsula. ... Odessa (Ukrainian: Одеса, Odesa; Russian: ) is a city in southwestern Ukraine, a major port on the Black Sea, and the administrative centre of the countrys Odessa Oblast. ... Livonia (Latvian: Livonija; Estonian: Liivimaa; German: Livland; Swedish: Livland; Polish: Inflanty; Russian: Лифляндия or Lifljandija) once was the land of the Finnic Livonians, but came in the Middle Ages to designate a much broader territory controlled by the Livonian Order on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea in present-day... Guberniya (Russian: ) (also gubernia, guberniia, gubernya) was a major administrative subdivision of the Imperial Russia, usually translated as governorate or province. ... The Swedish army bombarding the fortress of Dünamünde. ... Narodnaya Volya (Народная воля in Russian, known as People’s Will in English) was a Russian revolutionary organization in the early 1880s. ... Quartermaster is a term usually referring to a military unit which specializes in supplying and provisioning troops, or to an individual who does the same. ... Daugavpils (Belarusian Дзьвінск Dźvinsk, Russian Двинcк Dvinsk, Lithuanian Daugpilis, German Dünaburg, Polish Dźwinów, DźwiÅ„sk or Dyneburg, Yiddish דענענבורג Denenburg), population 115,265 in 2000 census) is the second largest city in Latvia. ...

References

• Viktors Hausmanis, ed.: Latviešu rakstniecība biogrāfijās. Rīga: LZA, 1992.
• Anita Rožkalne, project manager: Latviešu rakstniecība biogrāfijās. Second revised and expanded edition. Rīga: Zinātne, 2003.
• Teodors Zeiferts: Latviešu rakstniecības vēsture. Rīga: 1922 -- available at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Latvia website.
• Arveds Švābe: Latvijas vēsture 1800-1914. Uppsala: Daugava, 1958.
• Arveds Švābe, ed.: Latvju enciklopēdija. Stockholm: Trīs Zvaigznes, 1952-1953.

External links

• The Andrejs Pumpurs Museum in Lielvārde
• A translation of Lāčplēsis into English by Arthur Cropley
• Works by Andrejs Pumpurs at Project Gutenberg